African Librarianship In The Beginning Of The 21st Century Current Situation In West Africa

The paper discusses the state of Librarianship in the West African SubRegiontaking note of the contemporary practices especially in the public anduniversity libraries. It provides a brief SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the Library and Information Sector in WestAfrica and various interventions by the government and private sector that havefacilitated the development of the profession. It highlights such areas aseducation and training of librarians, Continuing Professional Development oflibrarians, ICT applications in libraries, information resources and services,collaboration, library funding, management and quantity control, publishing andbook chain, and the role of Library Associations. It was observed that eventhough a lot had been achieved in the last decade, a lot more still needs to bedone especially in the areas of funding, ICT applications, quality control andcollaboration for librarianship in the sub-region to cope with the exigencies of the21s t century.The paper suggests ways to promote the development of the profession in thesub-region through strategic public private partnerships, advocacy and effectivegovernment policies, amongst others. It concludes by advocating for the need tohave a government recognized agency that regulates the practice of the libraryand information profession as a way of ensuring quality control.

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