Benson Idahosa University played host to the Nigerian Library Association, Edo State Chapter at its annual general meeting held at the University Campus.
Addressing members of the Executive Team during a courtesy call held at the University’s Senate Chamber, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ernest B. Izevbigie, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sam Guobadia identified Library as an institution that exist for the benefit of a given constituency, noting that Librarians and Information Scientists are imbued to serve people through the provision of free access to quality information resources, either in print or electronic format.
He spoke on the need to professionalize Library practice in order to maintain high ethical standard to guide the conduct of practitioners. The Deputy Vice Chancellor therefore enjoined members of the Nigerian Library Association to do away with undue censorship, denial and restriction of information meant for public good. He however charged members of the association to take advantage of grants made available by non-governmental organisations, which include; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation and many others.
Expressing her profound gratitude to the University management for hosting the Association, the Chairman of the Edo State Chapter of the Nigerian Library Association, Dr. Mrs. Evlyn Omoluobi Idiodi, said that the essence of the conference was for Librarians and Library Officers to identify ways to move the Nigerian Library Association forward, adding that it was the tradition of the Association to meet at least once a year to discuss issues affecting the interest of the Association.
Speaking in an interview with CBSU Crew, the University Librarian, Mrs. Grace Sanny, enjoined Institutions of higher learning to acknowledge the role of Librarians. She said this while expressing her appreciation to the Association for choosing Benson Idahosa University as host community for this year’s meeting.
The 2016 Library conference which had as its theme: “Identifying and Accessing Funding Opportunities for Library and Information Science Professionals”, had a seasoned and erudite Librarian and Information Science Consultant, Dr. Jide Oke, as speaker. The conference featured paper presentations on how Librarians and Library Officers can write successful grant applications to enable them have access to funds from different sources for their research work. There was also the election of new Executive members to run the affairs of the Association for the next two years.