THE NEED FOR FUNCTIONAL PUBLIC LIBRARIES: A ThisDay Editorial

A ThisDay Newspaper's editorial published June 23, 2020 laments the poor state of Nigerian public libraries in a rare show of solidarity for the library sector by the Nigerian press. This effort is commendable and more of such is needed.

The piece goes thus:

The recent death in Benin, Edo State, of a university undergraduate inside a church where she went to read highlights the necessity for public libraries in Nigeria. If there were public libraries, perhaps she would not risk being alone inside a church to read. Sadly, even where they exist in Nigeria today, public libraries, often named “the poor man’s university,” are kept unattractive and poorly maintained while in most cases, the infrastructural facilities are inadequate. Besides, the books in stock are dated just as it is a rarity to stumble on new and current journals. Indeed, reference materials, where they exist, are old and dusty. Audio-visual materials are hard to come by. The quality of manpower is another story altogether....

 Follow link to read the full article http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/06/23/the-need-for-functional-public-libraries/

This corroborated my 2017 post on library culture. Read it here https://blograrianinfo.blogspot.com/2017/06/nigeria-concerning-library-culture-or_9.html?m=1