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A total of 4,012 citations in 70 postgraduate dissertations in education submitted to the Delta State University Library between 1992 and 2002 were studied. Most post graduate students in education used more textbooks (60.3 per cent), than other forms of library materials. Four of the top ranked journals, including the most popularly used – the West African Journal of Education (WAJE) – are available in the library. A total of 12 (66.7 per cent) of the 18 most popularly used journals are US publications, thus creating the need for Delta State University Library to improve on its local journal collection. Of the 18 most cited journals, six (33.3 per cent) ranked among the list of significant journals in the field of education.

This article surveys the cybercafés in Delta State, Nigeria. By means of questionnaires and observation techniques, data were collected from the cybercafés. Frequency counts and percentages were used to analyze the data generated. Findings revealed where the Internet cafés are located, year established, type of ownership, number of daily users, categories of users, age of regular users, sex of users, previous users of information technology, location of their Internet service providers, number of systems connected to the Internet, staff strength, provision of non‐Internet services, problems militating against Internet services business in the cybercafés, as well as suggestions for improvement of services to clients. Some recommendations that can facilitate the operations of the cafés are also set forth.

To address the issue of poor government funding for Nigerian libraries. This situation has led many librarians over the years to explore the possibility of raising additional funds from alternative sources of income.

Explores the current levels of funding for Nigerian academic libraries and identifies some alternative funding sources. On identifying these sources, the success of alternative sources of income is presented and suggestions are made for funding in the future.

Funding for libraries and information centers in Nigeria is largely through government allocations to the overseeing ministries or institutions. Government funding has been poor, requiring libraries to look for alternative sources of income in order to meet the increasingly sophisticated demand of library users for electronic information services. Several methods for generating income have been identified, explored by many libraries, and discussed in library literature, but have yielded little in the way of additional funding.

On evaluating all the sources of income available to Nigerian academic libraries, this paper suggests that the most stable and reliable source of funds remains with allocations from the federal government. As the support from the government has not been adequate, suggestions are included on areas where the government could raise taxes to support education in general, and libraries specifically, within Nigeria.

To investigate photocopying practices in tertiary institutions in Nigeria as they relate to the existing copyright law and suggestions to regulate photocopying practices so that the infringement of copyright laws will be minimized.

An empirical approach in which questionnaires, in addition to observation and interview methods, were used to obtain data on the photocopying practices and the awareness of copyright laws by the respondents in five tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

That the major reasons for photocopying are the cheapness of photocopies compared with the cost of purchasing books and journals as well as the scarcity of books. More than 50 per cent of the respondents photocopied whole books and journals, while over 65 per cent of them are aware of the copyright law.

The study was limited to five tertiary institutions in three zones of Nigeria. It could not cover all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria as that would have been too time‐consuming and expensive.

A useful guide to reasons why people prefer to do photocopies as compared with the purchase of books and the way by which more books can be made available at cheaper cost in order to discourage the propensity for photocopying. It will also create greater awareness and respect for the rule of the copyright law.

It provided suggestions that would create greater awareness of the copyright law in tertiary institutions. It also provided clues to creating book availability in the Nigerian book market and in institutional libraries as a way of discouraging massive photocopying practices which lead to infringement of the copyright law.

This paper discusses a training programme organized for non‐professional and professional staff of the Delta State University Library, Abraka. Coming about twelve years after the University Library opened, it was obviously overdue as these categories of staff had started to display some shortfalls in the performance of their duties. These areas of shortfalls were identified and addressed through relevant paper presentations and demonstrations by competent professional librarians in the library. The areas are: circulation duties, shelving and shelf‐reading, collection development, reference and reserved book services, filing and card maintenance, cataloguing and classification, special collection services, computerization activities and library administration. The problems encountered in the course of the training include the limited ICT skills of most of the staff being trained. This slowed down the pace of the training on the computers Recommendations were made to encourage and improve on similar training programmes in future.

Reports on the 41st National Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Library Association held at Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria, which had the theme Access Point Library: Media, Information, Culture.

Provides an outline of the presentations at the National Conference and annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Library association, held in June 2004. The theme of the conference was "Libraries: tools for education and development".

The article aims to focus on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Abuja, first zonal workshop on Advanced Digital Appreciation for lecturers from Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education in Nigeria. A total of 89 lecturers from nine tertiary institutions from the south–south zone of Nigeria participated in the workshop. The workshop took place in October 2006.

The paper gives an outline of the event.

The broad business and purpose of the NCC as derived from the enabling Decree 75 of 1992 is to facilitate private sector participation in telecommunications service delivery, coordinate and regulate the activities of all the operators to ensure consistency in availability and survey of service delivery and fair pricing.The DBI is an international Centre for Communications Studies which is affiliated with the NCC. The workshop comprised five modules: Introduction to Computers, Introduction to Microsoft Word 2003, Introduction to Microsoft Power Point 2003, Introduction to Microsoft Excel 2003, and Introduction to the Internet.

The article details how the workshop was a train‐the‐trainer initiative for lecturers in higher institutions with a view to equipping them with knowledge and skills of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) which would facilitate the research and teaching activities in their respective institutions.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the 74th General Conference and Council Meeting of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), which took place on August 10‐14, 2008 in Quebec, Canada. Design/methodology/approach – This is a descriptive report. Findings – The conference discussed libraries without borders: navigating towards global understanding. Originality/value – Will be of interest to library and information professionals.

To determine the views of one of the leaders in library education on the African continent and a prominent author and speaker.

The article is based on an interview with Professor Lenrie Olatokunbo Aina of the Department of Library and Information Science, University Botswana.

The interview covers opinions about professional publishing trends and challenges in Africa as well as professional curriculum in library science.

Provides insights into the thinking of one of the leaders in the library profession in Africa.