CHAPTER ONE:

WHY WE STUDY THE USE OF LIBRARY

Mass production of information is known as information explosion.

What is Librarianship?
A librarianship is the process of managing the things in the library or a
profession concerned with acquiring and organizing collection of books and
related materials in the libraries and servicing readers and others with these
resources. The five laws of library science formulated by Ranganathan (1931)
state:
a. Books are for use.
b. Every reader his or her book.
c. Every book its reader.
d. Save the time of the reader.
e. The library is a growing organism.
Without studying the use of library, these laws will be of no use. Ranganathan’s
laws imply that each book written and published by someone have a reader in
mind, and each user has a book in mind to satisfy his/her information need

Who should study the use of library?

100level students, postgraduates, direct entry students… blah-blah.

BENEFITS ON STUDYING THE USE OF LIBRARY

1. In order to be familiar with various information retrieval tools
2. To know the rules and regulations in the library
3. To know how to use library information resources
4. To know how to apply various information retrieval tools
5. To obtain various information resources for research, assignments etc

WHY STUDY THE USE OF LIBRARY?

1) To avoid frustration and discouragement when using educational
equipment or library resources
2) To enforce the five laws of Ranganathan [of Library science]
 3) To expose students to various library information resources
4) To acquire and organize the libraries’ resources
5) To easily be able to locate sources related to one’s information needs

CHAPTER TWO:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIBRARIES

What is a Library?
We can define a library as a collection of books or a storehouse of books. A more
professionally acceptable definition today however would be “a collection of
organized knowledge in all forms- made up of book and non-book materials.”
More than a collection of books, a library is an assemblage of human knowledge
in all its ramifications acquired, organized, stored, preserved for easy retrieval and
dissemination.

Historical development of libraries

The library, as an institute, extends back to scrolls, papyri, and clay tablets, far
older than books, paper, and printing today. The earliest system for storing and
transmitting information was language. First, it was by word of mouth, but it had
its limitations such as being ephemeral, liable to distortions, being localized. The
second was by writing.
The story of books and libraries is closely interwoven with the story of writing.
The first books were crude pictures carved on rocks, barks of trees, cloth, animal
skins etc. With their coming came the necessity to keep them, preserve them, and
make them accessible for later generations’ use.
Hence, throughout all its centuries of existence, the library has had three main
functions: to acquire, preserve and make materials available. Ancient history
traces early civilizations to Tigris-Euphrates valley of Mesopotamia and the Nile
Valley.
The oldest form of writing cuneiform was invented by the Sumerians, their scribes
baking the clay tablet books which forms the first libraries, and by 2700BC, they
had established private, religious, and government libraries. The one in Telloh had
over 30 000 tablets.
They passed their culture to the Babylonians who had libraries including the
library of Borsippa (which had scribes of Assurbanipal, King of Assyria copy the
stone tablets and stored at) the one at Nineveh. Assyria also, existed alongside
Babylon, and inherited the Sumerian’s language and method of writing.
Egypt and China around 3000BC flourished simultaneously, with the Egyptians
having a form of writing called hieroglyphics, writing materials of papyrus and a
brush-like pen and developing an alphabet made up of 24 consonants while the
Chinese had their writing instruments of stylus, quill, and brush pen.
The Phoenicians are a race that cannot be overemphasized in the development of
books and libraries, as they imported and exported culture all along the
Mediterranean. Traders who were not literary at writing books, they spread the
knowledge and use of alphabetic characters, which formed the basis for Greek
and other European writing.
Early second millennium B.C, Greece became the center of a highly developed
civilization. The fifth century B.C was the golden age of Greek civilization: the
tragedies Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides; the lyric poetry of Pindar; the
histories of Thucydides and Herodotus; the comedies of Aristophanes, and the
philosophies of Socrates. This period is also referred to as the Classical age.
The Middle Ages saw the reign of Cassinodorus in Southern Italy establishing the
monastic community of Vivarium. He set up a great library with literature
manuscripts and a scriptorium for the copying of literature. Charles the Great
(Charlemagne) made efforts to raise the educational level of his subjects, a period
called the Carolingian Renaissance.
In early times, a university was a kind of guild filled with teachers and empowered
by religious or civil governments to grant degrees, and even today, the academic
heart of a University is its library.
Johann Gutenberg, a German inventor, invented the printing with many movable
types, and this led to the printing of the 42-line Bible called the Gutenberg Bible
between 1450 and 1456. The first printed works are called incunabula, meaning
“cradle”.
The period of 1500-1900 saw libraries flourishing in parts of Europe and America.
Private philanthropists who have been of great benefits to libraries are Andrew
Carnegie, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford foundation.
In Africa, only four countries were independent by 1950: Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia,
and South Africa, and all in all, the library development in Africa was affected by:
funds, illiteracy, innumerable local languages, and the expensiveness of books.
Library development in Africa can be viewed in these four regional divisions of the
continent.
1) Arab states of North Africa: They share a common language, Arabic, with an
extensive literature and a century old library legacy, which sometimes
impedes efforts at modernization.
2) French speaking Middle Africa: Elites use French, but most of the
population speak local languages, and European library traditions are
clearly seen.
3) English speaking Middle Africa: These include former British territories such
as Liberia, and Ethiopia, and British and American library influences are
predominant.
4) Southern Africa: Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe are a part of this region,
with South Africa at the forefront.

