CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Collection Development, or the acquisition of information resources, is a core function of libraries all over the world. The acquisition area of an academic library serves a range of functions and serves as the library’s main link to other sections. The acquisition area of an academic library is one of the most important sections, as it deals with collection development in a way that affects all of the library’s activities. It is known as the heart bite of any library, whether it is an E-Library or a traditional library.

The idea that information technology (e-library) innovation in the information palace will alter traditional acquisition methods has not been proven. Libraries continue to acquire and preserve large book collections while also managing other types of information (Adesanya & Agyen, 2015).

Despite predictions of dwindling print collections and the rise of digital formats, printed materials (books, etc.) continue to play an important part in library acquisition ( Carr, 2011). The term acquisition is widely used to refer to a variety of acquisition methods that focus on library content acquisition approaches. The acquisition of library items is governed by a set of regulations that differ from one location to the next. According to Prytherch (2011), the process of creating a stock acquisition program is not merely to fulfill urgent demands, but to construct a coherent and reliable collection over time in order to support a library’s objectives and services. Because the strength of a library’s collection is wholly dependent on the information resources collected, acquisition is a critical part of librarianship. As a result, acquisition librarians play a critical role in both maintaining a healthy collection and attaining corporate goals through acquiring suitable information resources.

The benefits to both the library and the users are great if a library obtains good and relevant items. The library will gain reputation and authority, and the users will always find answers to their inquiries in such a library. Purchase is the most common method of acquiring information resources, but gifts and swaps, as well as legal deposit, are sometimes used.

Importantly, because the legal researcher typically requires the most recent version of the legislation, as well as assurance that an accepted appropriate case has not been abused by a higher court, or that a status has not been altered, repealed, or declared unconstitutional.

Selection and procurement of legal materials or publications becomes a need, and frequent replenishment and up-dating rely on a number of methods.

Bad communication service, poor management of the library vote, poor quality of locally published books, inarticulate collection development policy, and other issues are experienced when selecting and purchasing legal resources. Both primary and secondary source materials, such as Acts of Parliament, Gazettes, Reports of Cases, Digest, volumes of legislation, etc., must be effectively and efficiently selected and collected by trained law librarians (Ali, Owoeye, & Anasi 2010).

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Selection Academic libraries in underdeveloped countries are being impacted by the current economic turmoil that is sweeping the globe. Inadequate finance, economic dislocations, a scarcity of current books, due process, and a lack of contemporary acquisition techniques are among the primary difficulties affecting material purchases in academic libraries, according to Anunobi (2012). According to Agyen-Gyasi et al. (2010), special libraries in Nigerian universities confront a number of issues, including rising material costs and limited budgets (that reduces the amount of materials to be acquired). and obtaining legal resources or publications becomes a challenge. As the law collection grew and expanded, it became clear that housing the materials in a separate apartment adjacent to the faculty of law was necessary if the law library was to justify its existence and fulfill its primary goal of serving the academic needs of the law faculty’s students and teachers. Law is obviously a specialized and highly technical subject, and because of this, it has become the preserve of a professional body of practitioners, distinguishing it from other disciplines in the social science group or other subject categories, necessitating the need for a well-balanced and up-to-date law library collection. However, selecting and acquiring resources for law libraries is fraught with difficulties. As a result, the purpose of this study is to examine the obstacles of acquiring library materials and providing services to users in the law library at Ekiti State University.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The overall goal of this research is to look into the issues of acquiring library materials and providing services to users at Ekiti State University’s law library. The study’s objectives are as follows:

To learn more about the types of legal materials that the faculty of law library has acquired and selected.

To determine who is involved in the selection and procurement of legal resources at the law library at the faculty of law.

To determine the tools utilized in the faculty of law library’s acquisition of legal materials.

To learn about the difficulties experienced in the faculty of law library’s selection and procurement of legal materials.

RESEARCH QUESTION

The overall goal of this research is to look into the issues of acquiring library materials and providing services to users at Ekiti State University’s law library. The study’s objectives are as follows:

The following question guides the investigation:

What kind of legal materials does the faculty of law library pick and acquire?

Who is involved in the selection and procurement of legal resources at the law library of the faculty of law?

What tools are employed in the faculty of law library’s selection and procurement of legal materials?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The conclusions of this study should be useful to the administration and employees of Nigeria’s national library, the Federal government, researchers, students, authors, lawyers, civil servants, publishers, and library and information science students. The findings of this study, if implemented, might be extremely beneficial to the management of Nigeria’s national library if the causes of gaps in acquisition and utilization are identified and corrected, particularly in the area of legal deposit. Publishers will be persecuted more vehemently if they do not comply. Authors will have a better understanding of the advantages of depositing their works with the National Library.If they deposit, their titles will be recorded in the Nigerian National Bibliography, which is a useful selection tool; their works would be standard since standard numbers for publications will be assigned; and there will be numerous other advantages. Obtaining copies for evidence in court will no longer be a problem for lawyers. Only the National Library provides certified true copies of documents, which poses a dilemma for lawyers when they are unavailable. Students and scholars will always have access to resources that will help them in their educational endeavours.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study’s focus is on the issues of acquiring library materials and providing services to users in Ekiti State University’s law library. The study determined those involved in the selection and acquisition of legal resources at the faculty of law library, as well as the categories of legal materials obtained and selected at the faculty of law library. It will highlight the challenges encountered in the selection and acquisition of legal resources at the faculty of law library, as well as the instruments employed in the acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library. The study is confined to Ekiti State University’s Law Library, Law Library Librarian, Dean Faculty of Law, Law Lecturers, and other Library Staff.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The researchers ran into some minor roadblocks while conducting the study, as with any human endeavor. The researcher faced a significant constraint in the form of a lack of literature on the subject due to the nature of the discourse, which resulted in higher financial costs and more time spent sourcing relevant materials, literature, and data collection, which is why the researcher chose a small sample size. In addition, the researcher will do this research while also working on other academic projects. Furthermore, because only a few people were chosen to reply to the research instrument, the sample size was confined to librarians and law library users at Ekiti State University. As a result, the conclusions of the study cannot be applied to other products. Despite the limitations faced during the research, all aspects were minimized in order to provide the best results and ensure the research’s success.

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