Transformative Learning Spaces: The Toyin Falola Library Centred at Ode Aje, Ibadan, a Locally Rooted and Globally Resonant Library System

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

The Toyin Falola Library centred at Ode Aje, Ibadan, Nigeria is a public general and research library the main branch of which is in the neighborhood of Ode Aje, made famous by scholar, writer and knowledge organizer Toyin Falola through his autobiographies, with branches across Nigeria and Africa, as well as in each continent as the world's largest library system.

The library is inspired by the pan- African and intercontinental  scope of Falola's work as well as of his scholarly  activities.

The vision of the library system is to be locally grounded, continentally reflective and globally resonant.

This implies that each branch of the library addresses the evolving needs of its community over time, grounding these needs in developments on the continent where it is located as well as correlates these with developments across the world in all aspects of human knowledge.

Its central branch at Ode Aje reflects Falola's descriptions of the multi-religious character of the neighborhood.

The ground floor is dedicated to a general collection of  books, films, virtual reality enablers,  periodicals and artifact displays across all disciplines.

The second floor is dedicated to Falola's life and work.

The third floor is dedicated to indigenius African spiritualities.

The third floor to Islam and the fifth floor to Christianity.

The library was constructed and is run by an international non-profit consortium, its board members dispersed across the world.

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju 

Compcros

2030