The University Librarian, Dr. Fehintola Onifade has extolled the ingenuity of a Library staff, Mr. Adeniyi Sowole for compiling the index and abstracts of the past projects of undergraduates of the College of Veterinary Medicine (COLVET).
According to her, Mr. Sowole who was formerly working in the COLVET Library “did a marvelous job by taking it upon himself to compile an index of the undergraduate thesis. The effort is his and even the money he used to produce, is his own individual effort”, she stated.
The highly elated University Librarian who disclosed that Mr. Sowole’s selfless contribution to the College and the University at large was worthy of being celebrated, challenged other members of staff to always look for ways to improve the system where they work.
According to her, “The recognition will also boost the morale of others and let them know that we are not sending them to Colleges to come and just sit down and fold their hands. When we see something like this, it is good to encourage the person”.
The University Librarian further disclosed that the Library in collaboration with the University Management is prepared to give the College its full support towards the realization of e-library which would be starting off soon.
According to her, “I want you to know that we will give you 100% support and we will always work together with you. Apart from this resource, there are also other things you can also benefit from the Library, so I just want you to be rest assured that we are here with you. If we take care of COLVET now, at other times we will take care of other Colleges”.
Highlighting other areas where the College Library could collaborate with the College, the College librarian, Dr. Abayomi Owolabi said a compilation can also be done for lecturers in the College if soft copies of their Curriculum Vitae (CV) and areas where they have their publications are provided.
He disclosed that, “the essence of abstracting is that a student does not need to go and read every thesis, but merely looking at the compiled index and abstracts is a pointer or a direction that will direct a student to where they can read it”.
Dr. Owolabi enumerated other activities carried out by the College Library to include extension of closing hours of the Library during test and examination periods of the students as well as Saturday operations.
He added that, “Apart from that we also make sure we organise training for staff and students on the use of e-resources”. Commending the University for subscribing to various e-resources, Dr. Owolabi disclosed that some of the e-resources subscribed to by the University include Science Direct, Agora, EBSCOhost, Hinari, Ajol, Scopus and a list of others. “I can say that FUNAAB is a leading University in terms of e-resources, and we have been organising training for staff and students in the College on the use of e-resources because whether they use them or not, the University have already paid for them”.
Responding, the Dean of COLVET, Professor Adebayo Akinloye on behalf of the College and the Veterinary Teaching Hospital expressed gratitude to the University Librarian for the presentation of the compiled index and abstracts of past projects of undergraduate students which he described as a dream come true.
Professor Akinloye who disclosed that evidence of past projects of undergraduates was part of the requirements for accreditation especially in respect to Libraries, said that the compiled index and abstracts of past projects now address that challenge.
Commending Mr. Sowole, the Dean described him as “a very wonderful librarian, he is very enthusiastic about his work”, adding that he was also instrumental to the wireless radio in lieu of fibre optics for internet that was secured in the College.
