Running and Maintaining an ICT-Based Library in a Developing Economy: The Covenant University Experience

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology has revolutionized library and Information sen,ices delivery across the globe. The paper examines the Covenant University experience as a model to encourage libraries in developing economies that leveraging with international standards and benchmarks as well as best practices is possible. The superiority of ICT-based library over its manual counterpart is highlighted. This includes: easy integration of various activities, increase in the range of services offered, provision (~f round-the-clock access to users, etc. The paper discusses inhibiting factors to running a hi-tech library in Africa and draws heavily from the Covenant University context to underscore basic infrastructures, skills, values and technological capabilities that are irreducible imperatives and prerequisites for efficient as well as effective running and maintenance of an ICT-based library. It concludes by admonishing that African libraries must not be left behind in this era of flat world and universal as 11·ell as unfettered access to global information. The panacea to intellectual inequity and lopsidedness between the developed and developing world is the application of ICT in information management and dissemination.