The University of Ilorin has rewarded the varsity Researcher of the year, Prof Adeyinka Tella of the Department of Library and Information Science, with a car.

According to a University of Ilorin Bulletin, issued on Monday, Tella teaches in the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences.

It stated that the award, which came with a car, was the highlight of the 14th edition of the University’s Merit Awards ceremony.

“The event marked the end of the 37th and 38th combined convocation ceremonies of the University,” it said.

In his reaction, Tella stated that his current research focus is on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which includes fields such as Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology.

He explained that he had earlier won the Outstanding Paper Award of the Emerald Literaty Awards for his article on Robots and Public Libraries, published in the journal, Library Hi Tech News.

The don disclosed further that the paper has generated a lot of excitement among Library Scientists because robotic technology has now entered the Library Space as robots now shelf and reshelf books.

“They also help reduce the fatigue of Library users and getting them refreshed by entertaining them, among other function,” he said.

He opined that having the fourth Industrial revolution in Library promises to stem the social malaise of poor reading culture in Nigeria.

The publication added that Tella was a Commonwealth scholar in his Ph.D. days, who has written extensively on integration of modern technology into Public and Academic Libraries.

The publication stated that other winners of the various categories of the University’s Merit Awards include 18 recently retired Professors at the University.

It listed some of the researchers to include Prof Jacob Gbadeyan of the Department of Mathematics, Prof. Michael Fakomogbon of Education Technology, and Prof. Esther Omosewo of Science Education.