Factors Affecting Preservation and Conservation of Educational Resources in African Tropical Countries: A Review of Literature

Abstract

The paper examined various factors affecting preservation and conservation of educational resources in African tropical countries. Specifically, it focused on some general features of a tropical climate as they affect educational resources stocked in the libraries for use, concepts of preservation, conservation, and restoration of library resources were highlighted, causes of deterioration of library information resources in tropical African countries, among which are: natural aging process, level of usage of the library materials, inherent chemical content used in the process of producing paper, high temperature and fluctuating relative humidity, improper handling of library materials among many others were equally discussed. Various preventive measures were equally discussed. Some useful preservative measures were pointed out to ameliorate the ugly atmospheric conditions affecting educational resources in tropical African countries. The paper recommended that tropical libraries should be adequately funded. Therefore, governments at all levels are urged to provide enough funds for the preservation of information resources in libraries. Also, all the information resources acquired must be adequately preserved to prolong their lifespan in the libraries among other useful measures.