Kenneth Dike Library

The Kenneth Dike Library at the University of Ibadan is one of the finest research libraries in Africa and holds a collection of particular interest to visitors: thousands of Arabic manuscripts documenting Islamic scholarship, history, and science across West and North Africa, many of them centuries old and previously unknown to European scholarship.

The building itself was designed with passive cooling in mind — high ceilings, thick walls, and strategic window placement keep the interior comfortable without air conditioning, a practical solution that was ahead of its time when the library was built. The general reading rooms and manuscript galleries are accessible to visitors; check with the university's guest services for the current access arrangements.

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The library is named for Kenneth Dike, the first African to serve as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Dike was also one of Africa's pioneering professional historians, and the library bears his name both as honor and as fitting tribute: he believed passionately that Africa needed its own scholarly infrastructure, independent of European institutions, to tell its own history. The Arabic manuscript collection he helped build is a direct expression of that conviction.

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