Education/News/Drafts/ FROM A LANGUAGE TEACHER TO A LIBRARIAN: THE WIKIMEDIA EFFECT

FROM A LANGUAGE TEACHER TO A LIBRARY SUPPORT STAFF: THE WIKIMEDIA EFFECT

Summary: As a Wikimedian, I recognize the significance of volunteering. I am aware of the extraordinary results volunteerism achieves and how they show up in various aspects of life. They show up in various facets of society, such as Outreach, Advocacy ,community service to address social concerns, and the needs of the underprivileged. Like the WMF, voluntarism has the power to make a worldwide impact and offers a wealth of chances for personal development

In addition to being the head of studies for Igbo language and culture at Federal Government Boys College Abuja (FGBC) Nigeria, I had pushed for the implementation of Wikipedia in a number of secondary schools and other educational settings through various initiatives and programs. However, my capacity to volunteer was further tested when my school FGBC needed to establish and expand the library. New hands were needed. The school does not have enough trained librarians. The school asked for teachers who will wish to support in the library in addition to doing their assigned schedule of work. Again I volunteered. A short training was provided with the theme “Organization of School Library in the Digital Age: Strategies and Technologies”..

Making the transition from a language teacher to a librarian came with challenges but interesting. Things like cataloging, information retrieval, accessioning, classification, Numbering, documentation, acquisition, shelving. referencing and circulation were some of the new skills I acquired and had to apply on a day to day basis. The transition was not just about acquiring new skills; it was a journey of self-discovery, personal growth and transformation. It also enables me to connect with different students not just those in my classroom but helping them to seek for and access relevant information including open educational resources..

One of the skills that helped me in my new role as a librarian is digital and information Literacy skills and experiences I acquired in Wikipedia foundation having participated in several trainings and organized several projects. Wikimedians are well trained and well-versed in digital curation, metadata management, strong commitment to open access, online research tools and, the principles of free knowledge. all of which are increasingly important in modern librarianship. My Linguistic background and Wikimedia mentorship provided a unique perspective that enriched my approach to librarianship. Just as language is a tool for effective communication, so too is the library a gateway to open knowledge and connection.

One of the first task we handled was organizing the Library. Since I volunteered to help set up the Library, I and one of the selected teachers, sourced for funds and renovated the Library under the project I initiated called the’’ He Bay Friendly space’’, so the Library will be very friendly for students to make use of. I also designed a time classification of all the subjects in the Library so students can find it very easy to locate the resources in the Library. After shelving over 7033 books , we observed that the books were still many , With the permission of the school principal who suggested that the books be donated. We reached out to a group of schools, and teachers some of whom had eariler participated in the Reading Wikipedia in the classroom programme. Over 11,000 books were donated to different schools.

Due to our work the Nigerian Ministry Of Education rewarded us with a Letter of recomendation. Also the Alumni association of the school gave us an award of Gratitude. I look forward to enjoying my new role as a Librarian

FGBC Abuja LIbrary
FGBC Abuja Library
Classification of Subjects
Librarian
Cross section of the Library
Letter of Recommendation
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