In accessing information, traditional knowledge sources are mostly not intact which makes their acquisition by libraries and traditional practitioners difficult. They are different from modern sources of information which are available in the market. Some local people may hardly part with their knowledge while others may entrust them to a trustee. It is on the basis of this that El- miskin (2007) suggested that the process of acquiring such items should incorporate confidence building measures and ethical conduct that will establish mutual trust. Similarly, the American Library Association (2010) core values recognized librarians as professionals with a social responsibility to provide and promote public access to information. Due to this, they should embrace and respect the diversity of cultures and develop sensitivity and care to advancement of culture as fundamental of librarianship. This will serve as a reminder of core library values and to provide access to materials without sacrificing individual liberty or respect for cultural differences.
These principles may advance the role of librarians as stewards of knowledge and cultural heritage. Consensus on these principles within the library community will establish the library voice advocating for reason and respect in national and international discussions concerning protection of access to unique creative works of traditional cultural expression. So, therefore, if cultural information on traditional medicine is to be acquired by Nigerian libraries and traditional herbal medical practitioners, there is the need to accord it the same respect as given by the owners. Since the essence of knowledge acquisition is to have positive reflect of the knowledge been acquired and to impact knowledge on generations to come in accordance, hence, the need for knowledge acquired to be properly managed.
Management is a way of utilizing resources at one’s disposal to meet the needs of the present organisation in order to achieve the intended objectives as expected for positive gains. According to Stephen, Olushola, Oludare and Ayodele (2015), management is the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals. Good managers do those things that are effective in order to achieve goals with minimum waste of resources, that is, to make the best possible use of money, time, materials and people to achieve a set goal.
Management can be said to be focused on the attainment of end result by means of the allocation and utilization of resources that is human, physical and fiscal by devising appropriate method of acquiring planning, organising preserving and guiding in accordance with the society’s needs. In the assertion of McNamara (2006), traditionally, the term management is described as the functions of planning, organising, leading and controlling (or coordinating) activities in an organisation. The tasks involve assembling forming logical units of works, defining their hierarchical structures, identifying staff requirements, assigning tasks and responsibilities, coordinating human, financial, physical, informational and other resources needed to achieve goals. After information is being accessed which metamaphorsed into knowledge management, the next stage therefore, is knowledge transfers to the generations for continuity of herbal medical traditional practices.
Successful knowledge management requires attention and engagement. This is why attention is needed for information at all time to attain quality knowledge. Knowledge management is based on role playing on the use of knowledge. However, people including traditional herbal medical practitioners receive knowledge through: interaction with each other, sharing knowledge as it is received from their forefathers, association meetings, information and communication technology (ICT). More so, it is natural for people to either hide what they know or fail to put their knowledge to effective usage. The acts is better explained in the words of Daneshgar and Bosanquet (2010) in the following posers: ‘if my knowledge is a valuable resource, why should I share it? if my job is to create knowledge, why should I put my job at risk by using yours instead of mine? But, people still share what they know as much as they freely adapt and use the knowledge of others. However, management of the acquired knowledge by the traditional herbal medical practitioners will lead to the process of coordinating the total activities of the organisation.
Transfer systems however is a process of sending messages containing useful information from one practitioner to another to signify of knowledge transfer of teaching. Transfer system in this context involves inculcation of incantation, enchantment, ritual, sacrifice through association meeting and record keeping. The knowledge on how an individual can be healed is majorly learnt or transferred from old herbalists to their offsprings for substance and continuity of herbal medical practice. Incantation on how certain illness can be cured is taught through incantation which is one of the major procedures or measures for remediation. Therefore, transfer system improved the knowledge of herbal medical practitioners because series of information is recorded in the audio and visual materials such as computer disk, radio, television cassette. However, Madu and Ezeani in Ahmed (2014) stated that application of information technologies in the 1960s for a variety of purpose, gave birth to information revolution. Libraries could not afford to avoid the great touch of these technologies. The ability of computer to carry out these library functions quickly, accurately and systematically makes it a useful tool. Their applications in libraries, commonly known as library automation, have indeed continued to ease and promote quick and timely access to and transfer of information resources that are found dispensed round the globe. According to Abidoye (2011), the utilization of emerging technologies in recent times in libraries worldwide has proved beyond reasonable doubt that a library, whatever its services, can perform better when facilities are adequately provided. This will enhance access to the content of the library, users can access and download current information through internet; and can search for the same information at the same time using different terminals, which is impossible through the traditional services rendered in libraries. The library system therefore plays significant role in this study. In view of the foregoing therefore, this study is to examine the relationship between information accessibility, knowledge acquisition and management and transfer system among traditional herbal medical practitioners in South West Nigeria.
