RESERVE COLLECTION MANAGEMENT AND UTILIZATION IN IGBINEDION UNIVERSITY AND AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES, ZARIA, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the management of reserve collections in university libraries of Igbinedion University and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Nigeria In order to achieve the objectives of the study, five research objectives were raised to find out: the types of collection in the reserve sections of the two university libraries, to ascertain how reserve materials are selected in the university liraries, to ascertain how reserve materials are acquired into the university libraries, to find out the preservation of marketing measures put in place to safeguard reserve collections from mutilation and theft in the university libraries, to identify how reserve collections are managed in the university libraries. Survey research design was used for the study, two universities were randomly selected to enhance representativeness and generalization using multistage cluster sampling technique. The population consisted of 47 library staff from the two university libraries. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The questionnaire was designed and administered to staff of the two university libraries. A total of 47 questionnaires were distributed, and which were duly completed, returned and found useable for the study, representing, 100% response rate. The results were presented using tabular presentation and percentages. Findings from the study revealed that, materials that were in high demand were limited in copies, rare materials that are out of print among others were the types of materials available in the reserve collections of the twon university libraries. Also, purchase, gift, exchange, donations were the channels through which reserve materials were selected and acquired into the reserve collections of the university lbraries. The study revealed that, preservation of marketing measures used in safeguarding reserve materials from theft and mutilation were: deployment of security personnel to protect library materials, proper user checking i.e., in and out of reserve unit, and use of CCTV, among others were precaution measures. The study identified some ways of improving reserve collection management to include employment of qualified personnel, training and re-training of library staff for effective and efficient services delivery.