BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN TOWN AND GOWN: ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMMES

Abstract The purpose of this paper was to review related literature on Community Service Programme and the involvement of librarians in such initiatives, with a focus on the University of Port Harcourt. This review was also undertaken to establish a link between the Community Service Programme and purposeful librarianship. Related literature was reviewed on the involvement of academic librarians in Community Service Programme in Universities with a focus on University of Port Harcourt Community Service Programme. It was observed that Community Service Programmes play an essential role in linking students with host communities and provide opportunities and prospects for the development of entrepreneurial skills. This paper highlighted the benefits of community service activities to all the stakeholders. It also exposed the problem of non-involvement of librarians in community service initiatives. This problem is more pronounced in Nigeria where librarians of all categories are not involved. It was, therefore, recommended that librarians should be actively involved in the design and implementation of the Community Service Programme in universities. In order to bridge the gap between town and gown, this paper also recommends the establishment of a functional Community Information Resource Centre with a library. This is a baseline review as no such paper has been written on this topic. Thus, it provides the basic information needed for further studies in this area