My University’s Library

A Review of “Set on a Hill: History, Growth and Development of the University of Jos Library” by Stephen A. Akintunde

Akintunde, Stephen A. Set on a Hill: History, Growth and Development of the University of Jos Library. Jos: ASAE-Ozi Press, 2023.

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Dear Fellow,

For quite a long time now Professor Stephen A. Akintunde has been the face of the University of Jos Library in my mind. That meant the library was his idea. Although the present form of the Central Library Complex (since 2019) on the Naraguta Campus (also called Permanent Site) of the university was his idea, the university library is bigger than one man.

Professor Akintunde worked in the University of Jos Library for forty-nine years from 1973, when he resumed as a library assistant. His friend Engineer Jacob Adeleke Awoniyi saw the advert for the position in the New Nigerian Newspaper in August 1972 and took it to him at his shop in Jos Main Market. He started working at the library as a graduate of secondary school.

Being an insider of the system, Professor Akintunde took responsibility and wrote a comprehensive history of the University of Jos Library from its origin in 1972 to 2020, the end of his service as the fourth person to serve as the university librarian. I confessed at the National Library of Nigeria (NLN) Plateau State Branch at a reading of my book that I wish Professor Akintunde’s book Set on a Hill had been published before mine. The book contains the epic story of the University of Jos Library. By the decades from 1972, I will retell the story under subheadings.

Photographer: Nangkat Markitda

The First Decade (1972-1982)

Joseph Dechi Gomwalk (1935-1976) was the (first) military governor of Benue-Plateau State when his government wrote to Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria (ABU Zaria) to consider the prospects of a centre specialised in studies of African History and Culture in Jos, Plateau State. In August 1971, Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan (UI), proposed to set up a campus in Jos. The acting principal for the campus was announced on 17th November 1971; the campus library started operations in February 1962; and the campus formally opened on 11th March 1972, offering courses in Basic Arts and Sciences to eighty-eight students. The library at the time had space for fifty-six readers only and eight seats for newspaper consultation; it also had one thousand volumes of books. The first principal staff of the library was A. A. Ayodele.

The Jos Campus of UI became the University of Jos on 23rd September 1975, and thus the beginning of the University of Jos Library. The principal staff of the university library at the time was Audrey Bernice Ojoade, who took over from Mr. Ayodele in July 1972 and served till August 1976. The library ran operations from 8.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. on weekdays, till noon on Saturdays, and from five on Sunday evenings to ten at night.

Bartholomew Udemmadu Nwafor became the first university librarian in August 1976. According to the needs of the university’s curriculum at the time, the library primarily had resources for arts and humanities. By the end of that decade, the library hosted five exhibitions.

The Second Decade (1982-1992)

Professor Akintunde became assistant librarian-in-training in 1983, on the first of October. Two years prior, the foundation stone for the Central Library Complex at the Naraguta Campus of the university was laid by President Shehu Usman Shagari (1925-2018) on the 30th of October. The Central Library Complex presently at the Naraguta Campus of the university was established in 1986. Mr. Nwafor handed over to Mrs. Ojoade, as acting university librarian, in 1991. The university library, running two branches then, got its first microcomputer on 7th October 1992.

The Third Decade (1992-2002)

Professor Akintunde became a senior librarian on the first day of October 1992—and remained so for six years. Mrs Ojoade served as acting librarian after Mr Nwafor’s tenure as the university librarian from 1991 to 1992. She resumed as a university librarian in June 1992. On 13th November 1997, the Central Library Campus was launched by Sani Abacha (1943-1998). However, the library operated only on the first-floor building, while the rest of the three floors were offices for the faculties of Arts and Social Sciences. Fascinating, the University of Jos Staff Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (UJSMCSL) evolved from the Library Cooperative Society which started in March 1999. And in the same year, the library got its first website. The following year Bachelor in Library and Information Science (BLIS) was a course offered at the Institute of Education, University of Jos. A solar panel was installed in 2001. Professor Adakole Ochai resumed acting university librarian in June 2001, just after Mrs. Ojoade.

The Fourth Decade (2002-2012)

Professor Ochai was acting university librarian till 28th October 2003; he became the university librarian the following day. Library operations moved to the library on the Bauchi Road Campus that same year. In May 2009, the library launched her institutional repository (a database for publications from the postgraduate level of the university)—perhaps the first among Nigerian universities. The following year’s records says the library had 169,404 volumes of books, 25,824 journals, and 20,263 special collections. On 25th November 2010, the library’s Open Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) was launched.

The Fifth Decade (2012-2022)

Professor Akintunde, deputy university librarian from 1998 to 2013, became the acting university librarian on 29th October 2013. From February to December that same year, the Bauchi Road Campus Library was closed due to a fire incident on 28th March 2013. On 14th February 2014, Professor Akintunde became the university librarian, and served till 13th February 2020. In 2015, the record shows: 11,816 registered users of the library and 1,500 users can be seated at a time. Professor Akintunde designed the Creative Learning Space (CLS) which was launched on 28th April 2015. The CLS is a library setup where the user of the library is the primary focus when designing the space; it ensures the space is fitted with modern technologies that make the learning environment conducive and fun. The CLS was implemented at the Medical Library in 2017 and the Central Library Complex in 2019. An inferno happened at Central Library Complex, on Naraguta Campus on 8th October 2016. Immediately after the fire Operation Beauty from Ashes was launched and it pooled resources for the library to rise again. On the 6th of December 2019, the library was up and is standing tall today.

In conclusion, the library that was just a library for a satellite campus has evolved into a big entity with branches. The mother library on Naraguta Campus and her children: Bauchi Road Campus Library, Law Library, and Medical Library. Since 1980, the library’s philosophy (or mode of operation) is Teaching Library—designed to ensure constant interaction between library staff, students, and lecturers. Once, I texted Professor Akintunde: “Is Mrs Audrey Bernice Ojoade still alive? Reading of her service at the university library [in your book], I wonder why she is not acknowledged, maybe by naming a section of the library after her, or anything like that.” And he said it is a very good thought and will come to pass one day. I look forward to that day!

Thank you for reading, good Fellow.

Your LetterMan,

Tongjal, W. N.