NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY-LIBRARIES - WHAT FUTURE

The future of Nigerian university libraries is threatened by press und erfunding, inadequate collections and facilities. These worrysome prob lems which have bedevilled the libraries since the 1980s persist due t o the continued low level of book production, scarcity of foreign curr ency to import books and journals, and the continued proliferation of universities despite the economic recession in the country. The Nigeri an federal and state governments, which are the sole financiers of the 38 universities in the country, lack the financial resources to fund them adequately. To prevent the collapse of the universities and their libraries, organizations such as the World Bank, oil companies, and b anks, are being brought in to assist the governments. The federal gove rnment and its central coordinating body for the universities, the Nat ional Universities Commission (NUC), are encouraging the universities to seek and achieve sustainability by prudent spending and vigorous di versification of their revenue bases and investments in order to survi ve. This article examines the issues involved. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited.