Research network secures e-book collection for Nigerian universities

Media reports reveal that the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN) has secured EBSCOHost e-books collections for Nigerian universities.

Prof. Julius Okojie, executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), made the announcement at the formal donation of $4 million worth of e-content to Nigerian universities.

According to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, EBSCOHost, a multinational Information Communication Technology (ICT) firm, made the donation on Thursday in Abuja.

According to Okojie, by accessing these resources, Nigerian universities and research institutes will be part of collaborative efforts that would facilitate accreditation of programs.

The NUC boss urged Nigerian universities to utilize the resources which were made available on the NgREN at no cost until the end of 2016.

READ: Network secures $4 million worth of e-Content for Nigerian universities

"The NgREN has secured access to all EBSCOHost e-books collections and seven EBSCOHost research databases among which is a full text e-journal. Others are periodicals and magazines of several academic disciplines and professional specialisations.

"These resources contain more than 100, 000 high-quality e-book titles, 27,100 full text journals, 18, 430 indexed and abstracted journals, 9,041, 400 cited references, daily updates and 630 videos with transcripts and related articles.

"This will in fact, grow the number of available resources in the nation’s university libraries and as a result, heighten research activities among institutions in the Nigerian University System (NUS). In addition, it will improve the ranking of Nigerian universities,’’ he said.

Speaking on the donation, Mrs Collen Mills, VP (Sales), EBSCOHost said that access to e-content had the ability to raise the quality of education.