October 25, 2018
Visiting Scholar Profile: Dr. Fadekemi Oyewusi
Dr. Fadekemi Oyewusi
Dr Fadekemi Oyewusi is an Associate Professor from the Centre for Educational Media Resource Studies,
Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. She is a specialist in school librarianship; and a Visiting Research Scholar and a Part-Time Instructor in the Library Science Program, Department of Interdisciplinary Professions in the College of Education.
Her area of research is Bibliotherapy – book therapy or use of books for healing – which is employed in libraries by librarians with the intention to influence positive changes in behavior of readers. Books can bring a difference to children and young people’s health, both physical and emotional. This is relevant to the work of librarians because they can help to find appropriate books that would positively influence the behavior of these young people. Bibliotherapy is also a prescribed reading of books to ease emotional ill health. Dr. Oyewusi is working with Dr Elaine Yontz and Dr Kaye Dotson to develop a project to see if bibliotherapy can help change the eating habits of elementary students in North Carolina. The researchers hope to determine whether or not reading books on good eating habits can change behavior.
How did you hear about ECU?
“I met Drs Kaye Dotson, Barbara Matson and Elaine Yontz during the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) Conference at California State University in Long Beach, in August 2017. ECU had an exhibition table that described the wonderful Library Science program at the University. I discovered that Dr Yontz and I shared a research interest in bibliotherapy. This is a growing research area in my country and I felt it would be nice to discover more in this area while working with ECU faculty!”
What do you hope to take back to your home country after being at ECU?
“Being at ECU has being very interesting and exciting, especially exploring new ideas with ECU faculty. I am very excited about the kind of resources found in the databases of the Joyner Library in ECU on Bibliotherapy. This is a treasure that will be used maximally during my research here. It will also help me to gain more insight into this research area because it had been difficult getting literature on this subject in my country. I believe my students in Nigeria will have a lot to gain from the wealth of experience I am gathering here at ECU.
In addition, using the Blackboard software is also a worthwhile experience for me. I plan to share my ideas about online teaching with my university in Nigeria. We have a totally different system at the University of Ibadan (UI) and the university is doing a good job in the Distance Learning program. However, the system at ECU relies 100% on the software and it would be great for us at UI to explore this type of system which is quite different from the one used at my university.”
Scholar’s Background
Dr. Oyewusi received her Bachelor of Education Degree from the Department of Special Education, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She received her Master of Library Science and Doctoral degrees in Library Science from the Department of Library, Archival and Information Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her research interests includes Information Management, School Librarianship and Bibliotherapy. She loves working with children and young adults especially encouraging them to read and use the library.
Dr. Oyewusi has supervised PhD Theses, MPhil dissertations and Masters Projects in Nigeria. She have also authored and co-authored several research articles in refereed scholarly journals, books and with some chapters in books. She is also is an external examiner for Doctoral examinations in some Universities in Nigeria. On July 11, 2018 she delivered the Annual Faculty Lecture to the University of Ibadan College of Education titled “New wine in an old wine skin: the trajectory of school libraries in Nigeria.”
She is a member of professional associations such as Nigerian Library Association, Nigerian School Library Association (where she is presently the Treasurer), International Association of School Librarianship, and International Literacy Association among others. In October 2016, Dr. Oyewusi received an award as the School Librarian of the Month from the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL).
She coordinates the celebration of annual World Book Day and International School Library Month celebrations with school librarians throughout Nigeria. Dr. Oyewusi is well-known among librarians in Nigeria for her words on posters and stickers distributed to elementary schools especially the slogan “Wealth is in Reading.” She has taken an interest in speaking to children about the advantages of reading and use of the school library. As a Library Consultant, Dr. Oyewusi has helped many schools and organizations learn how to organize their libraries. Her passion and drive has influenced most of her students to develop love for books and hold dear the importance of libraries.