Academic Status and the Doctoral Degree Requirement for Promotion of Librarians in Nigerian University Libraries (Report‪)‬

Introduction Librarianship is an academic profession. The stock-in-trade is knowledge: the selection, collection, organization, and transmission of knowledge. It has many things in common with the teaching profession. Hence, Dahiru, and Benson (2006) posit that, "to effectively plan their roles as academics, librarians are expected to teach, conduct research, and disseminate their findings as well as carry out administrative duties." The term "librarian" is often incorrectly used to refer to anyone who works in a library. Professional librarians are those who have obtained a first degree in library and information science or in any subject field and a master's degree in library and information science in a recognized university. As with most professional degrees, librarians have the duty of contributing to their profession through writing and publication, and attendance and participation at professional conferences. Kaniki (1991) states that to maintain professionalism, a given profession must consciously work toward maintaining and refining the achieved status and other professional traits.