The Relevance of Cataloguing in a Library Science Curriculum in Cross River State of Nigeria in This Technological Age

Since library science education started in Nigeria about half a century ago, cataloguing has been regarded as a core subject in the curriculum. With the diversification of subjects, some core subjects were made electives. This did not affect cataloguing. Nigerian libraries have not gone far in electronic data processing for the storage of data and information and, as a result, libraries are still manual-oriented. Even though some libraries in Cross River State of Nigeria have taken their first steps toward automation, the library schools still find it necessary to continue drilling students in traditional cataloguing. The question of the relevance of cataloguing in an automated library system arises and, using the descriptive survey methodology, this researcher investigates the hypothesis that cataloguing is still relevant in the library school curriculum. The finding is that the manual system will continue to be used for a long time and, thus, cataloguing will continue to be relevant, even with the computer-produced catalogue