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V-C, Prof Ajienka commissioning the Automation Library system

Donald Ekong Library Launches Automation Project

By Ethel Timi-Johnson and Henrietta Otonnah

As part of activities that marked the 29th Convocation Ceremony of the University, the Donald Ekong Library, penultimate Friday, launched the Library Integrated Management project  funded by MacArthur Foundation of Chicago.

Declaring open the new facility, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Joseph Ajienka, who described the Library as a centre of academic activities, said that the project represented a major milestone achievement in the history of the University. Commending staff, who were instrumental to the actualization of the project, Professor Ajienka pointed out that the global concept of the Library is changing in line with evolving technologies that now enable users to access information without being physically present in the Library.

“We are in an Information Communication Technology (ICT)-driven age and we have to move in the IT direction to remain relevant.  I am happy for the success story we have recorded in this area as a University”, the Vice-Chancellor said, advising staff and students to access the vast resources available in the Library for studies and research purposes.

The University Librarian, DrObiageliNwodo, thanked the University Management and MacArthur Foundation for upgrading facilities in the Library to meet 21st century ICT needs. “The Donald Ekong Library has undergone processes that qualify it as an e-library with an e- entrance, as users  would henceforth be admitted only through their automated identity cards ”, she disclosed.

The MacArthur Foundation Liaison Officer in the University and Deputy Librarian,  Dr Henrietta Otokunefor, who recounted the University's relationship with the Foundation since 2003, noted that the Library Automation Project was one of the six core projects of the Foundation in the University. “We are celebrating successive efforts of past administrators as this project has passed through the tenure of three Vice-Chancellors.  It is a thing of joy to launch the project which is proof of an efficient and effective administration in the University”, she remarked.

Highpoint of the commissioning ceremony was the unveiling of a plaque and the use of the Integrated Library Management System by the Vice-Chancellor, who accessed documents at the touch of a computer button to demonstrate the new technology.

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