Scholarly Acknowledgement and the Mastery of Reference Management Software

 Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari

Scholarly Acknowledgement and the Mastery of Reference Management Software was presented at the Workshop organised by the Department of Accounting, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria on April 30, 2024. Access the slides here.

Open Science Infrastructures for Library and Information Professionals

Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari

I presented the paper titled Open Science Infrastructures for Library and Information Professionals at the Mandatory Workshop on Data, Linked Data and Visualization organized by the Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN), July 22- 26, 2024 at the E-Library of the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Download the presentation here.

Embracing Change: Rethinking Library Rules and Regulations for Enhanced Resource Utilization

 Azeez Adeoye

Library rules and regulations could be one of the impediments to the use of its resources. Students are concerned about the limitations they experience due to stringent library rules and regulations. In the 21st century, libraries have competitors in ICT tools. It's high time library professionals revisited the archaic rules that prevent users from maximizing the potential benefits offered by libraries.

One such rule is the prohibition of eating and drinking in the library.

Reading is a mental exercise that drains and dehydrates library users during the process of studying. Therefore, users need to stay hydrated to sustain concentration while reading. But in a situation where library users travel the extra mile to drink water, this obstructs the flow of information and truncates comprehension.

Though Western libraries provide water dispensers within the library and sometimes coffee corners and microwaves, among other gadgets to ease light consumption, concentration, mental stability, and constant use of library resources. This is the trend in 21st-century library services, and African libraries need to decolonize themselves and embrace change.

By offering more flexibility in our library rules and regulations, such as allowing food and drink within designated areas, offering extended hours, and implementing more relaxed noise policies, we can create a more comfortable and welcoming environment for our patrons. 

This, in turn, will make our library more attractive compared to our competitors, such as ICT tools. We believe that by meeting the changing needs of our users, we can entice and endear them to use our resources, which will help us to maintain our relevance in the 21st century.

Society for Scholarly Publishing Announced 2023 Fellows: Two Nigerian Librarians Awarded!

The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) has announced that sixteen students and early-career professionals in publishing, librarianship and scholarly communications have been awarded the highly competitive Fellowships for 2023. According to the SSP "the Career Development Committee selected these outstanding individuals from a robust applicant pool based on their high level of engagement in their fields and a diverse range of skills in scholarly communications".

Two distinguished Nigerian librarians: Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti and Oyedele Abimbola Ojeniyi, Central Bank of Nigeria Center for Economics and Finance, University of Ibadan, make the prestigious award. 

The full list of 2023 Fellows are: 

• Andrea Blatz, University of Texas Press

• 

  SSP 2023 Fellows

  Anna Maltbie, Wiley
• Cassandra Larose, Royal Roads University
• Chen He, Wuhan University
• Chenyue Jiao, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
• Francesca Soldati, University of Aberdeen
• Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti
• Jamaica Jones, University of Pittsburgh
• Janaynne Carvalho do Amaral, School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Mario Pallua, Libertas International University
• Mary Alice Keller, HCA Healthcare
• Nataliia Kaliuzhna, Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts; State Scientific and Technical Library of Ukraine
• Oyedele Abimbola Ojeniyi, Central Bank of Nigeria Center for Economics and Finance, University of Ibadan
• Rebecca Michaels-Walker, Toronto Metropolitan University
• Sarah Frances Gordon, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City
• Shriyaa Mittal, AIP Publishing

Congratulations!

See more details about the fellowship and SSP here

Towards Curing the Predatory Publishing Malady in the South: The TriangleSCI Facilitation

 

Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari
Our team's project was accepted in June as one of the five teams (projects) to participate in the ongoing Triangle Scholarly Communication Institute in Duke University, Durham, NC, United States. Our project aims to mitigate the predatory publishing debacle through a community of practice (CoP)-developed toolkit and/or strategies. Members of our team have varying expertise in the core components and contexts of the project. The cross-regional team represents a good example of North-South collaboration of scholars/librarians from Canada- Prof Dan O'Donnell; Algeria- Prof Samir Hachani; Canada/United States- Dr. Nathan Woods; Bangladesh- Shaharima Parvin; Nigeria- Dr. Basiru Adetomiwa and Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari. Post TriangleSCI, we hope to expand the project to other regions of the Global South therefore recruiting more participants into a named community. 

So far it has been a wonderful experience participating in the institute generously funded by the Mellon Foundation. 

