An Assessment of the School Library Literature in Nigeria, With Emphasis on the Impact of School Libraries on Educational Performance
Abstract
The school/library resource centre was popularized as an integral component of pre-tertiary education, particularly from the turn of the twentieth century. Many librarians and educators have conducted investigations into the relevance of the school library and the relationship between such an institution and learning generally. Most of these studies, however, were conducted in the developed countries.
In Nigeria, few studies have investigated the place of the school library in education. This paper reiterates the invaluable educational role of the school library, and reviews the various attempts made to uncover the wide-ranging effects of the provision and use of collections of school learning resources. Only the literature considered highly significant has been reviewed.
Introduction
It has been established through research in most parts of the developed world that a well-stocked, professionally-staffed school library will result in individualized learning and improved students' performance throughout the school curriculum. Most of the proponents of school libraries see a need for a multimedia approach to resource provision since children learn through a different media. They also believe that children learn faster when various learning resources are utilized in the teaching/learning process. In Nigeria, however, there is a dearth of research efforts to determine precisely the nature of the relationship between the library and education at the pre/tertiary school.
However, a handful of literature exists on the issue of poor standards for school libraries in Nigeria, and the need to improve such services for the benefit of children and the nation at large. Having established the invaluable role of the school library in the educational system, some writers have on occasions urged the government to come to the rescue of Nigerian school libraries. Common problems identified include the lack of awareness and apathy on the part of the government and school staff, paucity of trained library personnel and professional leadership, and financial limitations, among others.
The Literature
Most of the local literature relating to the educational role and effect of school libraries in Nigeria reflect the universal goals and roles considered common to standard school libraries, which are also in harmony with the overall objectives of the schools that they serve. Very few are actually based on the results of firsthand, indepth investigations in the country.
In an analysis of issues related to the school library in Nigeria, S. O. Igwe [1] observed that we can no longer rely on human memory or oral tradition for accurate preservation of cultural values and that good libraries in schools, villages, and cities will be an essential and precious instrument for the achievement of literacy freedom of speech and a well-informed citizenry. He noted that experience and research have shown that a good library adds a new breadth to learning. After analyzing the problems, Igwe concluded that the alleged falling educational standard in Nigeria could partially be attributed to the lack of good school libraries.
The first major project that provided an initial impetus to school library development in Nigeria was the Federal School Library Service, which became operational in 1964. This was an UNESCO "Pilot project on school libraries in Africa," and involved the establishment of a model school and college library service, albeit restricted to the Territory of Lagos, to show Nigeria and other African countries the value of the school library, how it should be provided for, and organized. In a write-up entitled, Federal School Library Service, J. O. Fadero [2] described the pilot project in detail, observing that the influence of the project has cut across most of Africa. However, no attempt was made to precisely evaluate the effects of such a service on the education of children in the Lagos area or elsewhere in Nigeria.
Probably no institution has contributed more to the propagation of the school resource library concept in Nigeria than the Abadina Media Resource Centre (AMRC), established in 1973 by the University of Ibadan on its campus. Above all, the centre provided national leadership in the development of school libraries in Nigeria, the formation of a virile association (the Nigerian School Library Association), and the production of a valuable publicity instrument (the Nigerian School Library Journal). F. A. Ogunsheye [3] [4] reported that the greatest contribution of the AMRC was the research experiment carried out (1974-1980) to find out whether access to libraries and, especially, library use education have any identifiable effect on the education of Nigerian primary school children. Using the experimental research design and appropriate statistical tests, the results of study indicated a significant relationship between exposure to library enrichment programmes and the educational achievement of children studied. As indicated by Ogunsheye, the Abadina project has revealed conclusively "the strong independent educational role of the media resource centre on child development in a median developing country." [5]
In an indepth study of the educational process in Nigeria with special reference to Oyo State, S. A. Ogunranti revealed a series of inherent problems, and suggested a functional educational resource centre in schools. He revealed the alarming failure rate in West African School Certificate examination (42-48 percent and as poor as 10 percent in educationally backward states) and associated this with the inadequacy of the teaching staff. The implication of this poor staffing pattern is the lack of innovative and creative teaching, thus leading to poor student performances. Ogunranti found a solution in the provision of good learning resources. [6]
Although this study was based on a 1976/1977 survey, it is still valid, as the situation then is still tenable in the nineties. In yet another discussion on the /The role of Education Technology (ET) in education," Ogunranti reiterated similar problems in Nigerian education, and he observed that something has to be done—quicky. He specifically noted that
This is where educational technologies assume a role of providing ET as THE CONCEPT—not only the principle but also the practice to find solutions to the educational conceptual problems of today...ET implies using all educational resources and planning strategies to improve educational quality and or to satisfy national (or state's) educational aspirations, needs, and objectives. [7]
His panacea for Nigeria's pre-tertiary educational degeneration is the introduction of "resource-based learning."
An official document of special significance to the Nigerian educational system and its central supportive agency—the school library —is the National Policy on Education(1981(. The history of this policy document is given an indepth coverage by I. O. Osokoya. [8] This policy paper has lots of implications for Nigerian school libraries. For one, it demonstrates official realization of the contributions that the school library can make in education and overall development of Nigerians. It indicates government intention to provide a network of functional school libraries and media centres at various levels (federal, state, and local). Sections 3 and 10 of the policy are particularly relevant to the school library sector. Under Section 3, the government promised to
(1) Provide junior libraries for primary school children.
(2) Ensure that all schools are properly equipped to promote sound and effective teaching, and in particular, that suitable textbooks and libraries are provided for schools.
(3) Establish a school library service and ensure that teachers are given in-service training in the management and organization of school libraries.
(4) Set up an audio-visual aid development centre of the Federal Ministry of Education in Kaduna and continue to provide funds in order to expand its facilities so as to bring its services within the reach of each school.[9]
In Section 10, where the value of ET is acknowledged, government has planned to build a network of Teachers' Resource Centres and provide radio and television broadcasts for school. [10]
As rightly observed by M. H. Wali, [11] references to school libraries in the white paper are significant for three reasons. Firstly, they show what the national government sees as the role of the library in the educational system. Secondly, they provide categorical statements of commitment by the government to provide learning resource services in all schools. Thirdly, the paper highlights the value of school librarianship in teacher education.
Both before and after the publication and implementation of the National Policy on Education, some opinion papers have appeared which examine and discuss the part that the school library has to play in all tiers of education for the successful implementation of the policy. For example, the 1978 annual conference of the Nigerian School Library Association held in Benin was dedicated to "School Library and National Policy on Education." Discussions of special relevance were those led by D. F. Elaturoti,[12] J. O. Fadero,[13] P. A. Njouka,[14] and W. Onyeonwu [15] on the role of school libraries in the implementation of the policy at the primary, secondary, and teacher-training levels, and with emphasis on handicapped children in each. Such literature has highlighted what and how learning resource services should be provided at the various levels of pre-tertiary education in Nigeria.
A vital category of studies worthy of note are projects carried out by Nigerian students in both Nigerian and foreign library schools, particularly at the baccalaureate and master's levels. A few of such projects have been undertaken in the Nigerian school library arena. But for obvious reasons —like insufficient time, experience, and finance—many of these studies have often been more peripheral and brief than indepth and this portrays their limitations. They could, however, provide basic information and generate an insight into areas of more serious empirical investigations.
A good example of studies in this category is the work of S. O. Durodola, which is about "The effects of using library resources on the academic performance of students in three Federal Government Colleges in Lagos State" in 1987. He found out that the selected schools had fairly good libraries and that the students (66.6 percent) made good use of the materials available. But the study was inconclusive as a relationship between school library usage and students' examination performance could not be established. Durodola concluded that students' family backgrounds and good nursery/primary school attendance, among others, could be the variables responsible for good performance, and that the fairly high failure rate in some subjects could not be totally related to the fact that those subjects were inadequately represented in the library collections or library resource utilization. [16]
Conclusion
Many teachers and librarians would readily accept that the school library is a desirable unit in the school, and some might even go so far as to say that it has a valuable part to play in the educational programme. [17] But when pressed beyond this rather intuitive response and asked to expand upon their acceptance of a school library, problems appear. Secondly, current official government position regarding school libraries, as evident in the National Policy on Education, is also based on the same assumption of their value.
Three decades of existence is not too short a duration for librarians and educators to start finding out whether the expansion of school libraries does help, or has actually helped, to improve the quality of education in Nigeria. Just as E. Fain once indicated about the American situation, this question had not been seriously asked "so long as everyone assumed at the outset that 'public school' and 'school library' were good things." [18] This writer believes that questions about the real significance or effectiveness of libraries in the Nigerian educational process should be more seriously and scientifically posed. This belief rests on the premise that without indepth findings on which to base an opinion, the allocation of resources and responsibilities is hard to justify, especially in the current financial stringency that Nigeria is witnessing.
