The Enugu State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Simon Ortuanya, has urged librarians in the state to proffer solution to the dwindling readership among students and the academia.
Ortuanya made the call in Enugu while declaring open the three-day annual conference of Nigerian Library Association (NLA), Enugu State chapter.
He noted that the problem was a big challenge to the profession as many youths now used audio-visual devices for their sources of information.
Represented by his Personal Assistant, Mr Ifeanyi Onah, the commissioner urged the librarians to be innovative by digitising their libraries, making them user friendly and easy for time and space management.
“You will also strive to develop a professional code of conduct so that non-professionals will not man libraries. “I will also like it if you establish Nigerian Library Association Resource Centre in the state because the Enugu State government has made tremendous transformation in the education sector,’’ he said.
The commissioner said part of the transformation was the distribution of books to schools in the state as well as making it compulsory that no school existed without a functional library.
The chairman of the occasion, Dr Sam Ugwu, challenged the participants to fashion out ways of changing the attitude of youths toward the use of the library.
He also urged them to influence the increase in financial allocation to libraries in institutions as the library remained a big asset to intellectual growth.
The chairman of the association in the state, Mr Innocent Eze, said the occasion marked the 50th anniversary and would enable them to examine their impact on the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.
He said the event was also to examine their impact on the four-point agenda of the Enugu State Government.
