The Future Cannot Wait: A Bold Roadmap for Transformational Leadership in the Nigerian Library Association State Chapters

By

Azeez Adeoye, Ph.D

Wizard Librarian

The common question among prospective members of every professional association is: What are the benefits of joining the association and paying my dues? Every human being is rational and naturally expects to reap benefits from wherever they invest their time, money, and efforts. This expectation is neither myopic, selfish, nor greedy; rather, it is genuine and rational. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every progressive professional association to clearly demonstrate the numerous benefits available to both existing and prospective members.

The reality is that many professionals and academics join associations because of promotion requirements. However, to ensure that members receive value for their commitment, it is important for the Nigerian Library Association and other professional bodies to pursue the continuous empowerment of their members. This can be achieved through seminars, workshops, and conferences; scholarship opportunities for early-career members; internship and collaboration programmes; strategic lobbying for contracts and projects; social events; vibrant journal publication outlets; mini-grants for action research; interstate, regional, continental, and global collaborations; intensive sponsorship drives involving multinational companies; the strategic use of ICT for wider coverage and awareness; celebration of members' milestones; facilitation of employment opportunities; and the engagement of a young graduate as a dedicated desk officer.

Many times, as members of the NLA, we blame the national body for the problems, challenges, and difficulties facing our profession. However, development in any human society, association, or community often begins from the grassroots and progresses from the bottom upwards. The focus of a professional association should include social inclusion, professional competence, and the intellectual development of its members. Over the years, the NLA, including its state chapters, has organised workshops, conferences, and seminars to sensitise members to emerging trends and developments in the profession. However, many NLA state chapters organise only one major or mandatory conference during Library Week. This is inadequate and may constitute a disservice to members.

With the availability of video-conferencing applications such as WhatsApp, Zoom, Google Meet, and other digital platforms, NLA state chapters should organise regular monthly webinars for their members. Topics could range from the application of information technology in libraries, interpersonal and emotional development, financial literacy, health talks, life in the corporate world, promotion criteria in academic and other libraries, information entrepreneurship, retirement benefits, information-seeking behaviour of library clientele, the duties of faculty and departmental librarians, web archiving, library analytics, library software, effective communication skills, customer relations, and boardroom strategy, among many other professional development areas.

Such programmes will help prepare members for leadership positions, improve their confidence and assertiveness, and increase their awareness of emerging trends in the profession. NLA state chapters should therefore embrace this approach and ensure that members no longer have to question the benefits of joining the association or paying their annual dues.

There is no need to question the relevance of librarianship in this age, particularly considering the growing number of public and private universities establishing departments and schools of Library and Information Science. NLA state chairpersons should take advantage of this development. They should approach library schools and university managements to advocate scholarship opportunities for members, including tuition rebates, fee-free semesters, and full or partial scholarships at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Members could apply for such opportunities through the association. The association could also establish or seek funding for an educational endowment to sponsor dedicated members for postgraduate studies. Furthermore, the NLA could provide references and recommendations to qualified members seeking admission, particularly in private institutions within the state. Such initiatives would strengthen members' loyalty to their state chapters and to the NLA as a whole.

Lobbying is another important instrument for achieving organisational goals, but it must be strategic and ethical. It can be used to secure funding, recognition, partnerships, and opportunities that benefit members. Libraries, particularly academic libraries, are project-driven organisations. Every year, books are purchased, shelves and equipment are acquired, software is adopted, new library buildings are constructed, and resource persons are engaged for accreditation and other projects.

NLA chairpersons should therefore work closely with librarians in universities, polytechnics, and colleges to identify legitimate opportunities within these professional ecosystems. Where appropriate, qualified members, vendors, publishers, marketers, and other stakeholders can participate in projects and benefit from available professional and business opportunities. Such an approach can create goodwill and position the NLA state chapter as a credible platform connecting organisations with competent professionals.

Similarly, state executives should cultivate the habit of paying strategic courtesy visits to heads of organisations, Chief Executive Officers, Chief Medical Directors, and leaders of corporate institutions. Such visits, accompanied where appropriate by branded souvenirs, can be used to build relationships and demonstrate how librarians and information professionals can provide both paid and pro bono services that support the vision and mission of these organisations.

Librarianship is a profession built not only on scholarship but also on practical experience and professional apprenticeship. Therefore, NLA state chapters should champion the coordination and organisation of internship opportunities for members, particularly early-career librarians, to learn from established, thriving, efficient, and innovative libraries.

On a biannual basis, state chapters could invite applications for internship and professional exchange opportunities. Early-career librarians could be given the opportunity to spend several weeks or up to two or three months in an outstanding library or information centre within or outside their state. During this period, they could understudy the institution's services, activities, products, systems, and professional practices and subsequently transfer relevant knowledge to their own institutions.

Outstanding librarians and resource personnel could also be identified as hosts or mentors. Interested young librarians should be encouraged to submit motivation letters and compete through clearly defined and transparent selection criteria. In special cases, an institution requesting a particular placement could contribute towards the sponsorship of its staff member. The benefits of such programmes would be immeasurable in terms of professional development, networking, exposure, knowledge transfer, and the development of stronger loyalty to the association.

Librarians, particularly those in academic institutions, are expected to contribute to scholarship and knowledge creation. The justification is obvious: you cannot give what you do not have. How can librarians effectively meet the information and research needs of academics, researchers, and other professionals if they are not active researchers and scholars themselves? This is one of the reasons why the promotion of academic librarians is closely tied to scholarly productivity and academic publishing.

