The Impact Of Public Library Services

The Impact Of Public Library Services

Abstract

This exploration work covers the impact of the public library services to the people of Kaduna State. It examines the views of the druggies toward the services rendered by the library, the type of services offered and also how satisfactory the druggies are with the services. The check design was espoused in this study and styles used collecting data included questionnaire, observation and interview.

From the analysis, it was revealed that scholars are the maturity druggies of the library and they substantially druggies of the library and they substantially visit the library to read their lecture notes. The findings also showed that the library warrant current information accoutrements and operates a unrestricted access service which doesn’t allow druggies to adopt books. Other findings were the problems facing the library similar as shy backing. Outdated accoutrements and poor architectures.

Recommendations were made grounded on their findings in order to ameliorate the services of the library. These include sourcing for discoveries from public and private organizatio0ns, procurement of current and applicable information accoutrements and preface of Information and Communication Technologies in the library administration.

Chapter One

Preface

Background to the Study

The Chambers Universal Learners Dictionary define a library as a structure or room containing a collection of books or some other collection, for illustration, gramophone records.

Shair( 1963) also defines a library as an association of one or further trained people who use precisely named or organized books, diurnals and other analogous accoutrements as a means of giving to those who may meetly use it to the fullest extent of their need or desires the information, enrichment or delight which is to be heard from the written word.

The library can be defined as an institution that’s substantially concerned with the styles, chops, and system for accession, storehouse, preservation and dispersion of recorded andnon-recorded accoutrements . The library is generally grouped into six( 6) which are public, academic, academy, private, special and public libraries.

The public library is a library which carters for the instructional requirements of everybody in the society. It isn’t confined to anybody or a particular group of people. The recrimination of the word ‘ PUBLIC ’ is that the library is anticipated to serve everybody in the community in which it’s positioned; hence it’s also called “ The People’s University ”.

According to Gates( 1976), the public library can be defined as a library authorized by state law, supported from general public finances or special levies suggested for the purpose and administered for the benefits of the citizens of the country, city, megacity or region which maintains it on the base of equal access to all. Ikokoh( 2003) defines public library as a library handed wholly or incompletely from public finances and the use of which isn’t confined to any class or person in the community, but is freely available to all.

The public library primarily exists to serve the entire members of its position appertained to as the general public. Nuhu( 1994) observed that the public library has the same universal ideal of serving the general public towards the educational upliftment and mindfulness of pastoral and civic persons, to enhance and develop their possibilities. The public library has the traditional part of acquiring books and audio-visual accoutrements , and making them available to patrons anyhow to citizenship, age, educational position, profitable and social status or any qualification or condition. It must thus be a repository of a variety of books and other instructional accoutrements and give demanded services for the members of the immediate community it serves. The public library has proved to be of the stylish means of furnishing books andnon-books accoutrements and making them available and accessible for its different druggies.

Public libraries are now conceded to be an necessary part of community wide range of reading accoutrements for all periods and centres for community information services. The public library that provides services to the general public, is also responsible for serving special orders of the public, similar as children, members of the fortified forces, sanitarium, cases, captures, workers and workers. In other words, it’s a library established by the state to give wide service and supervised by either a ministry or a library board.

The public library first started in the early 19th Century in Europe and America. In England for case, artificial metropolises like Manchester, Russia and Detroit in the United States had public libraries so as to meet the instructional requirements of the diligence. Boman( 1989) in addition said that the growth of education and printing encouraged the use of books. For that reasons, the first public library Act in England was announced in 1850. It empowered that any city council with a population of 10, 000( latterly 5, 000) people was entitled to one public library.

Emmanuel( 2006) asserts that public libraries in Nigeria were modeled after the Bristish. They started about fifty times before independence with the establishment of libraries in Lagos. The ultramodern public library movement in Nigeria can be said to have started from the foundation in 1910 and 1920 with the Tom Jones Library in Lagos. He further added that the Tom Jones Library had acquired the character of a public subscription library in which the public can subscribe to class and get books for a particular period of time. The Lagos Library which was established in 1932 was also on public subscription.

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 birth of the present day public library services in Nigeria, is traceable to reading apartments which were established by British social administration between 1938- 1945. The functions of the reading apartments were simply to circulate information that were acclimatized to solicit the support of the British tenant. The reading apartments were veritably necessary in propagating the British Interest during the Second World War. These reading apartments were spread in numerous cracks of Nigerian and acted as catalyst of the social masters.

After the collapse of the reading apartments, it was decided that each region should have its own independent library services. This was one of the judgments of the Ibadan forum on the development of public library in Africa which was held in 1953. This forum was organized concertedly by the Nigerian Government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization( UNESCO). The resolution further recommended that the indigenous libraries be run by library boards beginning with Eastern Nigeria.

Statement of the Problem

The part of libraries can not be overemphasized in a developing country like Nigeria. The public library especially is an agency for continuing education for the youthful and the old. The bettered 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 accession of knowledge. To this end, thus, 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 handed to the druggies are poor and shy, utmost of the collections set up in these libraries are outdated and shy. In other words, they aren’t actually serving the entire information requirements of the people. Access to information post to be a big problem. thus, one tends to consider if these crunches are due to lack of sufficient finances to buy current accoutrements for its vast druggies, or poor services due to inadequate staff, or because of the reading habit of the druggiesetc.

These questions and further 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 particular experience. The answer given could be useful in the enhancement of public library services in Kaduna State and could also serve as a donation to knowledge.

Exploration Questions

The study seeks to give answers to the following questions.

Who are the druggies 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 acceptable for the information requirements of druggies?

Objects Of The Study

The main objects of the study is

To estimate the use of the public library.

To advise 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.

Significance of the Study

The exploration work has been designed to establish the effectiveness and effectiveness of the public library services in Kaduna State. It’ll also reveal the defense for the establishment of these libraries.

The recommendations made in this work will be helpful to the state government in perfecting the services of the public libraries in the state.

Compass And Limitations

The study covered the public libraries supretended by Kaduna State Library Board. Their services were also rated.

The limitations encountered during this exploration work included backing and time constraints. Due to lack of finances, I was unfit to cover the situations in other state public libraries.

The time given for this study was short to get data from druggies of all the public libraries in the state.

description of Terms

Public Libraries These are libraries established by the state and original governments for the entire members of their communities.

Library Services These are services offered by the libraries to their patrons, for illustration, reference services, current mindfulness services, rotation servicesetc.

Library Board It’s an independent statutory body that’s responsible for the overseeing of public libraries in a state.

Impact This is a strong effect or print on druggies of the libraries.

Reference

Baba,U.M( 2007) The Study of the Use of Public Libraries among the Staff and scholars of Akwanga Collection of Education. Nasarawa State. An unpublishedB.L.S Project.

BomanD.( 1989) The Impact of Public Libraries in Nigeria. Library Focus, 6,pp.46- 68.

Emmanuel,P.( 2006) The part of Public Libraries in the Development of Education in Zaria, Kaduna State. An unpublished BLS design.

GatesJ.K( 1976) preface to Librarianship. New York McGraw Hill BookCo.pp. 147.

Ikokoh,C.E( 2003) The Public Library Services and Lifelong literacy. Abuja Info Library,pp. 72- 79.

Nuhu,A.( 1994) Public Librarianship in Northern Nigeria Limitations andChallenges.African Journal Library, 4,1pp. 27 – 36.

Shair,E.A( 1963) The Library requirements of Northern Nigeria. A special report presented under the special state African Assistance Scheme, Ministry of Information, Kaduna.