Report By: Oluwaseyi Bamidele
The Librarian Spotlight few weeks ago hit a home run again! This month’s edition, like every other, seeks to shine a light (literally) on the influence of exceptional librarians who’ve carried the librarian title as gold badges of honor and made excellent contributions to the field of librarianship. This programme highlights their expertise, influence and admirable drive through monthly interview sessions on YouTube and Facebook aiming to inspire and motivate upcoming LIS practitioners, students and professionals alike whilst giving a sense of direction to libraries looking to embrace innovation.
May 11th, 2024 marked the day of the event for May’s edition. In our tradition of recognition and commendation, we had the honor of presenting Dr Fatimah Jibril Abduldayan as the Librarian of the Month for May 2024! She is a Senior Lecturer at Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, and currently the chairperson of the Nigerian Library Association (NLA), Niger State Chapter.
INTERVIEW SESSION
Dr. Abduldayan, originally has been imbibed with the drive for excellence in all endeavours by her father, and as such, she’s learnt to give herself no excuse to not “go for it”. She describes herself as a life-long learner who takes up the challenge of studying and putting her best into whatever interests her. She gives very huge recognition to her ‘support system’ consisting her parents, siblings, extended family, husband and colleagues who’ve helped all the way to what heights she’s attained. Believing adequately in team work, Dr Abduldayan also gives credit to her team, acknowledging very well that her achievements have and will continue to be fueled by support from them.
Dr. Abduldayan passionately portrays the perks of the information scientist and perceives formal recognition of library professionals as a motivation to do more.
Approaching the interview proper, she expressed her advocacy for promotion and sustenance of open access to knowledge and information all over the net and even those that may exist in physical forms. She explains that this step will steadily break the digital divide and move the knowledge frontier forward by removing financial and technological barriers that lock knowledge away.
In her words; “open is the future of research”.
Dr. Fatimah Abduldayan in her quest for promoting readership, active librarianship and librarians’ visibility in the Niger State Chapter emphasizes the importance of partnership and teamwork from the local to international levels whilst also utilizing the media and encouraging librarians all over to do the same. She also advocates for attention to be given to the mass of data generated in our locales and encourages research data management among librarians.
Dr Fatimah also speaks to muslim females in LIS and in leadership positions all over, explaining in her interview that these traits don’t play her down or produce challenges because competence and teamwork nullifies the concern of gender or religion.
From the viewers’ perspective, she is a true master of the LIS craft who possesses outstanding leadership skills.
LIBRARIAN OF THE MONTH
To shine the spotlight on Dr Fatimah Abduldayan, a special guest in person of Prof. Jubril Alhassan was brought on set who presented the plaque and certificate of recognition. We celebrate with Dr Fatimah and her esteemed team that backs her up. We do hope this illuminates the library profession and encourages LIS practitioners all round to keep striving in their environment and make an impact wherever they are found.
We trust that this report encapsulates the details of the insightful interview for those who were unable to attend the live event.
WATCH THE REPLAY HERE:
We especially like to thank our sponsors – Libtech and Eemediba Limited, our readers, subscribers, guests and the Librarian Spotlight Evaluation Committee.
