OVERVIEW OF THE OLUSEGUN OKE LIBRARY
The University Library is an integral part of the University with the main objective of providing the university community with a wide range of scholarly materials that are consistent with the institution’s mission, curricula/research needs and academic freedom tenets. Specifically, information resources are provided to stimulate students’ knowledge acquisition so as to achieve academic excellence and integrity of purpose.
Libraries which hitherto assumed the role of storehouses and depository for books and non-book materials now have new looks, in fact, the library where it exists remains the engine room of any educational centre. That is, a blend of traditional roles of the library with a flavour of Information and Communications Technology will help achieve academic excellence. They have also emerged as a far-reaching body of information resources and services for teeming population within and outside the physical walls of a building.
The University library is charged with the responsibility of providing students, staff and people within the university community unfettered access to an extensive range of information resources by carrying out the basic functions of: sorting, ordering, acquiring, processing, organizing, preserving and dissemination of information within the mission and vision of the university.
THE HISTORY OF THE OLUSEGUN OKE, LIBRARY OGBOMOSO (Formerly known as Babangida Central Library)
During the installation of the Chancellor, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola in 1998 by the then President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, an opportunity arose to make a request for the University, a Library was requested for the University. The University’s request was positively granted and a donation of N 30, 000 000 was released.
The necessary procedure was set in motion for the design and construction of an ultra-modern library by Niger Consultants and Adecentro respectively at a cost of N21 million. The Library being a powerhouse of a university, received a lot of attention with all modern facilities.
The innovation made LAUTECH Ogbomoso Library stand out among comity of university libraries in Nigeria. In actual fact, a large section of the Library had facilities for students to spend 24 hours without any access to the main library. Thus, the non-residential LAUTECH University students could stay in the Library for as long as they wanted. The University was lucky to have received (along with other state universities) a grant from the European Community to help with furnishing the Library with books, journals and equipment.
With this development, the main Library of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, started operations in a temporary location near the main entrance of the Institution. The Library was later moved into the purpose-built ultra-modernbuilding known as Babangida Central Library (BCL), which was in the North-West periphery of the University campus. In line with the philosophy of the University, the library was established to develop individuals who would possess adequate knowledge, skill and capacity to create opportunities for themselves and also for others. Graduates of the University who used the BCL well were expected to be proud of their discipline, attach importance to hard work and generally contribute to the improvement of their society. Hence, the BLC was conceived to a large extent as a "paperless" Library built around micro formats and automated databases, in which the traditional card catalogues, (key to the collection) would be invisible, or at the best used only as a back-up facility.
The software package in use then was TINLIB, an Integrated Library and Information System (ILIS) developed by the Information Management & Engineering Company (IME) of Britain and based on the company's proprietary fourth generation language called TINman. The University was the first, and indeed the third Institution in Nigeria to adopt TINLIB and, by that token; it had blazed the trail in Library automation for the National University Commission (NUC) and all the federal universities in Nigeria.
Efforts were made to routinely train patrons (staff and students) in the use of computer to retrieve information on their own. Since the Library System was on LANSmart (Local Area Network), it was possible for users to search the Library database from Personal Computers and workstations located in various offices outside the Library. Specific bibliographic enquiries were being met on request as the whole database was edited daily, backed-up weekly and printed out twice a year.
The mission of the University Library is to support and promote intellectual growth and creativity of the university by developing collections, facilitating unhindered access to information resources, teaching the effective use of information resources and critically evaluating library services that meets global standard. The aim is to support the mission and vision of the founding fathers of the University so as to achieve the aims and objectives of the university.
The vision is to develop the total human so as to stimulate and promote the dignity of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso
To assist students succeed in their educational pursuits though significant efforts, that is, provide services that can promote, integrate and transform education that is relevant and germane to the nation and its citizens. The intention is to provide value added library services that can meet educational aspirations of the users which can nurture their creativity, innovation and community responsibility.