Enhancing women's productivity in the library and information sector in Nigeria

Abstract

PurposeProductivity in library and information entails efficient and timely information acquisition, processing, storage, retrieval and delivery. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons why the productivity of women in library and information should be enhanced; to describe problems which militate against this; and to highlight their future prospects.Design/methodology/approachThese objectives are achieved through the descriptive survey methodology.FindingsThe finding is that, in spite of the fact that the productivity of women in Nigeria has generally been regarded as low because of traditional prejudices against women and lack of data on the productivity of women in the informal sector, the productivity of women in the library and information sector has remained high and needs enhancement to encourage them to aim higher in the profession. One way of achieving this is by getting them fully involved in information technology. Another way is government's financial support of their aspirations towards training and retraining; attendance to seminar‐workshops, exchange programmes in connection with sabbatical leave appointments, etc.Research limitations/implicationsFor further research, this paper suggests an investigation into the implications of government's investment on women librarians for the harnessing of knowledge and information for sustainable rural development in Nigeria.Practical implicationsThe practical implication of the paper is that with government's focus on women librarians to tap their potentials, they will become more sensitive in their professional practice and will endeavour to show‐case their enhanced productivity.Originality/valueThe new value is the suggestion that women librarians should be incorporated to assist in producing national data on the productivity of women in the informal sector.

An assessment of the effect of information communication technology on human resource productivity of Mobarekeh steel complex in Isfahan (IRAN)

“…Timmer and Arky proved that using ICT from 1995 to 2001 increased the American human resource productivity more than that of Europeans. Iwe (2005) proved that Nigerian women human resource production incredibly increased using IT. It seems as if Mobarakeh steel company needs to make more investments in teaching ICT techniques to its employees in order to have more desired improvements.…”