The participating teams and projects in the 2022 institute include:

• A Post-Pandemic Reckoning: Improving Metadata for Better Accessibility to Scholarly Archives for People with Disabilities by Erika Fülöp, Dene Grigar, Jarah Moesch, Richard Snyder
• Building a contextual alternative to scholarly journal un/safelists by Joshua Neds-Fox, Matt Ruen, Teresa Schultz, Brianne Selman, Leila Sterman, Stephanie Towery
• Equity Toolkit for Disability Inclusion by Karen Stoll Farrell, Kimberly Gladfelter Graham, Simon Holt, Sylvia Izzo Hunter, Erin Osborne-Martin, Stacy Scott
• Intercultural & interdisciplinary open resources supporting environmental justice by Nadine Aboulmagd, Alex Armstrong, Elena Berg, Jeff Gima, Fiona Glasgow, Antonio Lopez, Dalal Rahme
• Towards Curing the Predatory Publishing Malady in the South: Community of Practice Approach to Developing Local Strategies and Toolkits by Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari, Basiru Adetomiwa, Samir Hachani, Dan Paul O’Donnell, Shaharima Parvin, Nathan Woods

We would be leaving Durham energized to pursue the implementation of our project and by that contribute to the public good. We however express our profound gratitude to the TriangleSCI team, Paolo Mangiafico, Mellon Foundation and of course, our home institutions.

"Libraries on the Front Line of War": Iryna Kuchma's Narration of Libraries' Inspiring Roles during the Russia Invasion of Ukraine

Iryna Kuchma

Originally posted to EIFL blog

I am just a few kilometres away from Kyiv with my family and every   day I hear another story about how libraries are supporting their  communities. I hugely admire them. 

In times like these everyone is doing much more than they can. The Ukrainian Library Association reports that libraries are providing shelters, facilitating access to information and the internet, launching humanitarian hubs, documenting the war and supporting each other. 

Many libraries have turned their book storage spaces into bomb shelters for local communities - cozy with lots of interesting books around! Tea and support is also offered, so this is already considered a new library service. 

In more or less quiet parts of Ukraine, libraries continue to offer access to information - guides from local authorities, tips from psychologists for coping each day, motivational quotes from literature - and access to the internet. They also serve as hubs to collect goods and humanitarian aid for defence units and hospitals, and to sew medical gowns and knit camouflage nets. 

A national digital library kicks-off, recording the war - photo, video and audio facts that document the Russian aggression and the Ukrainian struggle; posters, memes and jokes showcasing creativity; information showing support from the international library community and drawing attention to fake news and information. 

A librarian self-support network is also being built, offering help and responding to requests for help. 

And planning for rebuilding of  damaged library buildings has started as well - together with the Ukrainian charitable foundation Library Country which is documenting the damage.

About the writer

Iryna Kuchma is a multilingual expert in open access, open data and open science. She works with EIFL as Open Access Programme Manager since 2008 where in collaboration with libraries and library consortia in more than 60 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, she advocates for open access to research results, facilitates the development and implementation of open science policies and infrastructures, and provides support and training. Iryna is based in Ukraine.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Now that I'm a graduate: My degree and the World

 Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari

A presentation to graduating students of Library and Information Science Department, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria on Tuesday, August 24, 2021. The central theme is getting the college grads inspired to think beyond their degrees as they transit to the larger society. A sub-theme is the touch on emerging technologies poised to change the world and the library and information science profession. Click to read and download.

Our Published Article on ICT Skills of University Freshmen and their Projections for Improvement upon Graduation...

 Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari

We researched and published the ICT Skills of University Freshmen and their Projections for Improvement uponGraduation: A Case Study of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Nigeria. 

Authored by Adegbilero-Iwari, Idowu; Odefadehan, Oluwaseun O.; Owoeye, Olubunmi Idowu Mrs.; and Christopher, Abraham, the paper reported the outcomes of the assessment of the information and communication technology (ICT) skills of freshmen in a Nigerian private university and the projection of the students for improvement at graduation. It became necessary in this digital era, where it is assumed the Millennial are digital natives, to know what computing capabilities fresh university students are coming with from their earlier educational exposures and also to know their expectations for ICT skills honing at higher educational level. The findings show that although many of the students are proficient users of varying devices (desktop, laptop and mobile devices), laptop is their preferred device for academic work. It also indicated that laptop and smartphones are their best choice for a device combination. The students are more skillful in E-mail (59%), web browsing (53%), online registration (57%), mobile apps use (53%), e-banking (49%), e-commerce (44%). Whereas they show interest in learning other skills, they indicated that the ICT unit is the arm of the university perceived to contribute the most to their skills improvement during the study years. Recommendations were made based on the findings.

