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Management And Use Of Legal Deposit Materials By Libraries For Effective User Support In The National Library Of Nigeria
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Government documents, serials and monographs are useful in this case.
Legal deposit materials are very important in collection development.
This is because the depository or national library does not spend money
in acquiring them. They are deposited freely by the publishers. Ifidon
and Ifidon (2007) opined that if full advantage is taken of it (legal
deposit materials) as is the case of developed countries, the collection
can be swelled significantly. They also contain current information and
information on different disciplines.
Lawyers also make use of it as
the Certified True Copy (CTC) for conflict resolution among authors in
the court of law. It is the only copy accepted in the court and a
librarian from the National Library of Nigeria usually goes with the
material for subpoena. This is because it is the copy regarded as
authentic. Students also find the legal deposit materials useful in
their educational pursuit. Ezema and Okafor (2009). Civil servants are
also great users of the legal deposit materials particularly the
government publications. The official gazettes are used for
certification and authentication in government offices. They serve as
credentials for leave of absence, first and second appointments, date of
promotion, transfer of service, etc. These records are of great use in
these government offices. Other users of the legal deposit materials are
current affairs seekers and job seekers. These people seek information
on job placements and current happenings contained in newspapers.
Ajidahun in Owairu (2010) stated that despite the importance of
newspapers, the prices are beyond most individual purchasing power.
Hence, most Nigerians rely on libraries that offer free services to keep
abreast of current information. The National Library of Nigeria is one
such library and the legal deposit materials are library resources that
serve this great purpose. Bibliographic control is useful in providing
information on the existence of information bearing materials,
identifying the works contained in them, systematically pulling together
these information resources, and producing lists and access points to
their retrieval. This makes for easy access and utilization of the
materials. The legal deposit according to Line and Line (1979) helps the
national libraries fulfill international goal of Universal
Bibliographic Control through the local bibliographic control. It
achieves this through the legal deposit or by Cataloguing- in
–Publication (CIP) Data in Library of Congress, for instance, or through
collection development policies which target book markets in other
nations. National Library of Nigeria also provides Cataloguing –in –
Publication Data for these legal deposit materials. Another function of
the legal deposit is that it is the nation’s memory or information bank.
The legal deposit materials have a lot of potentials in them as
indispensable library resources. They educate, inform and equip the
users. This also gives the users the springboard to contribute
effectively to the society. They make Nigeria distinct as a country and
give her an identity in the committee of nations. This is in line with
Okwilagwe in Ola and Osagie (2011) who posited that books record a
people`s experience and artifact. For instance The Nigerian Yearbook
published and printed by ‘Times Press (Nigeria)’, Apapa contains all
that one needs to know about Nigeria. Chinua Achebe`s Things Fall Apart
bears the culture of a particular group of people, the Igbos in Eastern
Nigeria. The legal deposit materials help to advertise the Nigerian
indigenous authors and publishers internationally through the standard
numbers given by the National Library of Nigeria. These include the
International Standard Book Number (ISBN), International Standard Serial
Number (ISSN), and International Standard Music Number (ISMN), Apart
from the aim of preserving books for future generations, other
objectives of the legal deposit system include the constitution of a
national bibliography and accessibility for research purposes of a
collection of the nations published materials. Adrienne (2005)
buttressing this opined that the purpose of the legal deposit is to
preserve and provide longterm access to the national intellectual
heritage. This is the hallmark of a good library.
Hence, the
accessibility of these materials through effective user support is what
attracts users to the library. A user who hurries to the library as an
information pool or bank turns back in disappointment if his or her
information need is not met by the library, as a result of none
availability of needed material, or complications in accessing the
material.
The National Library of Nigeria through its managerial
efficiency provides also access points to the legal deposit materials.
These according to Owen (2007) include consultation with staff, indexes,
library catalogue, and abstract, with the sole aim of satisfying the
users. However, the guarantee of access to legal deposit materials
depends on factors affecting legal deposit libraries(Nsibirwa, Hoskins
and Stilwell 2011). These factors as identified by these authors include
implementation of the Legal Deposit Act; other legislation affecting
access to legal deposit collection and preservation of materials; and
methods of managing the materials. These factors unveils managerial
ineffectiveness in the library. Hence influencing users experience
negatively. In the view of the above, this study is focused on
management and use of legal deposit materials by libraries for effective
user support in the National Library of Nigeria.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study was carried out on the management and use of legal deposit materials by libraries for effective user support in the national library of Nigeria. To achieve this, thee significant research objectives were formulated. The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study. The population size comprises of librarians from five departments offering library services in National Library Of Nigeria, Abuja. In determining the sample size, the resea ... Continue reading---
