Abstract:
The study focused on the funding of university libraries in the south-east zone of Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of the study, five specific objectives and five research questions were posed to guide the study. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. Data were collected from 12 universities in the area made up of 4 federal universities, 5 state universities and 3 private universities. A 50 – item questionnaire named funding of university libraries in the south-east zone of Nigeria (FULQ), which has 6 sections and a 5- item structured interview guide (OIGFUL) were the instruments used for data collection. The percentage and mean statistics were used to analyse the data with a criterion mean of 2.5. The findings show that the university libraries sourced their funds from their proprietors, endowments, photocopying services and library fees paid by students, among other sources. The funds that were received by the university libraries from 2002 – 2007 were inadequate, and this negatively affected the provision of services in the university libraries. The results also show that several factors, such as inflation and high exchange rates affected the funding of university libraries, while strategies such as commercialization of some library services such as printing were accepted as strategies for improving the funding situation in university libraries. The implications of the findings of the study were highlighted. It was concluded that the universities depended on the traditional ways of sourcing funds, which affected the adequacy of the funds and the provision of services. The study among other things recommended that the university libraries should not depend o these traditional methods of sourcing funds, and explore other ways such as commercialising some of their services and seeking external support in the development of specific projects.
