Abstract
Violent insecurity has disrupted education and public services across Northern Nigeria,
but its implications for library and information systems (LIS) have seldom been examined
together. This article brings Nigerian library studies, research on educational disruption
and institutional reports into an integrative narrative review. It considers damage to
buildings and collections, interruption of information services, pressures on library
personnel and the adequacy of disaster preparedness. Direct research from the North-East
documents losses to library assets, while studies of university and public libraries reveal
uneven access to disaster-control measures. Research involving internally displaced
persons points to persistent information needs and the importance of outreach beyond
conventional library buildings. Nevertheless, direct evidence on the scale of service
interruption and library staff displacement remains limited; claims that library
programmes independently reduce insurgency have not been established. Drawing on
human security and institutional-resilience perspectives, the article explains how armed
insecurity can deepen information exclusion and delay institutional recovery. It
recommends conflict-sensitive continuity plans, secure preservation and backup systems,
staff safety and professional development, and partnerships for displaced-community
information services. Multi-site field studies are needed to assess these effects more
precisely and inform locally appropriate recovery policies.
Keywords: Armed insecurity; Terrorism; Libraries; Information Services; Northern
Nigeria; Displacement; Institutional Resilience
Publication Date: 2026-10-31