All NLA state chapters have academic journal outlets, but an important question remains: How functional are these journals? Many journal outlets are moribund, characterised by irregular publication schedules, low-quality articles, limited online visibility, or, in some cases, complete inactivity.

The development and sustainability of a state chapter's journal should be a priority for its leadership. As the chief executive of the chapter, the chairman has an important role in appointing competent editors and supporting the editorial team to ensure that the journal remains active and credible. Editorial teams should not necessarily be restricted to scholars within the state or even within Nigeria. Competent professionals and scholars from other institutions and countries can be engaged to review manuscripts, provide editorial support, and contribute to the growth and quality of the journal.

Journal editors should do more than vet and publish articles. From time to time, they should organise seminars and training programmes on academic writing ethics, common publishing mistakes, plagiarism, responsible use of artificial intelligence, scholarly visibility, strategies for becoming productive scholars, open science and open access, journal article structure, meeting publication deadlines, research ethics and ethical approval, grant writing, and other relevant aspects of scholarly communication.

State chapters could also institute awards for outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate projects, publish special issues on emerging themes, and provide mini-project or research grants for professional librarians. Such initiatives would empower members, improve scholarly productivity, and contribute significantly to both professional and intellectual development.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy, while all play and no work can equally undermine productivity. This principle applies to librarians as much as it does to every other professional. Librarians are social beings, and the NLA should deliberately create opportunities for members to interact beyond formal conferences and meetings.

Activities such as Librarians' Time Out, Librarians in Jeans, games, excursions, beach visits, museum and gallery tours, and visits to archives and other cultural institutions could be organised periodically within and outside the state. These should not be once-a-year events. Regular social engagements would strengthen relationships among members, improve networking, and provide a sense of belonging within the association.

Without adequate funding, many decisions, innovations, and initiatives cannot thrive. Therefore, NLA chapters should not rely solely on membership dues. The relatively modest dues paid by members cannot finance two-thirds of the programmes and initiatives required to transform the association. Deliberate efforts must therefore be made to develop sustainable sponsorship strategies.

Such sponsorship arrangements should be mutually beneficial. Technology companies, for example, could use NLA platforms to create awareness and encourage the adoption of their digital products. Multinational companies, pension administrators, financial institutions, publishing houses, manufacturing firms, and start-up companies could also be approached for partnerships. The association has something valuable to offer: its membership population, professional network, and access to a defined community of information professionals. This should be strategically leveraged when seeking sponsorship and partnerships.

No one is an island, and experience cannot simply be purchased. There is therefore a need for intentional mentorship programmes that connect established professional librarians, academics, and retired practitioners with younger generations of librarians.

A dedicated unit within the executive structure could be established to coordinate this mentoring system. Mentors and mentees could be matched based on professional aspirations, areas of need, expertise, geographical proximity, and other relevant factors. With the ease of communication and collaboration provided by social media and other digital platforms, physical proximity should no longer be a major barrier to effective mentorship. These technologies should be strategically leveraged in the planning and implementation of mentorship programmes.

Librarians are often among the early adopters of technology, and we should use this advantage to amplify our activities, services, and professional achievements. Every NLA state chapter should consider maintaining a functional and regularly updated website. Such a platform could provide information about membership strength and diversity, member profiles, professional achievements, membership applications and status, available opportunities, newsletters, conferences, workshops, and journal publications.

The website could also serve as a platform for celebrating members' milestones and achievements. There is no shortage of information; what is often lacking is the ingenuity and willingness to organise and utilise that information effectively. Information is power, as the saying goes, but the real question is: how much of that power have we effectively utilised?

Executives of NLA state chapters are working professionals. Many chairpersons are heads of libraries or occupy demanding administrative positions, while other executive members also have significant responsibilities in their primary workplaces. This is one of the reasons why brilliant manifestos, ideas, and innovations sometimes remain partially implemented or are abandoned altogether.

To improve the execution of programmes and activities, state chapters should consider engaging a dedicated desk officer, preferably a young graduate of Library and Information Science, on a renewable contract and with an appropriate stipend. The desk officer would be responsible for supporting the day-to-day administration and implementation of the association's activities. Working closely with the executive, the officer could follow up on assignments, coordinate programmes, maintain records, manage communication, and assist executive members in carrying out their responsibilities.

In the twenty-first century, no association can grow or develop in isolation. NLA state chapters should therefore actively pursue state, regional, continental, and global collaborations. Such collaborations could involve conferences, workshops, seminars, training programmes, internships, resource persons, consortium arrangements, infrastructure development, and scholarly partnerships.

The NLA can collaborate with sister associations and related professional bodies in fields such as computer science, engineering, law, health, management science, finance, and other relevant disciplines, as well as professional organisations such as IFLA, AfLIA, ICAN, ANA, IASSIST, ASIS&T, and other national and international bodies.

These programmes and initiatives are not merely wishful thinking. Undoubtedly, each of these laudable ideas requires determination, effort, intentionality, strategic planning, and adequate financial support. However, the success of an idea does not always begin with abundant funds. It begins with willingness, commitment, creativity, and a genuine desire to make a meaningful impact.

With the implementation of all or even many of these initiatives, members will no longer question the essence or benefits of joining the Nigerian Library Association. They will clearly recognise the value and return on their investment of money, time, energy, and other resources in the association.