National Librarian, Prof. Chinwe Anunobi, has said that in a bid to enhance reading culture among Nigerians, efforts are being made to resuscitate the implementation of library hour in schools, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
 
Anunobi spoke in Abuja, yesterday, during a news conference on scorecard of her stewardship in the last two years in office. Anunobi was appointed the National Librarian/Chief Executive Officer of the National Library in September 2021 and yesterday marked her two years in office.
 
She said that a memo had been sent to the Federal Ministry of Education to consider the implementation of reading culture as a policy. 
She said: “The Act establishing the National Library mandates it only to give advice on library development to any agency of the federation or state that calls on her, thereby denying her the power to supervise or direct on library development or use.

“This hinders the capacity of the National Library to ensure that school libraries are functional. However, within this period, branches are directed to visit schools and sensitise them to the need for library use and reading by students.

“It is saddening to note that library hour is no longer implemented in many schools. To this end, efforts is being made to resuscitate implementation of library hour in schools.”

The national librarian also said that to strengthen the state -of-the-art national repository, digital equipment has been deployed to protect vulnerable resources in its Lagos strong room. According to her, over 1,000 records, including monographs, journals, documents and other resources had been digitised.