Guidelines for preservation and conservation of library information resources at Sir Albert Cook Medical Library

Abstract

The study was carried out to come up with guidelines for preservation and conservation of information resources for Sir Albert Cook Medical Library. The objectives of the study were; to establish the current status of preservation and conservation of library materials at Sir Albert Cook Medical Library, to find out how preservation and conservation of library materials at Sir Albert Cook Medical Library is managed, to identify the challenges faced in preservation and conservation of library materials at Sir Albert Cook Medical Library and to propose the best guidelines for preservation and conservation of information resources for Sir Albert Cook Medical Library A case study research design was used and a study population size was 50 from which a sample size of 3 was purposively determined. Data was collected using interviews and observation methods and it was qualitatively analyzed. Major findings revealed that the Sir Albert Cook library does not have guidelines for preservation and conservation of information resources to guide their staff on management of library materials. It was also revealed that books are the most issued out library materials therefore academic information is the main information need of library users. The services provided by the library include reference services, current awareness services as the study indicates. In addition, the study revealed that the library uses traditional methods of preservation. The traditional methods can prove to be a challenge for both the School staff and the students associated with challenges like long lines, time consumption, it is tiresome and difficult to maintain statistics with the manual system. From the findings, it was concluded that information resources in Sir Albert Cook Medical Library are deteriorating day and night due to several factors. The study therefore recommends Sir Albert Cook Medical Library to adopt the proposed guidelines for preservation and conservation of information resources to provide a centralized means of managing library materials.