Abstract

There have been several arguments on the relevance of the library in the 21st century. In fact, some scholars have argued that the Internet has taken over the library information services. This paper therefore highlights general comments on the relevance of a library in the 21st Century from secondary literature and the perceptions of 60 Accounting 200 level students of Bachelor of Science/Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (B.Sc./ICAN) conversion programme at Babcock University who offered Use of Library and Study Skills during the 2012/2013 academic session. To ascertain their views, a question titled “Library is the haven for learning, teaching and research, discuss” was posted on the blog http://omesknowledgeboard.blogspot.com/. All the 60 students responded, given a total response of 100%. From their comments, it can be deduced that the relevance of a library to the society cannot diminish even in the years to come; hence all the respondents indicated that library has impacted the lives of students, researchers, businessmen and women, and will continue to impact future generations. Furthermore, their responses showed that library was very relevant in promoting and supporting learning, research, habit formation, rehabilitation of prison inmates, information resource sharing, knowledge and heritage preservation, collaborative research, publishing and free access to information.
 
Key words: Library relevance, 21st century, students’ perception, Babcock University, Nigeria.