LAGOS – The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) on Wednesday said it had committed N23.8 billion between 2001 and 2013 to public tertiary institutions for the acquisition of library books and e-resources.
The Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Prof. Sulaiman Bogoro, said this at a capacity building workshop on the acquisition and management of e-library for librarians in public tertiary institutions.
The 2-day conference, organised by the organisation, was to ensure that librarians maximise the utilisation of e-library database and other software.
Bogoro, represented by TETFUND’s Head of ICT, Mr Gbenga Alolasafe, said the allocation had been on the increase in the previous years.
He said the increased allocation was made possible by the increase in education tax collection in 2013.
He said TETFUND Board of Trustees had also approved a five-year vision for the fund starting from 2014 to 2019 to deepen its focus on academic content, quality and excellence.
“As part of this visions, a Department of Research and Development and Centre of Excellence has been created to industrialise research and development in tertiary institutions.
“We are of the expectation that at the end of the workshop, the capacity of librarians would have been enhanced in the area of acquisition and management of e-library for efficient service delivery.
“It is also expected that it will equally improve the capacity of librarians and shorten the turnaround time in accessing TETFUND library intervention fund,” he said.
Bogoro said library development had been part of the organisation’s academic based intervention programmes since the amendment of the TETFUND Act in 2011.
He said TETFUND would continue to be responsible and responsive to the needs of its beneficiaries and stakeholders in the most effective and efficient manner.
Bogoro said TETFUND would consistently discharge its obligations in a transparent manner and in total compliance with the law establishing it and other rules and regulations.
He said this was to ensure the transformation of the education sector in line with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Chairman, Board of Trustees, TETFUND, Dr Musa Babayo, said the workshop was designed to address challenges faced in the development of e-resources in the various institutions.
He said TETFUND’s major objective was to ensure that its intervention programmes would build critical facilities and manpower that could compete globally.
Earlier, the Provost, Federal College of Education (Technical), Dr Sijibunmi Olusanya, said libraries were key components in the context of achieving global literacy.
He said libraries provided facilities that were dedicated to providing free and equitable access to information in various forms.
“The exponential growth of information being produced in various digital formats world-wide in the past two decades has led to one of the biggest challenges that libraries face today.
“This is adapting to technological change in a suitable and pertinent manner,” he said. (NAN)
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