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A study was undertaken to assess the state of libraries in Institutes of Health Sciences in Botswana. The objectives of the study were to assess the state of the collections and services and examine how well or otherwise the libraries provide good educational complements to classroom‐based student learning and to lecturers’ research. Based on the eight areas used to determine standards in college libraries, the study revealed that college library standards were not met in Institute of Health Science libraries. It was recommended that the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the University of Botswana, to which the Institutes of Health Sciences are affiliated, should work together to facilitate improvement on library collection, library services, staffing, and library facilities.

Considering the changing dimensions of client influence in the emerging sub-market in Nigeria, different from previous general insinuations, this article examines the new strategies adopted by clients to influence estate surveyors and valuers (ESVs), factors that predispose ESVs to client influence and the effects of clients' influence on valuation outcomes and real estate markets in emerging sub-market, using Ibadan market as the study area.

The paper is situated within a client influence assessment framework, modified to reflect contextual incidents. Contextualization was made possible with the involvement of both practitioners and academic researchers. Validated copies of the questionnaire were administered to the registered practicing ESVs in an intact group during their monthly state (provincial) meeting and through direct delivery at their firms. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Contrary to the previous studies, the authors found no significant relationship between ESV professional qualifications, the firm's staff strength and the frequency of clients' influence in valuation assignments. Hiding important information and clauses, begging, lobbying, and seeking undue favor and promises for future jobs or appointments are the influencing strategies clients employ to pressure valuer. The topmost factors are emerging sub-market and economic-induced factors, lack of due process, and adequate transparency on the parts of firms and Valuers. It was established that the new dimension of client influence leads to the mortgage valuation accuracy dilemma, discredit of professional confidence, default and financial distress, and generating mistrust in the property market.

The implication is the new dimension of client influence, different from the previous studies, thus calling for professional and policy attention. As real estate investment and transactions transcend globally, understanding the local sub-market condition is imperative.

The novelty of the paper is the exposition on the dimensions of client influence within the economy and the implication for the professional body regulatory policy.

The finance sector and property market challenges in some global regions have been linked to inefficient property valuation practices. As a result, global valuation professional organisations have set up standards and norms to promote efficient and transparent operations in the property valuation industry. Despite these concerns, valuation industries in some countries still face challenges that threaten their smooth operations. One of such is Nigeria, which faces various problems attributable to its valuation process and regulatory system. Consequently, this paper aims to examine the valuation process in Nigeria with a bid to identify the weaknesses in its valuation process and how it contributes to problems identified in the literature.

A qualitative research approach was adopted, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 valuers across different segments of the valuation industry in Nigeria. The data were subjected to thematic analysis using Nvivo 12 software.

Our findings indicate a fundamentally weak valuation system and regulatory system marked by an opaque engagement process, underpricing of valuation services, inefficient domestication of international valuation standards, poor implementation and monitoring system and concerns about the training and certifications to meet global norms. These identified weaknesses contribute to and fuel problems such as client influence and valuation inaccuracy, among others.

The study has some implications for the valuation professional organisations in Nigeria. The valuation professional organisations should devise systems and enact standards that go beyond solely replicating the IVS and RICS Red Book to effective domestication to suit local norms. Given the inefficient implementation and monitoring system, the use of proptech that supplements legal instruments needs to be adopted. Furthermore, the regulations should be strengthened in line with the trends of sustainability, duty of care and use of data as advocated by the IVSC. This will promote trust in the system and allow global stakeholders to transact more confidently with the Nigerian industry, as the current set-up does not evoke sufficient confidence in the system to deliver excellent and transparent valuation assignments.

This study provides perspective from an untransparent property market on the implications of a poor regulatory system and valuation process for valuers and stakeholders who may rely on valuations conducted in such an environment for decision-making. The findings from this study potentially provide input for the valuation professional organisation in Nigeria in identifying the gaps in their framework and current practices and providing some suggestions to promote improvements.

The purpose of this study is to investigate artificial intelligence (AI) as enabler of future library services, with consideration to how prepared are librarians in African university libraries.

This study applied the interpretive content/document analysis of literature harvested from different databases of Scopus and Web of Science. AI could be used to perform daily routines in circulation, serial, reference and selective dissemination of information among others. It could also be applied to the provision of innovative services of recognition of library activities such as answering research quarries, cataloguing and classification of library materials and management of library system software of different databases within the library systems.

It could be deduced from the study that AI would continue to serve as a panacea to future library services irrespective of its geographical context. Due to the evolving nature of knowledge growth, AI having its roots in the field of engineering has been found useful to support future library services. The support accrued from library service delivery in the library profession has made librarians continue to interact with other intelligent machines that can demonstrate human behaviour even though they are not real human beings. The behaviour of machines and AI where human beings play a significant role has brought many renovations in the management of complex tasks of processing, communication, knowledge representation, decision making and suggestions, on potentials of diverse work operations.

