THE MARGRET THATCHER

PHOTO BY: BIWOTT EDWIN

At the mention of Margret Thatcher, it rings in everyone’s minds about the famous prime minister of the United Kingdom. In this case, I am referring to the giant Margret Thatcher library found in Moi University which houses the school of information sciences. The library was named after the right Honorable former prime minister of United Kingdom Margret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher. This is a building that houses thousands and thousands of information materials that are used by the entire Moi University students, lecturers’ non teaching staff and other researchers. This is a large modern building that can be mistaken to be the administration block of the institution, this is due to its design and the facilities it contains. Truly it must have taken the designers and contractors a very long time to come up with it.

Underneath the good design and various holdings of the Margret Thatcher, there are various security issues that are hard to be noticed. These include security against fire. Due to the nature of information materials that are in paper form, there is the risk of fire attack. The institution did install a fire alarm system that alerts the users instead of fire. But the alarm is not functioning since its damaged and it hasn’t been repaired for a very long time. This is maybe because the concerned personnel do not see its need because there hasn’t been any fire in the library.

The need for smoke detectors in the library that detect any form of smoke and alert people with a screeching sound. This makes the personnel to immediately act on it before excess damage occurs. Again it gives rise to the issue of lack of enough fire fighting equipments to be used to fight the fire, the equipments include carbon dioxide type fire extinguisher, water type fire extinguisher dry chemical powder type and foam chemical, which are very necessary to safeguard the building. The staff should also be sensitized on how to use the equipments by setting up fire drills.

The fire exit doors are always under lock and key. This is so risky in that in case of fire the users and personnel in the library will be trapped inside with no escape route for them. According to the fire safety standards, all the escape routes should be open always.

The security personnel employed by the university are doing a good job by ensuring that books and other information materials are not taken out of the library without the necessary authorization. This gives marks to the institution irrespective of the level of training and competency. The availability of wireless networks (WIFI) in the library and school of information science is also a plus to the institution. Although the networks at times fail to work and also not enough to be used by the large number of students, it has enabled them to access information in the internet with ease.

The safety of the building leads to safety of information materials which leads to safety of users and personnel and finally quality output of graduates that are compatible to the current market.

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