Ensuring Disaster Management Practices in Academic Libraries of Ghana: The Issues at Hand

The study focused on ensuring disaster management practices in academic libraries of Ghana, with a specific emphasis on a technical university library in Ghana. The convenience sampling method was used to select the study participants. The participants consisted of 455 respondents drawn from the university community. The study adopted a descriptive survey. The researchers used a Five-point Likert scale questionnaire to measure the various constructs.  The researchers on the campus of a technical university in Ghana administered this. Out of 455 questionnaires distributed, 443 were valid for analysis. This represented 97.4% of the sample size and was valid for analysis. Using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 computer software, the data obtained were analysed. The results showed that all the hypotheses tested indicated a positive relationship between the independent variables (Causes of Disaster, Technological Approaches, Challenges of Disaster Management, and Disaster Management Policy) and the dependent variable (Disaster Management Practices), except for the relationship between Challenges of Effective Management and the dependent variable. This suggests that the management of academic libraries in ensuring practical disaster management issues of the causes of disasters such as flooding, power fluctuations, power surges, fire outbreaks, roof leakages, earthquakes, mutilation, hacking of the library computers, plumbing defects as well as activities of pests (termites, cockroaches, rodents) among others should be given attention. The study recommends implementing technological approaches, such as fire detectors, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, fire alarms, and CCT cameras, among others, to mitigate the occurrence of natural disasters. The study further recommends that academic libraries, in their pursuit of achieving effective disaster management, should develop a disaster recovery plan and policy to guide implementation. The policy should outline timelines for staff training, periodic inspections, security upgrades, repair of leakages and assembly points, and creation of awareness about disasters and emergency response lines, among others, as they form the core elements of ensuring disaster management practices in an emergency.