Entrepreneurship Education in Library and Information Science and Marketing of Library Services: Issues in Nigeria

There has been a need to expand library career opportunities given the small growth of libraries and information centers in developing countries like Nigeria. The present economic realities and the challenges in labor market in Nigeria also justify the need to equip undergraduates with the basic entrepreneurial skills that would enable them to be self-employed after graduation. Moreover, users of library no longer see the need to visit the library because library services are not attractive and packaged in ways preferred by them. There is therefore, the need to make library services attractive and profitable; this will require turning library services into marketable products that can be put up for sale to generate income for the library, this is also expected to attract more users into the library. Marketing of library services and entrepreneurship education in Nigerian library schools, are faced with issues like product repackaging, pricing, funding raising for entrepreneurship training, lobbying, advocacy strategies by the library etc,. All these must be addressed by any library or library school that wishes to engage in marketing of its services and adding entrepreneurship education in it curriculum.