The understanding that the present paper portrays in the context of future library services is that there is no way the AI could function without a human interaction perspective when drawing an analogy from computer science, information science and information systems fields of study.

The interest of users across their background would be strengthen if AI advances transformed the handling complex tasks of processing, communication, knowledge representation, decision-making and giving suggestions, among other things. The possibilities of diverse work operations from empirical evidence of studies consulted in recent times gave the authors the impetus to consider AI as the enabler of future library services.

The increasing demands from library patrons have prompted librarians to adapt their methods of delivering services. These emerging technologies have also brought about shifts in approaches to teaching and learning. Consequently, the recent surge in digital technology-driven service innovations has ushered in a fresh paradigm for education and research. In response to these changes, librarians are actively seeking novel and innovative technologies to enhance user experiences within their libraries. They serve as catalysts for introducing modern and advanced technologies, consistently adapting to contemporary tools that enhance their offerings.

The property valuation process involves the property valuer expressing expertise in reaction to a client' instruction. However, there are instances where clients, driven by self-interest, impose their will to influence valuers into returning property valuation figures that are not the true reflection of the valuer's assessment. This paper set out to revisit the issue of client influence in property valuation by conducting a scoping review to establish key findings, gaps, implications and solutions.

In total, 21 articles on client influence published from 1997 till date were systematically obtained from Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and through citation searching and reviewed through a “Patterns, Advances, Gaps, Evidence for practice and Research recommendations (PAGER)” framework. Further analysis and visualisation were performed using VOSviewer software.

This study found that based on the number of studies, the issue of client influence has received empirical attention, which is few and far between, with financial institutions identified as the major culprits in most of those studies. One core reason for this is the stakes involved in the finance sector, which relies on property valuation for loan disbursement and performance measurement. Furthermore, previous studies have focused on identifying the issue through the lens of the property valuer without giving recourse to the client's perspective on what may drive the issue.

This study provides evidence that the issue of client influence persists, with some elements of bias in the methodology. Furthermore, the solutions proffered have focused on the valuer and have not been tested to ascertain their effectiveness. Future studies can consider examining the issue from the perspective of financial institutions.

This study is one of the first review studies on client influence on property valuation. It is also the first to identify a pattern in client influence studies that points to the issue being perpetuated by financial institutions. Furthermore, it is the first in recent time to reveal how limited study has been conducted in the area as well as the solutions which have neither been tested nor implemented.

Given the significant role played by valuers and the evidence of a lack of independence in some property valuation industries, particularly in emerging markets, this study analyses the issue of client influence in property valuation by providing a valuer-client perspective and measuring the interrelationships between the clients' influence factors to identify causal factors of prominence, which can assist in developing solutions to address the clients' influence issue.

The study used a mixed-method approach. Firstly, interviews were conducted with ten property valuers and five financial institution staff in Nigeria, and the data were subject to thematic analysis using Nvivo 12 software. A matrix questionnaire survey was administered to the valuers, and the responses were analysed using the fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method.

The results indicate that institutional clients, loan-seeking customers, property valuers and the perception of corruption within the Nigerian environment fuelled the issue of clients' influence. Based on the measurement of the interrelationship between the 14 identified client influence factors, the type of company, perception the public has of the industry, size of the firm, relationship with the client, type of client and regulatory framework were the factors of prominence.

The findings of this study bear huge implications for Nigeria and other similar structured property markets facing the issue of clients' influence in property valuation. With the prominent factors bearing root in a mix of client, valuer and environmental factors such as the valuation structure, process and public perception, there is a need for solutions that level the playing field between institutional clients and valuers, reinforce transparency and establish excellent regulatory standards to address the issue of clients' influence.

This study is the first to measure the interrelationships between the clients' influence factors to identify the prominent causal factors. Accordingly, considering the multi-factors, the research is novel as it focusses on those factors that would likely lead to other factors, thereby providing opportunities to develop solutions that focus on those factors of prominence. Secondly, the study deviates from the narrative on clients' influence in property valuation, which pits it as solely a client or valuer factor, by showing how the interplay of the stakeholders' interests and the environment promotes the issue in a non-transparent property market.

The pricing of professional service has been identified as one of the factors influencing the quality of service and willingness of clients to pay. However, the issue of service pricing is hardly seen as an object of discourse in real estate literature, especially among valuation studies, as it is obtainable in other fields. In Nigeria, it has become the practice for some sets of clients, especially financial institutions, to fix valuers’ remuneration based on the fact that these clients have market advantage. This practice and some other issues around pricing of valuers’ services have been going on for some years with little or no research insights from academics. The purpose of this paper is to examine the pricing system of valuation services within the Lagos property market with the aim of providing information to better valuation practice.