Important dates:

1949- first library legislation in English-speaking Africa, Ghana

1955- existence of the National Library of Nigeria in the Eastern region
1959- library legislation in Sierra Leone
1963- library legislation in Tanzania
1964- library legislation in Uganda
1965- library legislation in Kenya
1968- library legislation in Malawi
1964- Existence of the National Library of Nigeria
1870- Largest National Library in Africa, Cairo (by 1970 it had over a million
volumes)
1818- National Library in South Africa
1880- National Library in Algeria
1883- National Library in Tunisia
1944- National Library in Ethiopia
1949- National Library in Ghana
1964- National Library in Nigeria

Modern librarianship in Nigeria can be traced to Professor W. John Harris when

he established the University College, Ibadan in 1948.
1920- Lagos book club formed
1932- Inauguration of Lagos Library
1943- opening of British Council Library, Lagos
1952- Libraries services stated in the Northern Region
1955- Regional Library Board established by the Eastern Regional government
1964- National Library act, Nigerian
1970- National Library decree

Prominent Nigerians with interest in books and libraries: Henry Carr, Herbert
Macaulay, Tom Jones.

CHAPTER THREE:
INFORMATION AND ITS USES
A role of information in this present information era is that it provides people
with a sense of achievement, security, and ability to control. Some scholars re
beginning to regard information as the 4th economic resource after land, labor,
and capital.

Definition of Information:
Information has been defined as many things by different people:
1) Faibisoff and Ely(1974): Information is that which reduces uncertainty
2) Aina(2004): Information can be viewed as facts, figures, symbols, news,
ideas, and messages capable of increasing the knowledge state of the
recipient.
 3) Aina, Mutula, and Taimiyu(2000): a meaning communication symbols
transfer between any two points in human communication or machine
network.
4) Buckland(1991):
a. Information as process: the act of informing, communicating of the
knowledge or news of some fact or occurrence
b. Information as knowledge: that which reduces of increases
uncertainty
c. Information as a thing

Information types and Classification

Instructions: information that guides behaviour in a particular way
Command: Information that give very straightforward statements on what is
allowed and what is not.
Advisory: Somewhat watered down command messages, there will be
recommendations in some situations, and information to allow planning in others
Answers: Provided in response to an enquiry that has already been made
Historical: Used to look back at the state of a variable over a period of time.
Predictive: Enables the examination of the current value an d indicates any likely
change in the future
Types of information:
Factual: Just for the facts. Could be located in dictionaries
Analytical: More for interpretation, analysis, and criticism. Sources include: Books,
Articles in Journals, Subject Encyclopaedia Interpretations.
Objective: Information without bias. Sources include: Encyclopaedias, Subject
dictionaries.
Subjective: Information related to personal opinions, feelings, evaluation. Sources
include: Books, Periodicals, Classmates, Media.
Primary: Information in its original form. An example is a research article on the
discovery of a new virus. Sources include: Research journals, firsthand accounts,
Diaries.
Secondary: Information that leads to primary sources.
Need for Information
 An aid in decision making
 Will have a transforming effect on human beings receiving it
 Information generates new information
 Helps in better management of manpower, materials, production etc
 Helps scientists, engineers, scholars etc to get well informed in their
respective fields
 Helps in avoiding duplication
Information is defined as data that is used by people to make sense of the world.
It can be instrumental (like in organizational decision making), or effective (when
used to motivate). Information literacy has to do with the ability to locate,
manage, and use information from a range of sources for problem analysis,
decision making, and research.
Some barriers to the use of information includes: not being aware of the
information, not knowing what information is needed or available, not knowing
what questions to ask, not knowing the sources for the information

Ethical Use of Information

Copyright: a legal right by the laws on a country granting the creator of an original
work exclusive rights for its use and distribution, usually for a limited time. In
general, copyright protects the format of expressions
Plagiarism: Fishman(2009): Among the many kinds of academic dishonesty,
plagiarism garners an unequalled amount of attention. It comes to us from the
Latin word for kidnapper. It entails copying, stealing, passing of as one’s own of
another person’s work.

