Inclusiveness in library and information services provision in Nigerian libraries

Abstract

The principle of equitable information access is foundational to library and information science, yet its realisation across many Nigerian library contexts remains constrained by institutional, structural, and professional shortcomings that are systemic rather than accidental. This paper presents an exploratory qualitative investigation into the state of inclusiveness in library and information services provision in Nigerian libraries, concentrating thematically on four major categories of underserved users, namely persons with disabilities, rural community dwellers, adult non literate populations, and elderly users. Drawing on a systematic thematic analysis of peer reviewed studies and institutional literature published between 2020 and 2025, the study interrogates the barriers to equitable access across these groups and evaluates the extent to which Nigerian libraries have designed and delivered services that genuinely accommodate user diversity. The analysis is grounded in social reproduction theory, which is used to explain why patterns of exclusion persist across funding cycles and advocacy campaigns rather than appearing as episodic or accidental events. The study also engages explicitly with the intersectionality of exclusion, examining how users who simultaneously occupy multiple disadvantaged categories experience compounded barriers that single category analysis cannot adequately capture. The findings indicate a recurring pattern of infrastructural inaccessibility, a policy translation gap between professional commitment and operational practice, professional unpreparedness, and the structural amplification of exclusion through unreflective digital transformation. The paper concludes by proposing stakeholder differentiated and operationally specific recommendations addressed separately to national policy bodies, government, training institutions, and individual library institutions.