SOURCE:

Faculty: Education
Department: Library And Information Science

CONTRIBUTORS:

Nworie, J.C;
Nwosu, O;

ABSTRACT:

This study assessed the practices of preserving digital materials in university libraries in South-East, Nigeria based on the UNESCO (2003) Digital Preservation Guidelines. Four research questions guided the study and four hypotheses were tested. The research design adopted for the study was descriptive survey design. The population for this study comprised all the 160 librarians in the 10 public university libraries in South-East, Nigeria. The instrument used for data collection was the questionnaire adapted from the UNESCO Digital Preservation Guidelines. Data were analysed, and simple percentages were used to answer the research questions and chi-square was used to test the hypotheses. The study revealed that 83.2% of the librarians in the university libraries in South-East, Nigeria agreed that they do not have preservation Policies yet for their digital materials based on the UNESCO Digital Preservation Guidelines. The librarians in the university libraries seem not to have knowledge of the UNESCO Digital Preservation Guidelines but fortunately, out of preservation instincts, the preservation strategies they adopted for their digital materials in the libraries were almost in line with the UNESCO Digital Preservation Guidelines. However, 84.3% of the librarians in the university libraries in South-East, Nigeria attested that they do not secure permission from copyright owners to preserve and provide access to acquired digital materials; 70.8% of the librarians confirmed that they lacked adequate trained staff to manage their digital materials and, 85.0% also confirmed that there is no sustainable long term funding to support the preservation of their digital materials. Based on the UNESCO Digital Preservation Guidelines, the existing preservation policies do not differ significantly based on the university ownership but, there was significant difference in the preservation strategies. There was no significant difference on the necessary rights and agreements that were in place for the preservation of digital materials in the federal and state owned university libraries in South-East, Nigeria and the necessary sustainability programme in terms of funding and staffing for long term preservation of digital materials available in federal and state owned university libraries in South-East, Nigeria differ significantly. Based on the findings of this study, the implications among others were discussed and the study concludes therefore that librarians in the university libraries in South-East, Nigeria have not fully adopted the UNESCO Digital Preservation Guidelines for the preservation practices of their digital materials. The study recommends strongly that university librarians in South- East Nigeria should adopt the UNESCO Digital Preservation Guidelines as their working guide in preserving the digital materials in their libraries.