DRIVING SUSTAINABLE NATION BUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT THROUGH LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Driving sustainable nation building and development are tasks for all and sundry in the society. The actualization of these tasks requires the contributions of different sectors and segments of the society, including the library and information sector. No doubt, the developmental history of advanced climes and emerging economies is not complete without reference to the contributions of libraries, information and knowledge. There are different ways libraries and information services are contributing to the course of nation building and sustainable development. Specifically, libraries are instrumental to educational development, facilitate access to knowledge, enable all forms of literacy development, promote research and development in science and technology and allied areas, champion reading culture, project general societal transformations, among many others. Unfortunately, the nature and pattern of library development in Nigeria for service delivery is nothing to cheer. Apart from academic and special libraries that are receiving some level of attention, school libraries, public libraries, community information centres, and even the National Library of Nigeria and its branches across the nation appear neglected in the scheme of things in the country. This scenario, no doubt, affects the level of contributions of these libraries to nation building and sustainable development. This paper argues that despite the existence of the Internet and other information sources, there are strategic roles of libraries even in the emerging knowledge economy in Nigeria as aforementioned. The article also made case for repositioning library and information services in Nigeria for continuous contributions to nation building and sustainable development.