The Challenges Of Acquisition Of Library Materials And Services To The Users In Law Library In Ekiti State University

The Challenges Of Acquisition Of Library Materials And Services To The Users In Law Library In Ekiti State University

Abstract

This study’s goal is to investigate the difficulties associated with providing library patrons at Ekiti State University with services and materials. The study used a survey research design, and the sample size was determined by conveniently sampling forty-one (41) participants, including the dean of the law school, law professors, and other library employees at Ekiti State University. With the use of questionnaires as a tool to gather the required data, the sources of data collection were both primary and secondary. Secondary data were gathered from textbooks, journals, articles, law reports, and newspaper publications. The study’s limitations were also noted. The 41 participants who completed the surveys provided 35 legitimate responses, which served as the foundation for gathering the primary data. The mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data, which were displayed as frequencies and tables. Findings of the study include issues that prevent the library at Ekiti University’s Faculty of Law from selecting and acquiring legal materials effectively, such as a lack of funding, the absence or poor implementation of a collection development policy, a lack of staff capacity building, technical limitations with regard to online databases and other electronic resources, the high cost of legal materials, and a lack of bibliographic control over published legal sources. As a result, the study’s main finding is that the law library should create an acquisitions policy, or collection development policy, to direct them in the choice and acquisition of legal resources. More specifically, the government and parent institutions should give the law library adequate money to properly complete the acquisition process.

Chapiter 1

Introduction

the study’s history

A key function of libraries all around the world is the acquisition of information resources, often known as collection development. The acquisition department in an academic library serves a range of purposes and serves as the main connection to other areas of the library. One of the crucial departments of the academic library that significantly deals with collection development and oversees all activities of the library is the acquisition division. It is known as the “heart bite” of all libraries, whether they are traditional or electronic. The idea that information technology innovation (e-library in information palace) will alter conventional ways of acquisition has not been taken into consideration. While managing alternative information types, libraries continue to build and manage sizable book collections (Adesanya & Agyen, 2015).

Printed materials, such as books, continue to play a significant part in library acquisition, despite predictions of disappearing print collections and the rise of the digital format (Carr, 2011). The term “acquisition” is frequently used to refer to a number of acquisition processes, particularly those that concentrate on methods of acquiring library materials. The process of acquiring library items is governed by limitations and criteria, which differ from place to location.

According to Prytherch (2011), the planning process for a stock acquisition strategy is not just to address current demands, but to construct a coherent and reliable collection over a period of years to match the goals and services of a library.Since the quality of a library’s collection exclusively depends on the information resources collected, acquisition is a crucial part of librarianship. Thus, the acquisition librarians play a crucial role in preserving a strong collection and attaining organizational objectives through the purchase of pertinent information resources. Both the library and the users will benefit greatly from the acquisition of high-quality and pertinent items. The library will gain credibility and authority, and the users will always be able to find the answers to their queries in such a library.Although donations, trades, and legal deposits are also used to acquire information resources, purchases remain the primary method of acquisition.

It’s significant since a legal researcher typically has to acquire the most recent version of the law, as well as to ensure that a validly applied case hasn’t been abused by a higher court or that a status hasn’t been changed, repealed, or determined to be unconstitutional. It becomes essential to choose and purchase legal publications or resources, and these must be updated and supplemented regularly using a variety of methods.

Problems with selection and acquisition of legal materials include bad library vote administration, poor quality of locally published books, incoherent collection development policy, and poor communication services. Qualified law librarians must choose and acquire both primary source materials—such as Acts of Parliament, Gazettes, Reports of Cases, Digest, Volumes of Statutes, etc.—and secondary source materials—such as textbooks, casebooks, supplements, loose-leaf publications, encyclopedias, etc.

Description of the issue

Academic libraries in underdeveloped nations are also being impacted by the current global economic turmoil. The main issues affecting the purchase of resources in academic libraries, according to Anunobi (2012), are: insufficient budget, economic upheavals, a lack of recent books, due procedure, and a lack of modern acquisition techniques. According to Agyen-Gyasi et al. (2010), special libraries in Nigerian universities also confront a number of difficulties, such as rising material costs and restricted funding (which limits the selection of items that may be purchased). If the law library was to justify its founding and achieve its main goal of meeting the academic needs of the students and faculty members of the law faculty, housing the materials in a separate apartment that would be adjacent to the faculty of law became highly desirable as the law collection started to grow and expand. A balanced and current law library collection is therefore necessary because law is an obviously specialized and highly technical subject that is the domain of a professional body of practitioners. This distinguishes law from other disciplines in the social science group or other subject categories. However, there are numerous issues with the selection and acquisition of resources for law libraries. Therefore, it is against this background that this study aims to examine the difficulties in acquiring library resources and providing user services in the law library at Ekiti State University.

Goals of the Study

Examining the difficulties in acquiring library resources and providing services to users at the law library at Ekiti State University is the main goal of this study. The research specifically aims to:

to learn more about the kinds of legal books that the faculty of law library has chosen and purchased.

to identify persons responsible for the selection and purchase of legal resources for the faculty of law library.

to list the resources the faculty of law library uses to acquire legal materials.

to ascertain the difficulties experienced in the selection and purchase of legal materials at the law faculty library.

Research Issue

The following query serves as the basis for the research:

What kinds of legal resources are chosen and purchased by the faculty of law library?

Who makes the decisions about the selection and purchase of legal resources for the faculty of law library?

What kind of tools are employed by the faculty of law library in the selection and purchase of legal materials?

What issues arise in the choice and procurement of legal materials?

importance of the research

The National Library of Nigeria, the Federal Government, researchers, students, authors, lawyers, civil servants, publishers, and students of library and information science are all expected to gain from the study’s findings. If the causes of the failures in acquisition and utilization are exposed by correcting the inaccuracies, especially in the area of legal deposit, the conclusions of this work, if adopted, may be of considerable benefit to the management of the national library of Nigeria.Publishers will face increasingly aggressive pressure to comply.Authors will have a better understanding of the advantages of depositing their works with the National Library.Their works will be uniform because the National Bibliography of Nigeria has standard publishing numbers, and they will receive a host of other advantages if they deposit their works there. Obtaining copies for use as evidence in court will no longer be a problem for attorneys. Only the National Library can provide certified authentic copies of documents, therefore when they are not available, lawyers have a difficulty. Students and scholars will always have access to resources that are convenient for their academic endeavors.

The Study’s Purpose

The study’s focus is on the difficulties in acquiring library resources and providing users with services in the law library at Ekiti State University. The study identified persons responsible for the selection and purchase of legal resources at the faculty of law library and learned what kinds of legal materials were chosen and obtained there. It will list the resources employed in the selection and procurement of legal materials at the faculty of law library as well as the issues that came up during those processes. However, the study is restricted to the Ekiti State University Law Library, the Law Library Librarian, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, the Law Lecturers, and other Library Staff.

Study’s shortcomings

While conducting the study, the researchers ran into some minor obstacles, just as in every human endeavor. The researcher was forced to choose from a small number of sample sizes due to the significant constraint of the paucity of available literature on the topic as a result of the discourse’s nature. This resulted in higher costs for the researcher and more time spent searching for the necessary materials, literature, and data collection methods. The researcher will also work on other scholarly projects while conducting this study. Furthermore, because only a small number of respondents were chosen to complete the research instrument, the sample size for the study was restricted to librarians and law library users at Ekiti State University. As a result, the results of the study cannot be applied to other products. Nevertheless, despite the difficulties experienced during the research, all aspects were minimized in order to deliver the best results and ensure the success of the study.