Perceptions and attitude of students in relation to vandalism in a University Library

146-149Reports a study carried out at the University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Nigeria in November, 2009 to find out students’ perceptions and attitudes to vandalism in the library. To elicit the necessary information, a questionnaire was distributed to 500 randomly selected students of the University spread across the nine colleges out of which 386 responded. Analysis of their responses showed that vandalism of library materials in the form of theft, mutilation and hiding of books and journals, is largely regarded as a form of academic self-survival strategy that is hardly frowned at by majority of the respondents. Factors that predispose to vandalism include limited library collections; restrictions in the use of some materials; number and duration of loans; insufficient number of copies of recommended textbooks; unaffordable cost of personal textbooks; high cost of photocopying as well as peer-influence. Recommendations are made for liberalization of loans, intensification of user education, provision of multiple copies of standard textbooks, occasional mounting of conscience exhibitions’ as well as tighter security measures