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