Evaluation of Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) in Library School: The Federal Polytechnic Nekede Experience

Introduction The Federal Polytechnic Nekede was established in 1978 by Edict No 16 of the than Imo State Government enacted by the Col. Sunday Adenihu government. The Imo State Government amended the Edict establishing the instruction in 1987 and renamed it, the Polytechnic Nekede. However, the ownership and management of the institution was taken over from the Imo State Government on the 7th April, 1993 by the Federal Government of Nigeria after which it became Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri. The Department of Library and Information Science, Federal Polytechnic Nekede, was established in 1979. The first set of students was admitted in the year 1980/1981 academic session. In the academic session of 1985/1986, the maiden National Diploma and Higher National Diploma (HND) Programmes in Library Science were accredited. As of date, the Library and Information Science department of Federal Polytechnic Nekede runs both HND and ND Programmes in regular, evening and week-end Programmes of the School. Industrial training for Library and Information Science student is of paramount importance. The students are expected to acquire adequate and relevant skills that would enable them to perform effectively in their future place of work or assignment. In spite of the high level of quality and qualified Library Science educators in Nigeria library schools, there are still gaps in both the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired by the students. As noted by Ugwu (2010), there is a serious need to give effective education and training to Library and Information professionals for improved service delivery to the society. The quality of service rendered in the library is in proportion to the level of knowledge and skills possessed by the library staff and it is a fact that today library science students are the librarians of tomorrow, and if effective service delivery should be expected from them, it is imperative that they are given adequate opportunities to acquire an all round skills. The Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) therefore is aimed at giving the students the opportunity to relate and translate their theoretical knowledge to the real world of work. Objectives of the Study The study generally is aimed at evaluating the students' Industrial work Experience Scheme in the library school, Federal Polytechnic Nekede. The specific objectives are: 1. To determine if library science students under study do participate effectively in the SIWES Programme. 2. To ascertain if the students who participated were really attached to organizations related to their field of study. 3. To identify the specific organizations that the students under study were mostly attached. 4. To establish the extent the knowledge acquired during the SIWES Progamme were relevant to their course of study. 5. To identify the limitations to the actualization of the objectives of SIWES Programme. Literature Review Training according to Ajidahun (2007) is an integral part of vocational or career development and it is fast becoming a global and pervasive phenomenon in any establishments, the absence of which spells doom for such an institution and the presence of which determines the success of any enterprise. In the view of Ezeali and Esiagu (2009), training is an organized, coordinated development of knowledge, skills and attitudes needed by an industrial worker to master a given situation or perform a certain task within an organization setting. They further stressed that training should not limited to work environment is necessary. Ukwuoma and Akanwa (2008) citing Robinson (1998) observed that effective training brings about an increase in knowledge required in the job, knowledge of the structure and business arms of the organization. This implies that the knowledge base of the Practitioner increases in Proportion to the training acquired. …