The Development of the Department of Library Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria: And Its Implications for the Planning of Library Education Programmes in English-Speaking Black African Countries

Dean Tudor is a journalism professor at the Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute and founding editor of the CBRA.

This particular paper was presented as an MLS thesis at Ahmadu Bello University in 1980. As the author states on p. 2, “This thesis aims to prove that the first degree is the best professional programme for producing librarians in Africa, especially in countries where the profession is expanding rapidly.” He goes on to examine the successes and failures of the course, suggesting areas for improvement. His main sources of documentation are the university records and files, some of which are missing. Actually, given the political tension between Abu and the library school at Ibadan in southern Nigeria (then the only other school in the country; ABU itself is in the poorer northern section of Nigeria) and the ceaseless bureaucratic struggles between academic departments and the governments, the book does read like a cloak and dagger adventure. I had the distinct impression that the manuscript was spirited out of the country late at night through various passers and that it was published in “safe” Canada the way papers were published in Paris years ago. The book makes for interesting reading on a number of counts: the controversial introduction of the MLS into ABU; the case study of a Third World developing country’s professional education school; the behind-the-scenes maneuverings due to the inherent problems with any bureaucracies.