AN EXAMINATION OF THE ISSUES REGARDING ACCESS TO LIBRARY BOOKS AND SERVICES FOR USERS IN THE LAW LIBRARY AT EKITI STATE UNIVERSITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study: Collection development, also known as the acquisition of information resources, is a fundamental activity carried out by libraries worldwide. The acquisition section in the academic library performs a variety of functions and serves as the main link to the other sections of the library. The acquisition section of the academic library is a crucial department responsible for collection development. It plays a significant role in overseeing all library activities. It is commonly known as the heart of every library, whether it is an E-Library or a traditional library. The idea that the innovation in information technology, specifically the e-library in the information palace, will have an impact on traditional methods of acquisitions has not yet materialised. Libraries still acquire and maintain massive book collections while managing other information formats (Adesanya & Agyen, 2015).

Despite prophecies of vanishing print collections and the emergence of the digital format, printed resources (books, etc ) still have a central role in library acquisition ( Carr, 2011). The term "acquisition" is frequently used to refer to various processes that involve acquiring library materials. These processes specifically focus on the techniques used to obtain these materials. The acquisition of library materials is subject to specific conditions that can vary from one place to another.

 According to Prytherch (2011), the process of planning a stock acquisition programme involves more than just addressing immediate needs. It is about creating a well-organized and dependable collection that can meet the objectives and services of a library over a span of several years.Acquisition plays a crucial role in librarianship because the quality of a library's collection is entirely dependent on the information resources it acquires. Acquisition librarians play a crucial role in both maintaining a high-quality collection and achieving organisational goals by acquiring relevant information resources. If a library obtains high-quality and pertinent materials There are significant benefits for both the library and its users. The library gains credibility and authority, while the users can always rely on finding answers to their questions from such a reputable source.The primary method of acquiring information resources is through purchases. However, they can also be obtained through gifts, exchanges, and legal deposit.

It is crucial for legal researchers to have the most current version of the law and ensure that a relevant case has not been excessively relied upon by a higher court, or that a statute has not been modified, repealed, or deemed unconstitutional. The selection and acquisition of legal materials or publications are necessary and rely on various methods to regularly supplement and update them.When it comes to selecting and acquiring legal materials, various challenges arise, such as inadequate communication services, ineffective library management practices, subpar quality of locally published books, and a lack of a clear collection development policy. According to Ali, Owoeye, and Anasi (2010), qualified law librarians should effectively and efficiently select and acquire both primary source materials (such as Acts of Parliament, Gazettes, Reports of cases, Digests, and volumes of statutes) and secondary sources (such as textbooks, casebooks, supplements, loose-leaf publications, and encyclopaedias).

​​​​​​​Statement of the problem

The present economic dislocation that is ravaging the entire world is also affecting the academic libraries in developing countries, According to Anunobi, (2012)  the key challenges affecting the acquisitions of materials in academic libraries include: inadequate funding, economic dislocations, dearth of current books, due process, lack of current acquisition tools. Agyen-Gyasi et al. (2010) further indicate that special libraries in Nigeria Universities face several challenges including increasing costs of materials and limited budget (that reduces the amount of materials to be acquired). As the law collection began to grow and expand, the need to house the materials in a separate apartment that would be contiguous with the faculty of law became highly desirable if the law library was to justify its establishment and fulfill its major objective of serving the academic needs of the students and teachers of the law faculty. Obviously, Law is a specialized and highly technical subject and this attribute has made it the preserve of professional body of practitioners which makes it different from other disciplines in the social science group or other subject categories, hence the need for a balanced and up-to-date law library collection. However, selection and acquisition of resources into law libraries is bedeviled with problems. Therefore is it against this backdrop that this study seeks to the challenges of acquisition of library materials and services to the users in law library in Ekiti State University.

​​​​​​​Objective of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to examine the challenges of acquisition of library materials and services to the users in law library in Ekiti State University. Specifically, the study seeks to:

1. To find out the types of legal materials acquired and selected at the faculty of law library.

2. To ascertain those involved in the selection and acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library.

3. To identify the tools used in the acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library.

4. To find out the problems encountered in selection and acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library.

Research Question

The research is guided by the following question:

1. What types of legal materials are been selected and acquired at the faculty of law library?

2. Who are the people involved in the selection and acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library?

3. What kind of tools is used in selection and acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library?

4. What are the problems encountered in selection and acquisition of legal materials?

Significance of the study

The findings of this study are expected to be of benefit to management and staff of national library of Nigeria, the Federal government, researchers, students, authors, lawyers, civil servants, publishers and students of library and information science. The findings of this work, if adopted may be of great benefit to the management of national library of Nigeria if the causes of the lapses in acquisition and utilization are revealed by correcting the errors especially in the area of legal deposit .Publishers will be pursued more vigorously to comply .Authors will be more enlightened about the benefits of depositing their publications with the National library.If they deposit their titles will be listed in the National Bibliography of Nigeria which is a good selection tool ,their works will be standard because it will have standard numbers for publications and so many other benefits For lawyers ,getting copies for evidence in court will no longer be an issue. It is only National library that gives certified true copies of documents and when they are not available it becomes a problem for the lawyers For students and researchers they will always have available resources which are readily available for their educational pursuits

​​​​​​​Scope of the Study

The scope of  the study borders on the challenges of acquisition of library materials and services to the users in law library in Ekiti State University. The study find out the types of legal materials acquired and selected at the faculty of law library it ascertained those involved in the selection and acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library. It will  identify the tools used in the acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library and present  the problems encountered in selection and acquisition of legal materials at the faculty of law library. The study is however delimited to Law Library, Law library librarian, dean faculty of law, law lecturers and other library staff in Ekiti State University.

​​​​​​​Limitation of the study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing to the nature of the discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. More so, the choice of the sample size was limited  to Librarians and Law Library Users  in in Ekiti State University  as few respondent were selected to answer the research instrument hence findings of the study cannot be generalize to other product. However, despite the constraint  encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.