Council to clampdown on quack librarians

Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria (LRCN) has warned non-librarians, who are masquerading as librarians, to steer clear of libraries across the country or face prosecution.

The council said it would not only bark but also bite hard on those it described as “quack librarians.”

The Registrar/CEO

of LRCN, Dr. Victoria Okojie gave the warning in Abuja at the 6th Induction and 2nd Conference of Certified Librarians in Nigeria with the theme: ‘Innovative Libraries: Tools for Sustainable Development.’

“We want to sound a note of warning that they will be sanctioned, prosecuted according to the power given to us by the Act establishing the Librarian Registration Council of Nigeria which is Act 12 of 1995,” she said.

Okojie, who decried the presence of quacks in the profession, said the minimum qualification for one to be regarded as a Librarian is First Degree in Librarianship, without which the person would be considered quack.

The Registrar also revealed that the Council has succeeded in removing five Directors of Library Board because they were not Professional Librarians.

She said, “The Act stipulated that you cannot practice Librarianship unless you are certified by the LRCN.”

While congratulating the 530 inductees that were certified to practice the Library and Information profession, she noted that the figure brings the total numbers of Certified Librarians in the country to 4,671.

In her remark, the Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Hajiya Hindatu Abdullahi, called on library and information science professionals in the country to develop a disaster management master plan for libraries in the country.

According to her, the master plan has become necessary because there are documents that are very essential in the life of a nation that and when such documents are lost or destroyed, it becomes impossible to replace them.