Traditional libraries should not be scrapped because of the emergence of electronic books (e-books), Registrar of the Librarians Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN), Dr. Victoria Okojie, has said.

Okojie, who spoke when the Senate Committee on Education visited the council on oversight functions, said e-books should complement books in printed forms.

"In developed countries like the US and Britain their libraries are well established. It is because in Nigeria we do not have current books on our shelves but e-books should only play a complimentary role. The book would never die," she said.

She said the council is also working on developing minimum standards for setting up e-libraries and benchmarks for accreditation of libraries and information science programmes in tertiary institutions.

The registrar however said funding was hindering the execution of some its activities as this year out of N13m allocated for capital projects, only N541, 000 had been released.

Deputy Chairman of the committee, Professor Olusola Adeyeye, said the council as a regulatory body should find ways of generating revenue internally and not just rely on government.