THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICES TO THE PEOPLE OF KADUNA STATE (A CASE STUDY OF KADUNA STATE LIBRARY BOARD, KADUNA)
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THE IMPACT
OF PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICES TO THE PEOPLE OF KADUNA STATE (A CASE STUDY OF
KADUNA STATE LIBRARY BOARD, KADUNA)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
The Chambers
Universal Learners Dictionary define a library as a building or room containing
a collection of books or some other collection, for example, gramophone
records.
Shair (1963)
also defines a library as an organization of one or more trained people who use
carefully selected or organized books, periodicals and other similar materials
as a means of giving to those who may appropriately 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 is mostly concerned with the methods,
skills, and system for acquisition, storage, preservation and dissemination of
recorded and non-recorded materials. The library is generally grouped into six
(6) which are national, academic, school, private, special and public
libraries.
The public
library is a library which carters for the informational needs of everybody in
the society. It is not restricted to anybody or a particular group of people.
The implication of the word ‘PUBLIC’ is that the library is expected to serve
everybody in the community in which it is situated; hence it is 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 funds or special taxes voted for the
purpose and administered for the benefits of the citizens of the country, town,
city or region which maintains it on the basis of equal access to all. Ikokoh
(2003) defines public library as a library provided wholly or partly from
public funds and the use of which is not restricted 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 locality referred
to as the general public. Nuhu (1994) observed that the public library has the
same universal objective of serving the general public towards the educational
upliftment and awareness of rural and urban persons, to enhance and develop
their potentialities. The public library has the traditional role of acquiring
books and audio-visual materials, and making them available to patrons
regardless to citizenship, age, educational level, economic and social status
or any qualification or condition. It must therefore be a depository of a
variety of books and other informative materials and provide needed services
for the members of the immediate community it serves. The public library has
proved to be of the best means of providing books and non-books materials and
making them available and accessible for its diverse users.
Public
libraries are now acknowledged to be an indispensable part of community wide
range of reading materials for all ages and centres for community information
services. The public library that provides services to the general public, is
also responsible for serving special categories of the public, such as
children, members of the armed forces, hospital, patients, prisoners, workers
and employees. In other words, it is a library established by the state to
provide 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 instance, industrial cities like Manchester, Russia and Detroit in
the United States had public libraries so as to meet the informational needs of
the industries. 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 promulgated in 1850. It empowered that any town
council with a population of 10, 000 (later 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 years before independence with the
establishment of libraries in Lagos. The Modern 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 membership 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 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.
1.5
Significance of the Study
The research
work has been designed to establish the effectiveness and efficiency of the
public library services in Kaduna State. It will also reveal the justification
for the establishment of these libraries.
The
recommendations made in this work will be helpful to the state government in
improving the services of the public libraries in the state.
1.6 Scope
and Limitations
The study
covered the public libraries supretended by Kaduna State Library Board. Their
services were also appraised.
The
limitations encountered during this research work included funding and time
constraints. Due to lack of funds, I was unable to cover the situations in
other state public libraries.
The time
given for this study was short to get data from users of all the public
libraries in the state.
1.7
Definition of Terms
Public
Libraries: These are libraries established by the state and local governments
for the entire members of their communities.
Library
Services: These are services offered by the libraries to their patrons, for
example, reference services, current awareness services, circulation services
etc.
Library
Board: It is an autonomous statutory body that is responsible for the
overseeing of public libraries in a state.
Impact: This
is a strong effect or impression on users of the libraries.
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