This study assumes an interpretive paradigm and adopts a qualitative research approach. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 registered valuers practising within the Lagos property market. Snowballing sampling technique was employed in selecting the registered valuers who were active in the practice of valuation in the study area. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 software.

This study finds that the pricing system for valuation services in the study area can be broadly categorised under “negotiation” and “fixed rate” systems while the use of the “professional scale of charges” is more or less non-existent. The study also reveals various forms by which these systems are practised, and issues associated with them as well as the effects they have on valuation practice. The study further reveals the factors responsible for the continuous striving of the present pricing system which includes valuers’ inability to enforce the professional scale, competition in the market, buyers’ market syndrome, the game of numbers and the banks’ strategy to protect their customers. The authors also found that the low pricing of valuation service poses challenges to valuation practice and encourages unprofessional conducts that affect the quality of valuation output. The study also provides, albeit limited, an evidence of the relationship between valuation fee and quality of valuation.

This study is limited to Lagos property market and only the practising valuers. Insights from other major cities and stakeholders in service pricing like clients and regulatory authority may produce more insightful results.

This study provides important insights into valuers’ experience in the area of service pricing and how this affects the delivery of professional services. It also serves as the research blueprint in giving research attention to the service pricing in property valuation practice.

Challenges of property data in developing markets have been reported by several authors. However, a deep understanding of the actual nature of this phenomenon in developing markets is largely lacking as in-depth studies into the actual nature of data challenge in such markets are scarce in literature. Specifically, the available literature lacks clarity about the actual nature of data challenges that developing markets pose to valuers and how this affects valuation practice. This study provides this understanding with focus on the Lagos property market.

This study utilises a qualitative research approach. A total of 24 valuers were selected using snowballing sampling technique, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 software.

The study finds that the main data-related challenge in the Lagos property market is the lack of database of market property transactions and not the lack or absence of transaction data as it has been emphasised in previous studies. Other data-related challenges identified include weak property rights institution with attendant transaction costs, underhand dealings among professionals, undocumented charges, undisclosed information, scarcity of data relating to specialised assets and limited access to the subject property and required documents during valuation. Also, the study unbundles the factors responsible for these challenges and how they affect valuation practice.

The study has implication for practice in the sense that the deeper knowledge of data challenges could provide insight into strategy to tackle the challenges.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by offering a fresh and in-depth perspective to the issue of data challenges in developing markets and how the peculiar nature of the real estate market affects the nature of data challenges. The qualitative approach adopted in this study allowed for a deep enquiry into the phenomenon and resulted into an extended insight into the peculiar nature of data challenges in a typical developing property market.

If taking knowledge and training to the maginalised, isolated, underprivileged and the unreachable is the goal of distance education, then Africa is qualified to be the home of distance education. The paper talks about the inadequacy of education inherited in the continent at independence, and the yearning of various governments to improve educationally the lot of people, which gave birth to the obvious option of distance learning. Unfortunately the economic downturn affected proper funding of education and provision of resources including provision of library facilities. The corollary of this is that except for a handful of university libraries, library support service to distance learners is almost non‐existent. The scenario is painted of the practice in some universities where a distance learning mode is adopted. The paper concludes with some suggestions on what could be done to alleviate the agony of distance learners in the continent.

The global shift in the traditional skills required of real estate graduates has led to an increased demand for employees who have the required skills and competencies. The purpose of this study is to evaluate employment considerations of real estate firms and analyse employers’ skill expectations and the observed skills possessed by the graduate employees. This study also analysed the self-assessed soft skill levels of the graduate employees, thereby establishing the skill gap.

Data were sought from real estate employers in the two dominant real estate markets of Nigeria: Lagos and Abuja, and real estate graduate employees who have had a minimum of six months working experience in real estate firms. Data collected were analysed using statistical techniques such as frequency, percentages, mean, correlation, multivariate analysis of variance, paired-samples t-test and independent samples t-test.

The findings of this study revealed that employers’ soft skills expectations were high with skills such as responsibility, administrative, listening, communication, business negotiation and work ethics. Based on employers' observed skills, there were significant skill gaps with respect to soft skills such as responsibility, business negotiation, logical thinking, marketing and dispute resolution. An analysis of the core skills reveals employers' preference for technical competencies in valuation, agency, property management, marketing, report writing and landlord and tenant laws. However, graduate employees possessed significant skill gaps with regards to technical skills such as valuation, property investment analysis, feasibility and viability appraisal, market research methods and facility management.

An understanding of the skill gaps will provide useful feedback to professional bodies, regulatory boards, institutions of higher learning, faculty members and other stakeholders regarding deficient skill areas, especially for curriculum review, development and training in the real estate sector.

There is a paucity of information about employers' skill preferences and the skill gaps in the real estate sector.