The Vice-Chancellor, 水果派 of Nigeria聽(NOUN), Prof. Olufemi Peters, has stated that聽library in any academic environment plays an essential and indispensable role in supporting the curriculum and promoting research within聽a聽university community.
He said聽in every higher institution, library serves as the聽centre of every academic activity on which learning activities hinges聽making it impossible for聽higher institutions function without a fully operational聽one.
The Vice-Chancellor聽made these remarks on Monday, February 13, 2023, while declaring open a聽3-day KOHA聽Training聽Workshop聽organised by the NOUN Library for聽its聽staff聽at聽the university聽headquarters, Abuja.
Represented聽by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor,聽Technology,聽Innovation and Research (TIR), Prof. Monioluwa Olaniyi,聽he said聽“one of the reasons of establishing an academic institution is to have a library and not just having a library but also聽understanding its use because the world has gone global and we can only but key into what is of relevance.”
He聽emphasised the importance of training and retraining of staff in the university, saying聽that the training will聽鈥渆mpower our personnel and make us more useful not only to ourselves but to national and international聽development.聽Using an integrated management system gives us a lot of opportunities to be able to access resources that may not be available on your desk.”
Peterss聽congratulated the university librarian and her team for working assiduously to get the project running and expressed hopes that the library facilities will be of immense benefit to the academic staff and students of the university.
He聽charged the trainees to ensure that they have a good grasp of the workings of the software so as聽to be more efficient and effective in the delivery of their duties.
Earlier the聽University Librarian, Dr. Angela Okpala,聽said “KOHA is the first聽Open聽Source Integrated聽Management聽System and also the most popularly used in university libraries globally, as聽is placed first in the priority list of library professionals due to its unique and robust features.鈥
She said participants are professional librarians drawn from the NOUN central, faculties, and study centre libraries across the nation.
According to聽her,聽“the objective of the workshop is to equip the central library with all facilities, skills and competencies to integrate and service the zonal, faculty and study centre libraries and to provide remote access to library database to lecturers, students and researchers from anywhere in the world at their convenience and pace.”
Okpala explained that聽the training will also聽equip the staff with the skills needed to provide updated integrated information about resources in various formats available in the library.
The聽university聽librarian thanked the Vice-Chancellor for being a visionary聽leader聽and for making the training a reality.
Practical聽presentations and demonstrations were delivered by the resource person on the followings: An overview of KOHA LMS, workings of the聽KOHA OPAC and staff interface, patron management and related tools, cataloguing and related tools,聽circulation, serials and acquisition.
At the end of the 3-day training,聽participants were awarded certificates.