Academic Librarians’ Role in Maximizing Library Use in Ghana

Academic libraries are critical contributors to knowledge generation which serve a wide spectrum of knowledge seekers. They do this by providing access to knowledge which is essential for the development of the society. The mission of an academic library is focused principally on users and is driven by their needs. It involves ensuring that users are able to access all relevant information irrespective of the heterogeneity of sources and formats. In short an academic library provides services which involve delivery to the user, training in information seeking skills and organising the resources in a way that users find helpful. The challenges facing academic libraries in Ghana currently include increasing costs of materials and limited budget that reduce the amount of materials to be acquired, increasing student numbers, the trend towards student-centered learning and above all the limited infrastructure and skills necessary to access information in the digital environment. This paper assesses the challenges facing academic library users in Ghana in their bid to maximize the use of the resources at their disposal in this era of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Appropriate recommendations are made and solutions to identified problems suggested to ensure optimum utilization of these resources.

Paper presented at the CULD Conference, Tamale. from 28-29 October 2010

Available at : http://dspace.knust.edu.gh:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/561