CHAPTER 4
BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE OF INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT AND RELIGION

The Bible is the inspired Word of God. It has its relevance in every field of human
endeavors. Referred to as the Scripture, the Covenant, the Law, and the
Testament, it presents evidence that can be applicable in information
management. It serves as a guide to every professional. It is a source of
inspiration and a guide for everyone who believes in God. It supports the need for
diligent search for information as information professionals before providing
access to users.
Information can be acquired from different sources, but the Bible is the only one
that provides the all-time knowledge that can make one succeed in their career,
including that of information management.
Information Management concerns itself with the control of how information is
created, acquired, organized, stored, distributed, and used as a means of
promoting efficient and effective information access, processing, and used by
people and organizations (Detlor, 2010). Information management focuses on the
organizations’ ability to capture, manage, preserve, store, and deliver the right
information. Revelation 1:8 tells us how we are to discharge our duties and the
Bible establishes that since God knows the beginning from the end, we need to
apply wisdom in searching for complete information from the beginning to the
end.
Health Information Management(HIM) is the process of preserving every
information obtained about a patient over the years, either in manual or digital
form which can facilitate easier use. The Bible’s account on HIM is in III John 2.
And the symbol of a serpent used by most hospitals is given account of in
Numbers 21: 7-9 where God told Moses to make a bronze serpent so that all who
were dying of snakebite would look upon it and live.
Knowledge can be regarded as the experience gained as a result of doing things
over time. The Bible presents the past and present evidences of the performance
of patriarchs and prophets for people to learn from and of.
Knowledge exists in two forms: Tacit (the experience gained over time that
cannot be expressed but remains ingrained in one’s mind. Can be inborn and is
not easily expressed) and Explicit (the experiences and skills gained overtime that
can be expressed).
Genesis 1:1 reveals the supremacy of God as the creator, and Hosea 4:6 reveals
God’s understanding of things that happen from the foundation of the world. The
Scriptures encourage us to acknowledge information, especially historical that
reveals experiences of people over the years. This knowledge is explicit, because
it can be demonstrated and expressed as a series of events. Revelation 1:1-3 says
more on this. The Bible is the source of inspiration in information and knowledge
management especially by making information available for users to and make
decisions.
Knowledge management is the systematic management of an organization’s
knowledge asset for the purpose of creating value and meeting tactical and
strategic requirements. Knowledge management is a formal way of determining
the information an organization possesses that could benefit others in the
organization. So as knowledge management is to preserve the experience gained
by organizations over the years for people to learn, so does the Bible provide
basic facts and revelations of things to come as expressed in Revelation 1:7, and
Daniel 12:4.
Information literacy deals with the ability of one to identify information needed,
and to search for the right information to satisfy the need. According to John
5:39, an information literate person should develop a good reading habit so that
he will be familiar with the things happening. Information literacy enhances one’s
performance, keeps one abreast of happenings with current and relevant
information that will aid in decision making of the organization, and, most
importantly, the information sector.

Benefits of the Bible in Information Management.

 Provides evidence suitable for the best practice of Information
Management.
 Explains past, present, and future happenings that will encourage
knowledge management.
 Encourages information professionals to be abreast of happenings through
studying.
 Serves as a guide that can be applied
 Establishes the source of the brazen serpent seen in hospitals today.

Religion
According to Merriam Webster, it is “the service and worship of God or the
supernatural”, “the commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance”.
Worship simply means honor. To honor means to give praise, prayer, hymns,
adoration, thanksgiving, and appreciation. To Christians, God is the Supreme
Being who created everything seen and unseen. A Christian is a follower of Christ.
Fallen angels are what we call ‘gods’. They were disobedient and sinned against
God. The Bible states how God created everything, as seen in the book of Genesis,
the first book of the Bible (Genesis 1:1&2)
There are over 3000 denominations of so-called Christians in the world today; so-
called because not all of those who profess to be Christians actually are
Christians. And there are many other religions who are non-Christian, and they
worship their gods as they have been taught, or believe they are reaching God
through another way. There are some people who don’t believe in God. Called
Atheists, they believe the world existed by chance.
Religion is a powerful tool in the hands of manipulators. Many have been
brainwashed into wreaking havoc due to the words of their spiritual leaders. Karl
Marx is quoted as saying, “Religion is the opium of the people,”.
Religion can affect students learning. Though religion should not be regulated,
God’s created beings must be reasonable in what they do. There is time for
everything. Know the religion you practice, know the people you follow. Those
who follow idols will look like them.

