The critical role of libraries in academic institutions :Nerve ccnters of learning
By: Collence.T.CHISITA

Email:collencechisita@yahoo.com
zakstan@cooltoad.com
Harare Polytechnic Faculty of Information Science

It is noted that the basic characteristic of a good academic library is its total identification with its institution because the measure of its excellence is determined by the extent to which its resources and services support the academic pursuits of the institution. Khanna notes that a well stocked , well staffed and well organized library is definitely the sine qua non of a modern educational system because education without a library is tantamount to staging the famous Shakespearian play Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark or discussing African liberation without Nkrumah.1 Libraries in academic instructions play a critical role in the sense that they are reflective of our cultural metamorphosis and maturation and also a response to the total communication pattern of modern society .

Khanna notes that the academic library exists mainly to contribute to the realization of the institution goals and objectives.2Beenham and Harrison describe academic libraries as those libraries ranging from the University, College and school library.3 The main aim of these libraries is basically to provide a service of reference and lending material appropriate to the needs of the staff and students of the institution. These institutions are critical for the well being of an academic institution because all learning revolves around the library.

The basic function of an academic library is to provide education and this means that it should be used as a dynamic instrument for explaining and expanding the horizons of knowledge .Khanna notes that it exists to feed and nourish the intellect of students and staff and also invite all those who enter its portals to fully participate its intellectual and cultural life.4 The author further notes that in such a context the academic library will operate like an academic workshop through strengthening the time –honoured class lecturers and group discussions.5While the lecturer is the prime motivator to student learning, the library is strategically positioned to contribute to that motivation through providing a conducive environment for independent learning and the development of a mind that is inquisitive. Jesse Shera note that the librarian in an academic institution plays a critical educational role through his/her services in providing and meeting or satisfying information needs.6
“….the librarian endeavors to meet the legitimate needs and demands of their patrons, from the senior academician …to the freshman just entering, stimulate and encourage the students to inculcate the life-long habits of good –reading, study and research ….”7

Beenham and Harrison define the main objectives of an academic library as; to serve the needs of the academic community, to provide reference materials at appropriate levels, to provide study areas for users, to provide a lending service appropriate to the different types of users and to provide an active information service. 8Wilson and Tauber note that the main aims of modern universities or colleges range from conserving knowledge , teaching, research and development, publication to promote academic visibility, extension services and interpretation.9 These aims and objectives are useful in that they provide us with an understanding of the real function of an academic library in an academic setting. Therefore teaching, research and extension services remain the three time honoured functions of the modern university. The library plays a critical role in the realization of the major functions of an academic institution because it is the nerve center or the beating heart of that institution just as a business or special library is the life-blood of government or big business or industrial organisations and its activities permeate all aspects of university life.

The academic librarian is an educationist who indirectly educates the students through the provision and prescription of the right material. This means that the academic librarian plays a philosophical Socratic midwifery role of bringing the learner into contact with the resources that add value to ones intellectual and social development. The academic librarian is therefore a pedagogist or andragogist because he or she should have the skills and knowledge on how best to deal with adult learners.

The needs of the users of academic libraries are reflected by the courses offered and the academic research undertaken within those institutions.Anunobi and Okoye state that a well established library is critical for an academic institution as a convenient point for learning, teaching and research.10 Currently libraries are struggling to maintain their place as the central point of inquiry in an educational institution. Academic libraries are no longer restricted to the print activities like cataloguing , classification , circulation and other bibliographic services but they are now have extended there efforts to interdisciplinary concepts and information technology.

The two writers further note that academic libraries are faced with numerous challenges ranging from collection development and how to remain vibrant and relevant in digital environments. Information science has now gone digital and this means that the new brave world of Information Management requires future librarians who are technological savvy. Kaufman notes that academic libraries in highly developed countries have long been represented by tangible symbols for example ; the ‘jewel’ in the university’s crown, the heart of the university ,the campus’ treasure among other superlative terms.11 The writer further notes that the grandiose “main” library buildings are emblematic and imperative iconic representations of the library’s critical and indispensable place within the university. These images are static; they suggest our traditional roles, which even we often describe as supportive of teaching, learning and research. 12 These static supportive images are grounded in a world once dominated by, even now at a time when the world in which we operate is being transformed to one dominated by silicon..
Khanna defines academic libraries as those special libraries found in educational institutions and whose main purpose is to the special purpose of serving the special needs of the specialized or homogenous clientele.13Kaufmaan notes that most of the twentieth century, academic libraries were characterized by activities that built similar collections of tangible materials and by systems of access and services that mediated between individuals and content to serve expressed information needs.14 The users of the academic library comes withy a learning need which is related to the curriculum of ones particular major or the requirements of one’s course.

