Participants at the retreat organised for librarians and library officers held simultaneously in Nasarawa and Delta states have commended the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, and the permanent secretary, Mr David Adajor, for what they called an opportunity to interact among themselves towards the exchange of ideas like hybrid library services, especially in unity schools.
Speaking on ‘The Imperatives of Enhancing Hybrid Library Services in the Face of Emerging Technology’, Mr. B.O Awunandu, director, Library Services at the Federal Ministry of Education reminded participants that the workshop was a wake-up call to acquire needed skills and knowledge that would make them relevant in this era of technological advancement in library services in their various schools.
He said, “Library services currently combine conventional and automated approaches and this presents novel challenges to librarians and their clientele.”
Awunandu stated that the workshop is an annual event of the ministry under Adamu Adamu to ensure that library services as one of the 10 pillars in the Ministerial Strategic Plan is strengthened by paying attention to human element in the chain resources needed to deliver effective, quality, current and all-encompassing library services required in the Federal Unity Colleges across the country.
Part of the thematic areas under discourse included the introduction to the use of hybrid library, challenges associated with hybrid library, resources management in a hybrid library, staff motivation and adaptation in a hybrid library, ethics of managing a hybrid library, unique library services in a hybrid library, among others.
While expressing their benefits from the workshop, participants stated that they have been taught lessons that would make them function better in their duty posts when they return to their schools.
In a communique released by the participants at the end of the retreat, it was resolved that hybrid library is a new trend and a phenomenon in librarianship that should co-exist with the conventional library provided that librarians embrace the knowledge and skill of ICT.
