Member profile: Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari – Elizade University, Nigeria

Name: Idowu Adegbilero-Iwari
Job title: Scholarly Communications Librarian/Library Coordinator
Institution: Elizade University, Nigeria
Community member since: 2018

What do you enjoy about working in libraries/information and what inspires you in your career?

Helping people with information needs and imparting information skills. The ability to connect with people across diverse fields through the library space is inspiring!

What does your role involve?

Primarily, I manage the university's Institutional Repository and other open access initiatives, the journal hosting services, copyright issues and referencing software. I'm also responsible for the procurement of ISSN and other standards, such as the DOI, and anti-plagiarism services. In addition, since March 2018, I have being leading in an acting capacity as Library Coordinator attending to management and administrative affairs. The tremendous progress we have made during this time is as exciting.

What are your current projects/initiatives?

Deployment of the DSPACE institutional repository (the open journal system for the management of university journals), establishment of a Bindery section, organisation of a summer course in digital library management, establishment and coordination of a library consortium – the Cooperating Libraries for E-resources (COOLfER) – a library consortium initiated and coordinated by us, and working towards establishing a Library Shoppe. Our hands are really full.

Describe your library and resources and how you reach your users

The university library was established along with the university in 2013 to support the teaching, learning, and research activities of the university's faculty, staff and students with relevant and current information resources and services. With a team of qualified professional, support and technical staff and world-class facilities, the library provides resourceful and user-oriented services to its community, with the aim of becoming a leading smart academic library among its peers.

We also have various branch libraries are located within faculties and managed by experienced staff. The total current collection of monographs and books stand at about 13,000 volumes, while the current and back files of the journal collection contain about 100 titles. The three reading rooms are comfortably furnished, air-conditioned and adequately supervised to give users maximum comfort. A 24/7 internet service is guaranteed by strong network signals from the university's ICT Unit.

What challenges do you face in your day-to-day work and how do you overcome these challenges?

It bothers me when I cannot meet the information needs of our researchers and students just because the information is chained behind a paywall and there is no subscription due to the cost of the databases and limited resources at my library's/institution's disposal. So, on many occasions, I reach out to colleagues outside my university and country to help find such information.

Where have you seen a real improvement in the past year and what's your top tip for fellow Community members working in your region or beyond?

Response to open access has being encouraging and there is huge momentum gathering for the Nigerian open access/science community. I just hope that many more institutions and professionals can join the open space.

What big changes have you witnessed and what do you see as the key issues for librarians in the future?

Improved recognition of librarians' roles in the new scholarly communications landscape and expanding appreciation of digital information especially the ones that are open and reusable. In the future, librarians are going to play critical roles in the emerging open science/ research scene, contributing to and promoting open research practices and open access.

What are your future plans and aspirations for your library?

To have a standalone library building that is modern, smart and powered by solar technologies. We will also be deploying a functional library website (like Google) where users can connect to all of Library's resources. This isn't yet the case for many library websites around here.

What do you value most from your professional networks, like the ACU RKI Community?

Access to information, partnerships and relevance on a global stage – and the opportunity to connect with forward thinking professionals who are members of this community.

Do you want to join the RKI Community? Find out how you can become a member here or email [email protected] for more information.