Routine Maintenance of Computer Systems and Basic Internet Search Skills

Here is the link to my presentation at a training programme organised for the staff of Elizade University Library, Ilara-Mokin. See full slides here.
I also, in the document, did mention the need to manage oneself so as t make the computer system function optimally.

Maintain yourself • You are a major component of the computer system that needs to be maintained otherwise the computer will suffer • Be in the right frame of mind when using the computer • Don’t overstay on the computer, take occasional break • Begin shutdown 30 minutes before closing- use the time to properly shutdown and allow for updates to be installed and then freshen up your look and smell nice.

Opportunity Meets Passion- the Skilling of Four Library Para-professionals: A Remark Delivered at the Graduation Ceremony of Elizade University Library’s Bindery Staff by the Library Coordinator

Protocols:

It has been eight weeks of intensive training for these four colleagues, gentlemen and lady, learning the art and practice of what could be called book making but essentially repairs; what is popularly called bindery. I am most excited and grateful to be involved in this life-changing experience these dutiful members of Library staff have had. Suffice it to say none of them or even anyone here could have figured out the possibility of these trainees picking up this technical skill at this stage of their lives. I am grateful to God for letting me and the management of Elizade University play roles.

The former Ag. Librarian, Mrs. O. A Oke, had mused the idea of a ‘mini bindery’ for the Library. On assuming the leadership of the Library as Coordinator upon her retirement, we vigorously considered the idea and pursued it with courage coloured by grace. Grace because, one, the management obliged, and two, I had a meeting at Adeleke University a month or so into my role. Going round their library, behold a ‘mini’ bindery; and two of them at that because they had a separate one for their Law Library. I was just agog to ask, how did you do it? They said a man..., and that was how we called in Mr. Jolaoye. The product is what you are all seeing today.

I have thus learnt that when the right environment is created, people can aspire and achieve success. 
While we were thinking of how to get a binder to man the equipment, Mr. Jolaoye’s proposal had training (apprenticeship) component embedded in it. This looked funny and not achievable, training people on the job for 8- weeks? Some of us thought they will never master it within the period. But he reassured me. And b the time his reassurance was met with great zeal by nominated staff and those who nominated themselves we were already winning a glorious victory of endowing our colleagues with new technical skills.

Essentially, three factors played themselves out here: the University administration provided the environment, the Library management gave the opportunity and the staffers received it with passion. Today, it is cheering to report that these bindery novices of eight weeks ago are now being certified as bindery experts. Thanks to the fourth factor, their trainer, Mr. Jolaoye, who dispassionately poured out himself and everything bindery into them. He is such an amiable old man with a physique betraying his age. I will not be surprised if the apprentice and the entire library staff miss him dearly after today; he quite blended into the library family.

My advice for the apprentices, the graduating binder woman and men, is that they should repay the investment of the University with honest service and devotion. I congratulate you much as I do myself for playing a role in rewriting your stories and the story and revenue base of Elizade University.

I will thus close this remark with gratitude to the EU management team and other colleagues in the Library who took up the Library tasks that were left by these people during the training period. Above all, I give glory to God and our Lord Jesus Christ for making this ideal a reality.

Thank you and see you at the Top!

Adegbilero-Iwari, Idowu

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Information and Library Services for 21st Century University Staff

Everything is changing in the 21st Century and so is university education ditto the information and library services required by its staff. This presentation was done at an orientation programme for the new staff of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Nigeria.
Download full slide here

Libraries and Librarians: Nexus of Trends in Librarianship and Social Media

Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari

My presentation at the Symposium organised by the Nigerian Library Association, Ekiti State Chapter
to celebrate the 2018 Libraries Week. The event held at the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday, November 14, 2018.

Access full slides here

Implementing Social Media for Service Delivery in Nigerian Libraries

Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari
A presentation at the Symposium organised by the Nigerian Library Association, Ondo State Chapter
to celebrate the 2018 Libraries Week. The event held at the Federal University of Technology, Akure on Thursday, October 18, 2018.
Access full presentation here

Maiden Visiting Library Scholar Lecture

Welcome Address delivered by Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari at the 1^st Visiting Library Scholar Lecture organized by the University Library, Elizade University, Ilara-mokin, Ondo State, on Friday, September 28, 2018.

