Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Winter 1-5-2021
Abstract
This study investigated the development of a scheme for the classification of school library resources in school libraries in Nsukka Enugu state. The research questions basically investigated existing schemes used in the classification of school libraries, nature of resources available in the school libraries, resources required for the classification of the school libraries, development of a scheme for the school libraries, problems associated with the classification of school library resources and strategies for the implementation of the scheme in school libraries. The population of the study consists of school librarians and education authorities. The study used frequency mean and percentage to analyze quantitative data while data from interview and document analysis schedule were analyzed using essay/narratives. Among other things, the findings revealed that there is no available scheme used in the classification of school library resources in the area studied, there is also not adequate resources/tools (human, material and ICT) for the classification of the school library resources. On the problems associated with the classification of school library resources, findings revealed that on a greater scale, there are inadequate qualified personnel in the cataloguing and classification of school library resources, there are not enough space/accommodation for the classification of the materials, there are too many resources to be catalogued with less skilled personnel, fund is inadequate for the execution of daily cataloguing expenses, government policies are quite unfavourable to school libraries and that there are not enough resources for persons with learning or physical disabilities.Based on the findings, the researcher recommended the following as strategies for the implementation of the scheme viz; appropriate authorities should ensure full implementation of the developed scheme for the classification of school library resources, adequate provision of resources (both books and non-book resources) should be made available, appropriate standard accommodation should be made available to house the library’s collections as well as create reading/study space for the pupils and students, suitably qualified school librarians should be employed to handle the professional task of classification of school library resources, fund should be made readily available for the overall development of school libraries in Nsukka education zone of Enugu state, government policies should take school library development as a major priority and therefore should make policies favorable for the development of school libraries, there should be regular training, re-training and supervision of the school libraries to ensure that the scheme is judiciously and correctly implemented.
Comments
This paper is an attempt to investigate on the use of in-house classification schemes in the organization of school library resources. The research is timely especially as the use of Dewey Decimal Classification has continued to pose a lot of challenges for school librarians and information scientists.