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Academic libraries in Ghana
Ghana is the second largest populated country in West Africa after Nigeria. Ghana gained its independence from the British colonial masters on the 6th of March, 1957. Before then, education was introduced by British masters as a means of education the children born to them by the indigenous Ghanaian women also known as molato children. Education was also a means through which the British masters introduced religion to the local people in Ghana.

Ghana practices two main types of education systems. These are the formal and information educational systems. Formal education in Ghana is characterised by a formal classroom setting with the teaching of theoretical subjects and concepts such as psychology, history, economics, among others. Informal education on the other hand is characterised by apprenticeship in the learning of vocations such as carpentry, craftsmanship, catering, among others.

The formal educational system in Ghana progresses from the preschool through the lower and upper primaries to the tertiary level. Libraries are at the heart of all the educational levels in Ghana. Libraries found in the preschool, lower and upper primary levels are known as school libraries while libraries found in the tertiary levels are known as academic libraries.

Academic libraries are defined as libraries that are located in colleges and other tertiary institutions. The academic library is said to be the heart of its parent institution. This is because of the critical role played by academic libraries in supporting the teaching, learning and research activities of staff, faculty, and students of its parent institution. Academic libraries mostly tie their vision to that of their parent institution from which their mandate and mission is derived. The collection kept by the academic library is most often based on the taught courses of the parent institution.

According to the Ghana National Accreditation Board, Ghana has 12 public universities and and seven chartered private universities in Ghana. These 19 universities in Ghana all have academic libraries as their pivots. This article espouses on the location, collect, and services provided by these libraries to their user communities.