CHAPTER FIVE
WRITING MATERIALS AND PARTS OF A BOOK
Two important inventions in the history of education are the alphabets, and
writing materials. Spoken words came before writing, and writing involves
symbols. The first writings were crude pictures carved on stone, bark, whatever
material could be found and were of three kinds: pictographic(representing an
object), ideographic(representing the idea suggested by the object), and
phonographic(representing the sound of the object or idea)
Invention of paper as a writing material brought a new era to the writing industry.
Paper is defined as “a flexible web or mat of fibers isolated from wood or other
plants material by the operation of pulping.
A book is made up of sheets of printed paper. It is defined as a collection of leaves
of paper, parchment, or other material(written, printed or blank) fastened
together at one edge, with or without a protective case or cover.
Parts of a Book
 Cover Jacket: Usually not regarded as part of a book, it is not sewn or glued
to the book. The cover jacket is usually an attractive polythene, or strong
paper to withstand the pressure of handling. It acts as an advertisement,
containing information like the title, the author, the edition, the publisher,
the ISBN(International Standard Book Number)
 Binding: This holds the leaves together. It protects the book from damage
and makes for easy handling. The front cover of the binding has the title
and the author. The back has the author, a brief biography, and insight on
the book and its ISBN. The spine also has the title, surname of the author,
and logo of the publisher
 Preliminary pages: Pages that precede the main text of the book. They
include the flyleaf, half-title page, frontispiece, title page, copyright page,
dedication page, preface, table of content, list of illustrations page,
introduction page, and(for some books) a prologue.
o Flyleaves: blank pages next to the endpapers. First and last leaves of
the book
o Frontispiece: illustration, graph, or picture preceding the title page
o Half-title page: contains the title of the book, but not in full
o Preface: introduces the reader to the author and gives his/her
reasons for writing the book.
A book has two sides; recto(the right hand side) and the verso(left-hand page)
 Text: This is the main body of the book
 Auxiliary pages
o Appendix: references made in the body but not explained are
mentioned here
o Bibliography: List of books or articles the author used in writing the
book
o Glossary: the dictionary of the book; explaining or defining technical
terms used in the book
o Footnotes: could be placed at the bottom of each page, or in a
section for notes. A type of bibliography, but placed differently
o Index: A list of topics discussed in the text, arranged alphabetically
with page reference.
CHAPTER SIX
TYPES OF LIBRARIES
Libraries are similar in function, but different in objectives. They care categorized
according to their use and content. They are:
1. Academic Libraries: A generic term used to refer to libraries established in
places like universities, polytechnics, and other tertiary institutions. They
support academic objectives of the parent institution. Hence, its primary
objective is to meet the information needs of the staff, student, host
community, and global community at large. Some of its functions include:
to provide materials required for the academic programs of the university
etc, provision of conducive accommodation for study and research etc
2. School Libraries: Established in nursery, primary, and secondary schools to
aid and support teaching and learning. Its main objective is to encourage
the reading habits of the pupils and develop their zeal to be independent
3. National Libraries: Established by a sovereign nation as the apex library to
collect, acquire, store, preserve, and disseminate information resources
published within the country, about the country, and by any citizen of the
country. Some examples include: The Library of Congress(the national
library of the USA and the biggest library in the world), the British
Library(the UK), Bibliotheque Nationale(France)
4. Public Libraries: established and owned by state or local government to
meet the information. Regarded as the layman’s University style. Use
mobile vans. Functions of public libraries include: Education, Promotion
and Preservation of culture, Provision of Information, Creation of
relaxation, and creative centers.
5. Special libraries: These are libraries established to meet the needs of a
particular organization through the provision of specialized information
resources based on the objectives of the parent organization.
6. Private Libraries: These are libraries established, owned and funded by
individuals of families. The collection could be single or multiple discipline.
The major function of a private library is to provide specialized information
services to the owner.
7. Virtual Library: This is a library in which the information collections are in an
electronically accessible format. Reitz(2004) “a library without walls”.
Virtual libraries exist in virtual space. Some of its advantages include:
reduces physical space taken up by library materials, often adds and
 enhances searching capabilities in a digital format, allows for multiple,
concurrent users, less labor intensive etc. Some disadvantages include:
difficulties in downloading and printing, every product has a distinctive
user interface, users need to remember different passwords for different
interfaces.