Finally, although limited work has been done on the relevance of learning resources in Nigeria, the literature related to the subject under review covers, to a great extent, the southern part of the country—an area with a comparatively longer history of Western education and more established library services than the northern region. In fact, no serious work has been done to determine the information needs of school children, the nature of school resource services available, or the effects of such services (or the dearth of them) on the education of children and young adults in northern Nigeria. The only exception perhaps was a doctoral investigation by this writer on the use of library resources and educational achievements of secondary school students in Borno State. [19] This does create a pressing need to have a closer and more critical look at the school library scene in the northern zone and the entire nation at large. The study in question employed the "randomized pretest-postest control group experimental design" to investigate the reading activities of selected secondary school students in Borno State during a specific period, and their learning outcomes were measured using appropriate tests. The study indicated a strong and decisive role of good school library use on students' academic achievement.
This review shows that only a limited attempt has been made to study the school library situation in Nigeria, although it is perceived a sub-system of the school. As rightly observed by J. E. Lowrie,
...in the field of school librarianship there is a need to establish a core of research workers who will understand the importance of indirect approaches to the solution of educational problems...and probe for those guidelines needed to develop the yet unknown possibilities in school librarianship. [20]
References
[1] Igwe, S. O. "The School Library in Nigerian Education: An Analysis of Issues and Problems," Bendel Library Journal 5-1 (1982): 6-21.
[2] Fadero, J. O. "Federal School Library Services," Nigerian Libraries 4-4 (1968): 63-68.
[3] Ogunsheye, F. A. "Learning Resources and Education for Living," Nigerian School Library Journal 2-1 (1970-80): 2-3.
[4] —, Effects of Library Use Education Programme on Academic Achievement and Social Development of the Primary School Child (Ibadan: University of Ibadan Press, 1987#41;: 129.
[5] Ibid: 67.
[6] Ogunranti, S. A. A Conceptual Plan for a Functional Educational Resource system as a Core to Create Learning Environment In Oyo State (As a Sample State) In Nigeria—With Emphasis on Secondary School Grammar School Level. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis (Indiana: Indiana University, 1977)
[7] —, "The Role of Educational Technology (ET) in Education" Nigerian School Library Journal 2-2 (1981-84): 12-13.
[8] Osokoya, I. O. 6-3-3-4 Education in Nigeria: History, Strategies, Issues and Problems (Lagos: Bisinaike Educational Publishers and Printers, 1987): 108.
[9] Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Education, Education in Nigeria: History, Strategies, Issues and Problems (Lagos: Bisinaike Educational Publishers and Printers, 1987): 108.
[10] Ibid: 42-43.
[11] Wali, M. H. "The Role of School Libraries," Nigerian School Library Journal 1-1 (1978): 37.
[12] Elaturoti, D. F. "The Role of the School Library In the Implementation of the National Policy on Education at the Primary School Level," Nigerian School Library Journal 1-2 (1979): 25-29.
[13] Fadero, J. O. "The Role of School Libraries In the Implementation of the National Policy on Education at the Secondary School Level," Nigerian School Library Journal 1-2 (1979): 30-34.
[14] Njoku, P. A. "The Role of School Libraries In the Implementation of the National Policy on Education As Applied to Teacher Education," Nigerian School Library Journal 1-2 (1979): 41-45.
[15] Onyeonwu, W. "The Role of School Libraries In the Implementation of the National Policy on Education As Applied to Teacher Education," Nigerian School Library Journal 1-2 (1979): 35-40.
[16] Durodola, S. O. "The Effects of Using Library Resources On the Academic Performance of Students In Three Federal Government Colleges in Lagos State." Unpublished MLS dissertation (Ibadan: University of Ibadan, 1987).
[17] Young, P. E. and M. K. Grimes, "The School Library: An Under-Powered Resource," Education Libraries Bulletin 23-1 (1980): 80.
[18] Fain, E. "The Library and American Education: Education Through Secondary School," Library Trends 27-3 (1979): 348.
[19] Shaibu, S. "The Use of Library Resources and Educational Achievements of Secondary School Students In Maiduguri Zone of Borno State." Unpublished Ph. D. thesis (Ibadan: University of Ibadan, 1994).
[20] Lowrie, L. J. "A Review of Research In School Librarianship" In Research Methods in Librarianship: Measurement and Evaluation. Herbert, G., ed. (Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science, 1968): 64.
About the author
Samaila Shaibu is Lecturer, Department of Library Science, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria