Academic librarianship importance

Stella Onwuk^*
*Correspondence: Stella Onwuk, Department of Library and Information Technology, Federal University of Technology, School of Information and Communication Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria, Email:

Received: 03-May-2021 Published: 29-Jul-2021

Editorial Note

Academic libraries serve colleges and universities, as well as their students, faculty, and staff. Academic librarianship provides a great opportunity to use subject expertise because larger institutions may have several libraries on their campuses dedicated to serving specific schools, such as law and science libraries. Academic librarians are involved in a wide range of difficult tasks such as individuals in analysing, identifying, and meeting their information needs, secondly, creating campuswide information literacy programmes and provide classroom instruction to help students improve their information literacy skills. Academic libraries in the twenty-first century have shifted their focus away from physical collection development and toward information access and digital resources. In addition to physical books and journals, today’s academic libraries typically provide access to subscription-based online resources such as research databases and e-book collections. Academic libraries also provide space for students to work and study, either in groups or individually, on silent floors, as well as reference and research assistance, which may include virtual reference services. Some academic libraries have technology such as video cameras, iPads, and calculators available for loan. Many academic libraries have remodelled as Learning Commons to reflect this shifting focus. Tutoring and writing centres, as well as other academic services, are frequently housed in academic libraries and learning commons. Information literacy instruction is a major focus of modern academic libraries, with most American academic libraries employing a person or department devoted solely to instruction. Many academic institutions grant librarians faculty status, and librarians are frequently expected to publish research in their field. The extent to which academic libraries today accommodate those who are not affiliated with their parent universities varies. Some libraries grant public access to reading and borrowing privileges in exchange for an annual fee; such fees vary greatly. The privileges obtained usually do not include services such as computer usage (other than to search the catalogue) or Internet access. When arranging borrowing privileges, alumni and students of cooperating local universities may be given discounts or other consideration. Access to some university libraries, on the other hand, is strictly limited to students, faculty, and staff. Even in this case, they may be able to lend materials to others through inter-library loan programmes. Land-grant university libraries are generally more open to the public. They are required to be open to the public in some cases because they are official government document repositories. Nonetheless, members of the public are generally charged fees for borrowing privileges and are not always permitted to access everything that students are. As education and research became more important in Canada, academic libraries began to grow steadily. Throughout the 1960s, the growth of libraries was a direct result of many overwhelming factors, including increased student enrollments, increased graduate programmes, higher budget allowances, and general advocacy of the importance of these libraries. As a result of this expansion and the Ontario New Universities Library Project, which took place in the early 1960s, five new universities were established in Ontario, each with fully catalogued collections. The establishment of libraries was widespread across Canada, aided by grants from the Canada Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, which aimed to improve library collections.