LRCN said the accreditation exercise is for quality assurance purposes and to ensure that libraries adopt standards set by it.
The Librarians Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN) has commenced accreditation of library school programmes across the country.
In the pilot scheme on Tuesday, the council said it carried out accreditation at the Umaru Musa Yar'adua University, Katsina, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The Council's Registrar, Jaáfaru Abdullahi, disclosed this on Tuesday during the opening ceremony of the National Workshop on Application of New Technological Trends in Libraries held at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
A statement by the Deputy Director of Public Relations at the LRCN, Ngozi Oboh, quoted Mr Abdullahi as saying the accreditation of library schools programme is part of the council's mandate.
"The accreditation exercise is for quality assurance purposes and to ensure that libraries adopt standards set by the Council for academic libraries in terms of content, facilities and staffing, as well as assessing their use of the curriculum and benchmarks set for different categories of libraries," he said.
The statement added that LRCN plans to accredit two more tertiary institutions next month.
UNIPORT librarian speaks
Meanwhile, the Librarian of the University of Port Harcourt, Helen Emasealu, said the accreditation exercise will help create awareness about the rules needed to be followed.
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"It is only when you do assessment that you have a bigger picture," she said. "Those who do not comply (with the standards) will be sanctioned."
On his part, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Onwunari Georgewill, a professor, in his remarks at the ceremony, commended LRCN for its activities and stated that a university without the library is not a university at all and that libraries occupy key positions in the life of every university.
LRCN
The LRCN is a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Education.
The Council is responsible for providing leadership in the field of librarianship by regulating education for library and information science and its practice in Nigeria.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.
