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The Impact Of Public Library Services
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Baba
(2007) also added that the Lagos book club established its rules of
operation at a general meeting on 3rd June, 1932 with Sir Allan Burns,
the Chief Secretary of Nigeria being largely responsible for the
establishment of the Lagos book club. He was also one of the foundation
members of that library. He prepared a forward to the rule that will
guide the use of the library at that time. He further said that the
genesis of the present day public library services in Nigeria, is
traceable to reading rooms which were established by British Colonial
administration between 1938-1945. The functions of the reading rooms
were merely to disseminate information that were tailored to solicit the
support of the British inhabitant. The reading rooms were very
instrumental in propagating the British Interest during the Second World
War. These reading rooms were spread in many crannies of Nigerian and
acted as catalyst of the colonial masters.
After the collapse of the
reading rooms, it was decided that each region should have its own
independent library services. This was one of the resolutions of the
Ibadan seminar on the development of public library in Africa which was
held in 1953. This seminar was organized jointly by the Nigerian
Government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO). The resolution further recommended that the
regional libraries be run by library boards beginning with Eastern
Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The role of
libraries cannot be overemphasized in a developing country like Nigeria.
The public library especially is an agency for continuing education for
the young and the old. The improved social status of an individual or
the community obviously depends largely upon knowledge and hence reading
is one of the most important means for the acquisition of knowledge. To
this end, therefore, the public library is the only ‘free’ agency that
provides a variety of reading services for every individual no matter
his status, educational background and age.
A close examination of
the public libraries in Kaduna State has revealed that the services
provided to the users are poor and inadequate, most of the collections
found in these libraries are outdated and inadequate. In other words,
they are not actually serving the entire information needs of the
people. Access to information post to be a big problem. Therefore, one
tends to ponder if these inadequacies are due to lack of sufficient
funds to purchase current materials for its vast users, or poor services
due to insufficient staff, or because of the reading habit of the users
etc.
These questions and more are intended to be answered by oral
interviews of staff and patrons of the public libraries in Kaduna state
through the use of questionnaire, observation and personal experience.
The answer given could be useful in the improvement of public library
services in Kaduna State and could also serve as a contribution to
knowledge.
1.3 Research Questions
The study seeks to provide answers to the following questions.
§ Who are the users of the public libraries in Kaduna State?
§ Why do they use these libraries?
§ What are the services rendered in the Public libraries in Kaduna State?
§ Are the services adequate for the information needs of users?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The main objectives of the study is:
§ To appraise the use of the public library.
§ To apprise the services in the public libraries in Kaduna State.
§
The study is also to examine the impact of these library services on
the educational and political development of the people of the state.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This research work covers the impact of the public library services to the people of Kaduna State. It examines the views of the users toward the services rendered by the library, the type of services offered and also how satisfactory the users are with the services. The survey design was adopted in this study and methods used collecting data included questionnaire, observation and interview.From the analysis, it was revealed that students are the majority users of the library and they mostly use ... Continue reading---