The academic library in an educational institution also plays a part in supporting the research efforts and this role is more stronger in academic libraries than in public libraries, The library helps to conserve the research potential of the university or college .This flows from the virtual information explosion which results from an increase in the production of information in science and technology and also the rise of literary criticism which has opened the floodgates of knowledge thus making the researcher , student, the scholar and the scientist and the technologist dependent upon the library. The academic library helps sustain the information needs of the users who are either students or scholars or researchers engaged in some individual or collaborative research. Kumar noted that the Information society which is a society whereby everything is depended upon the use of information.15 This scenario has helped in accelerating the demand for information as more people want to learn and new ideas bring in new challenges

The modern world is undergoing transformation because the global e-future looks as challenging. There are significant developments taking place in the information world as the world moves from a carbon-based universe to one that increasingly is silicon-based and this poses the most important challenge of the twenty-first century to academic librarians. Academic librarians need to rethink on how best they can define their roles within traditional but changing universities. Academic librarians have not yet fully faced the grand challenges presented by this transformation and are still to fully develop the fundamentally different conceptualizations of the role of the library and librarians within the academy that this electronic environment provides.

There are numerous challenges that confront academic libraries in the modern world , these range from the digital and virtual environment, open access, information and multimedia literacy , cultural literacy , and online education or e-learning. However it should be noted that challenges can provide an interlude for innovation and invention because the greatest inventions in the world came at a time when the world was facing a crisis. The academic library should be seen to be on the forefront in the battle to promote an information literate society. The great thinker Ranganathan in his five laws of the library noted that libraries are growing biological organisms and as such they should be seen to be adjusting to the changes in technology as well, as user needs so that they are not left behind change.

It should be noted that all happy families are alike, but that each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way and this applies to special libraries in the form of academic libraries. This means that even though the academic library is special it is special in its own way. It is also part of the teaching organisation since it introduces the user to the riches of the printed and non- print world so that users are able to effectively utilize, manipulate and exploit information. Academic libraries are critical to students because they afford them the opportunity to learn in an independent atmosphere free from the control of the teacher or lecturer. Through reading and surfing the net students are able to expand their horizons by serendipitously making happy new discoveries as well as networking with others if there is internet connectivity.

References

1. Khannaa,J.K.Fundementals of library organisation.New Delhi:Ess Ess Publications, 1987.

2. Khanna,J.K.ibid.
3. Beenham, Rosemary and Harrison,Collin..The basics of librarianship. 3rd.ed.London:Clive Bingley, 1990...
4. Khanna,J.K.op.cit.
5. Ibid.
6. Shera, J.H.foundations of education for librarianship.London:Becker and Hayls, 1980.
7. Beenham, Rosemary and Harrison .op.cit
8. Wilson, L.and Tauber, M.F.(1980)Univesity libray.New York:Columbia, 1980.
9. Anunobi,C.V and Okoye, I.B.The role of academic libraries in universal access to print and electronic resources in developing countries.In:Library Philosophy and Practice.Imo State:Fedral University of Technoklogy, 2008.
10. Kaufman, P.Role and mission of academic libraries:present and future.Paper presented at the Kansai University at theJapanese Association of Private University Libraries, 18 November, 2005
11. Budd, John. M.. The Academic Library: Its Context, Its Purpose, and Its Operation. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited., 2008.p. 30–31.
12. Kaufman, P.op.cit.
13. Ibid.
14. Jackson, E.B. Special Librarianship:Anew Reader.London:Scarecrow Press, 1986.
15. Kumar, G. Sociology of Information..New Delhi: Ess Ess Publications, 1998.