CHAPTER 7
SECTIONS IN THE LIBRARY
Administrative Section: charged with the responsibility of managing, leading,
controlling, supervising and coordinating all library affairs. Library administration
involves planning, organizing, controlling, leading and motivating staff and other
library resources towards achieving set goals
Acquisition Section: All library materials are selected and acquired by the
acquisition section. It oversees all processes involved in obtaining library
resources which could be through purchase, gifts, donations, exchange, and legal
deposit. Functions of the acquisition section: selection, ordering, receiving and
processing, statistics(record).
Cataloging section: It is responsible for the bibliographic control of library
collection. It sees to cataloging and classification of library materials
Serials section: This section is responsible for the management of periodicals such
as journals, newspapers, etc
Readers’ services section: This is charged with the responsibility of making
materials available to users. It is typically the image maker of the library. It
consists of circulation, reference, and reserved units.
Reference section: In disseminating information to users, answering reference
questions, and providing bibliographic services to library users.
Audio-visual section: This section houses, organizes, preserves and disseminates
audio-visual materials such as tapes, slides, microforms(types of microforms- the
red microform, microfiche, micro-card, and microprint), videotapes.
Reprographic section: Reproduces materials through photocopying, microfilming,
duplicating, and so on.
Information Technology section: This manages all the digital library collections
and provides automated and digital library services. WEBOPAC- Web Online
Public Access Catalogue
Special collections: Holds projects, dissertations, and theses of students
undertaking degree programs in the University.
Archives and Documentation Section: A collection of records or documents with
lasting values that are important to individuals and organizations

CHAPTER EIGHT
CIRCULATION/LOAN DESK ACTIVITIES
Librarians at the Circulation desk can also be referred to as Reader’s services
librarians because they perform the same function.
Attitude and Qualities of a Circulation Worker:
The workers at the circulation desk must show good behavior towards their users.
They are expected to be outgoing, have the tendency to like people, must be
polite, and maintain good public relations. They must also maintain honesty, be
user-friendly, cheerful, and peaceful.
Duties of circulation desk Librarians:
These include registration of users, give out library tickets which would enable
them to borrow books from the library.
Enquiries:
Workers must be well trained to disseminate the right information to users at the
right time.

Loaning Books:
Every book borrowed at the library must be registered at the circulation desk.
Before the users can become bonafide library users, they must be registered. All
students are restricted to two books on loan for two weeks (14 days). It is also the
duty of circulation desk staff to send overdue notices to the patron.

CHAPTER NINE
INFORMATION SOURCES/MATERIALS: BOOK FORMAT
Information Sources: The platforms or media on which information is
documented with the intention to store or preserve, manage, disseminate or
retrieve, and use.
Purpose of Information sources:
To inform and/or educate
To entertain/inspire/stir up emotion
To comment/satirize
To encourage a certain action or behavior

Categories of Information Sources:

Documentary/Print sources: These are also referred to as printed documents and
are often published and categorized into primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.
Primary documents include autobiographies, periodicals, theses, memorials,
speeches, lecture notes, diaries etc
Secondary documents include bibliographies, treatises, monographs, indexes,
textbooks etc.
Tertiary sources are information sources born as a result of the distillation and
collection of both primary and secondary resources. An example is Bibliography
of bibliographies.
Non-book/non-documentary sources
World Wide Web/automated sources

CHAPTER TEN
INFORMATION SOURCES/MATERIALS: AUDIO VISUAL/NON
BOOK
Non-book materials are also known as audio-visual materials. These are
documented information that combine sound with visual images.
Audio materials are the information materials that are process through sound
only. These are good for the blind. There are many information materials that
come in this format. Examples are audiobooks, audiocassettes, and audio disks
Visual materials are those that are seen. Visual materials are called visual aids
when they are part of teaching. These include motion pictures,
videocassettes(without sound production), slides, maps, models, charts, art work
etc.
Audiovisual materials are a combination of audio and visual. Examples are
videocassettes, video CDs, motion picture with a sound track to accompany it.
When this happens, the conglomeration is called a kit.
The World Wide Web: The World Wide Web is another vibrant source of
information to information seekers and researchers. It is a non-book source of
information. On the World Wide Web, you get more than you need, therefore,
one is required to sieve for what one wants.