Protocols

It is with huge delight and copious joy that I stand before you to welcome you to the very first edition in the series of the University Library Visiting Library Scholar Lecture.

The birth of the Lecture came from the womb of the circumstance that surrounded my participation in the FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute (FSCI) at the University of California San Diego in July/August, 2018. It was in connection with my desperate desire to save $102 for my University on my accommodation budget. Lusia, one of the FSCI’s administrative officers for FSCI2018 graciously found a way around it and assured me that I would pay one night less. The arrangement then was, I would be moved to the President‘s apartment till I depart at the wee hours of the following day to the airport. So, she introduced me to Dan at the beach party on the beach of North Pacific Ocean at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography on the last day of the program. Then, Idowu and Dan got talking, and Dan would be visiting Lagos and graciously accepted the request to stop at Elizade University.

So, this Lecture is established in honor of Professor Daniel Paul O’Donnell for his love for our University and the shared value we have regarding Open Access.

Our journey into Open Access began with a commemorative training programme to mark the 2014 Open Access Week. Since then, we have being making efforts to promote Open Access and engage with ideas and projects that have to do with Open Access. The ideals of Open Access endeared me to FORCE11 (The Future of Research Communications and e- Scholarship) and allowed me the chance of being part of FSCI. As an institution, we have passed the Open Access policy and developing a repository of Open digital scholarly information.  Notwithstanding, there are challenges to scale and gaps to fill.

As the title of the Lecture, Open Access/Open Science and the Humanities, on a Cross–regional Basis, appears, it is suggestive of the fact that some of the differences across the regions in respect of Open Access will be addressed. We therefore hope to benefit immensely from the knowledge of our distinguished lecturer who has worked and working extensively in these areas. I am therefore glad to welcome Prof. Daniel O’Donnell from Lethbridge to Ilara-mokin.

I appreciate the Senate and Management of Elizade University who allowed this kind of legacy event despite our cradle age.

On a personal note, I never knew God took note of my vision of work that I printed upon assumption of duty in 2014 as the practice then was. In it, I said, I would project Elizade U to the global scholarly community. God has being doing just that and today’s event with Dan is a new climax. To this end, I return all the glory to God and the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ.

Once again, you are all welcome to our young but rising University. I cannot be less assured; it is one of the most beautiful campuses you’ve visited.

Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari

Scholarly Communications Librarian/Library Coordinator.

Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Nigeria

Friday, September 28, 2018 

My FSCI 2018: A Scholarship that Makes the Difference

FSCI 2018 Participants

Exactly one month ago, I was part of the august gathering of distinguished scholars, librarians, publishers, research funders and everyone else in the scholarly communications sector that attended the FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute for year 2018 (FSCI2018). The event took place at the very reputable campus of the renowned University of California, San Diego, La Jolla. Participation was global with participants turning up from six (6) continents among which, I guess, two of us from the blessed continent of Africa. I made it, substantially, courtesy of the tuition and travel scholarship granted by the organisers. That said, what is FSCI or even FORCE11 to start with?

FORCE11 (The Future of Research Communications and e-Scholarship 2011) is a community of scholars, librarians, archivists, publishers and research funders that has arisen organically to help facilitate the change toward improved knowledge creation and sharing. Individually and collectively, it aims to bring about a change in modern scholarly communications through the effective use of information technology. This they do through annual conferences since 2011 and FORCE11 Scholarly Communications Institute (FSCI) since 2017.

The FSCI, pronounced physkey, situated at the University of California, San Diego, is a week long summer training course, incorporating intensive coursework, seminar participation, group activities, lectures and hands-on training. Participants attended courses taught by world-wide leading experts in scholarly communications. Participants also have the opportunity to discuss the latest trends and gain expertise in new technologies in research flow, new forms of publication, new standards and expectations, and new ways of measuring and demonstrating success that are transforming science and scholarship.

The 2018 programme was structured to allow for one AM (morning) course all week and two PM (afternoon) courses within the week. These are really tempting courses, very appealing. Just like many participants had headaches choosing which course, I eventually settled for the following courses:

Inside Scholarly Communications Today (AM, Monday to Friday) where we covered topics like: History of scholarly communications, Technology and information transfer, Financial flows in scholarly publishing and Peer review and its complications. The course was taken by Cameron Neylon, PhD, Professor of Research Communications, Centre for Culture and Technology, Curtin University, Australia 

Open Data Visualization - Tools and Techniques to Better Report Data (PM, Monday-Tuesday) where we learnt about Superset data visualization software and were exposed to other scholarly communication software like Story Map, Dataverse, etc. With Superset, we tried our hands on novel ways data can be visualized beyond charts and graphs. Gaurav Godhwani, Technical Lead and Advisor, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA India) and Chapter Leader, DataKind Bangalore instructed this course. He was the first participant I met upon arriving Revelle College, UCSD and now a friend.

Mentoring the Next Generation of Open Scholars: Approaches, Tools & Tactics (PM, Wednesday- Thursday): Scholarly publishing literacy, Copyright literacy, Open pedagogy, Open source and free software options were discussed. Robyn Hall, Scholarly Communications Librarian, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada chaired and instructed this beautiful course.
The benefits of the above courses are numerous. These, apart from plenary sessions, Do-A-Thon and short lightning talks exposed me to the trends, tools and techniques in scholarly communications and open education resources. The PowerPoint Karaoke was novel. Participating in FSCI has broadened my professional horizon. It has connected me to vast resources of people and materials needed to prosper in my new office of Scholarly Communications Librarian, the very first of such office to be so called in Nigeria, I guess.

Adegbilero-Iwari Idowu  and a Sea lion at the La Jolla Cove

As a trained Scholarly Communications Librarian, I can now go ahead to fulfill the demands of my office as a pioneer in my country and mentor others to greater success. But the scholarship makes the difference. I, thus, hope that the scholarship programme is continuous and enlarged so as to afford opportunities for more people, especially from Africa.

Worth mentioning as a special gain is the opportunity to meet Daniel Paul O'Donnell, Professor of English, University of Lethbridge, and among many things, the President of FORCE11. On the heels of this, Professor O'Donnell will be presenting the maiden edition of Visiting Library Scholar Lecture Series of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Nigeria come September 28, 2018. I am very upbeat at the opportunities it portends for us as an institution, Nigeria as a country and FORCE11 as a community.

Idowu and Claudia of Mississippi State University

La Jolla, an upscale city called a village, provides visitors with great, serene and inspiring experiences. While at UCSD, the 64 degrees cafeteria will ensure your appetites are satisfied but a visit to the Geisel Library will awe your heart. Besides, watching the sun set or kind of deep into the Pacific Ocean on the Piers of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, especially with confident narrations from Steven, the memory of your visit will just be evergreen.

God bless Lusia, Stephanie and all the administrators of the institute and the entire FORCE11 community. God willing, see you at FSCI2019...

Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari,

Scholarly Communications Librarian

Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Nigeria

2019 IFLA/OCLC Fellowship Applications: Call and Deadline

Idowu (2016 Fellow)

2016 IFLA/OCLC Fellows

The call for applications for the 2019 Jay Jordan IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellowship Program has been made.

Deadline is 28 September 2018

This program, jointly sponsored by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and OCLC, provides early career development and continuing education for library and information science professionals from countries with developing economies.

Up to five individuals are selected for participation in this intensive four-week Fellowship program, based at OCLC headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, USA. The 2019 program will run from 16 March to 12 April 2019. The program gives Fellows opportunities to meet with leading information practitioners, visit libraries and other cultural heritage institutions, and explore topics including information technologies, library operations and management, and global cooperative librarianship.

Learn more about the IFLA/OCLC Fellowship Program:

https://www.oclc.org/en/about/awards/ifla-fellowship-program.html

Click to watch and hear from past Fellows 

Idowu receiving certificate of participation from Skip Prichard

Guidelines for the 2019 Fellowship Program:Guidelines in Word format

Guidelines in PDF format

Application for 2019 Fellowship Program:Applications in Word format

Applications in PDF format

Library Services Platform Path to Cloud Computing Adoption in Nigerian Academic Libraries: A Review

Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari and Saheed Abiola Hamzat

Abstract 

The library and Information science (LIS) profession have evolved over time taking advantage of prevailing technology. The arrival of computers and other communication technologies led to major changes in the ways library services are rendered and the profession practiced. Library Management Systems (LMS) is one of such earlier areas where ICT have been applied to the operations of the library during the library computerization era. The arrival of the renascent Cloud Computing is generating new areas of research in relation to librarians’ uptake of this new technology. Cloud computing is being leveraged by developers of library systems to facilitate the envisaged move away from ILS/LMS to a more robust system that can handle some of the shortcomings of the ILS/LMS. These new systems are called Library services platforms (LSP). While both established and new library systems vendors are turning out different products, libraries have begun to shift away to these new platforms. This paper reviews cloud computing in libraries and projects LSPs as the reliable path to its adoption in Nigerian academic libraries. Recommendations were made based on the outcomes of this study.

Keywords: Library services platform, Cloud computing, Library management systems, Integrated library systems, Academic libraries, Nigeria

Click to read full text

CALL OPEN FOR EIFL PUBLIC LIBRARY INNOVATION AWARD

Adegbilero-Iwari Idowu

The call to apply for the 12th EIFL PUBLIC LIBRARY INNOVATION AWARD is open.
Public and community libraries in developing and transition countries that use digital technology (ICT) to improve lives with special focus on achieving any of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are encouraged to apply.
Prize of the Award: cash USD1,500 and kind.
Application closes January 11, 2018.
More information here

This Unnecessary "War" Against YouTube by Academics

Adegbilero-Iwari, Idowu
As a library and information science (LIS) professional, I felt so embarrassed last Friday emerging from an academic parley, staff training sort of , where some of the scholars (mid-old) condemned the contents of YouTube tagging it as "nonacademic", can not be used to teach students, or should not be recommended to students. This tongue-lash was a response to a lecturer (vibrant) who narrated how he used YouTube to teach his classes. I felt like this is a huge step backward to the early days when Google itself was discountenanced in academic arena. Even, without thanks to Google Scholar, the story has changed. Everybody wants to look for his missing bedspread on Google.

To safe your useful time, suffice it to say that, YouTube is the real deal even for academic learning! YouTube is described to offer wide range of user-generated and corporate media videos. Its content includes "video clips, TV show clips, music videos, short and documentary films, audio recordings, movie trailers, live streams, and other content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos" (Wikipedia).
There is hardly anything in the world today you can not learn on YouTube. From artisans to artists, well-meaning professors to renowned universities, just anybody or any body, have YouTube channels through which they perform, teach and share vital information.  Just like any information source, it behoves the user to verify facts where doubts arise. But to say the least, YouTube is a great learning media, fantastic aid to teaching and a complete platform to master just anything that appeals to You (YouAnkara, YouFashion, YouLecture, YouSongs, YouWorship,... YouAnything).
For instance, Stanford University, one of top 5 universities in the world, has near 700,000 subscribers to its YouTube channel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's OpenCourseWare has over 1.3 million subscribers; while Yale University's channel is subscribed to by near 100,000, its online learning platform, YaleCourses has over 500,000 subscribers which is in close relation to Harvard University's. These are the universities that rank highest at any time by any ranking system. So, it is extremely strange and absolutely unnecessary to hurl such reprimand on the academic capability of an iconic Web creation. Whereas I seek not to defend the self-defending YouTube, because it will be a baseless effort, the learners of this generation know where their information lay and the rich sources like YouTube to explore in order to get them.
My admonition to those of us in the LIS profession is that we should focus on information literacy and/or digital literacy to prevent being unwittingly awakened to unnecessarily bickering on whether the Web and its search engines (Google, YouTube, etc.) have taken the place of libraries or not.

Bibliography
1. American Library Association 
2. Wkikpedia
3. YouTube

Still on Reading Culture: Consider the Reading Habits of Highly Successful People

Adegbilero-Iwari, Idowu
According to Sandra Wu "Some of the world's highest achievers have one thing in common: it isn’t a high IQ, nor is it an incredible lucky streak, but their appreciation for reading. Books were their most profitable investment."

Billionaires who read their ways to wealth and fame:
1. Warren Buffett spends 80% of his day reading. 
2. Elon Musk reportedly learned how to build rockets by reading books
3. Bill Gates, the richest man in the world and a lifelong bookworm, reads about 50 books a year
4. Mark Zuckerberg invited the whole world to join him on his quest to read a book every two weeks in 2015.

Wouldn't you rather start honing your reading culture or build your kids' early?
And a quick reminder to Nigerian authorities, Library culture, a prelude to reading habit, still matters. Click to see what library culture means here and this too

The above are tips from a rich site I stumbled upon.
Read more at: Blinklist Magazine