PUBLIC LIBRARIES AS COMMUNITY INFORMATION

CENTRES

Kanchan Kamila∗
Dr Subal Chandra Biswas∗∗

This paper discusses the role of public libraries as community information

centres. Enumerates the constraints to library development, viz.,
environmental constraints, adminstrative constraints and manpower
constraints, which need to be removed for ensuring free flow of information
to the community. Also focuses on the components that are to be
incorporated in the user education programme for making the community
information services successful. Finally, prescribes a set of recommendations
about the future role of public libraries as a provider of community
information.

1. INTRODUCTION

There have been suggestions that libraries will wither and die because the
information technologies will bypass libraries and will deliver information
directly to the user. The technology makes this possible but human beings are not
likely to immediately sink the good ship ‘library’.

UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, 1994 [9], proclaims “Unesco’s belief in

the public library as a living force for education, culture and information and as
an essential agent for the fostering of peace and spiritual welfare through the
minds of men and women…

The public library is the local centre of information making all kinds of
knowledge and information readily available to its users.

The services of the public library are provided on the basis of equality of
access for all, regardless of age, sex, religion, nationality, language or social
status. Specific services and materials must be provided for those users who
cannot, for whatever reason, use the regular services and materials, for example,
linguistic minorities, people with disabilities or people in hospital or prison.”

It would seem that the place of library as a storehouse of the historical record
is secure. Provided that the library recognises that such records come in many
formats and collects them all, information seekers will still come to the library to
use the material. It would seem to be reasonable too that people will still use
libraries to seek material for ‘diversion’ in the widest sense.


Assistant Librarian, Kulti College, Kulti, Burdwan-713343.
∗
Professor & Head, Dept. of Lib. & Inf. Sc., Burdwan University, Burdwan-713104.

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 The group who are most likely to reduce their use of libraries are the
professional and skilled classes who require factual information to assist them in
their work and especially if that work can be either in the home, or in the office,
or in the factory.

The library system grew because the individual could not afford to buy and
store all the books he might need. With a change from print to electronic media
the question again arises who will hold a key to such information and the answer
again should be libraries … amongst others [10].

But, public libraries as community information centres – is it true?

Professional literature in LIS is inundated with writings on this topic [5]. Most of
these argue that it is the general public who is in need of community information.
Public libraries are established to serve the general public. It follows, therefore,
that public libraries are the natural agency to provide community information
services [4].

On the other hand, to many ‘information resources centres are developed to

meet the information needs of specific communities’ are simply a cliché and not a
reality. This is because little or no assessment of community information need is
either conducted at the time of setting up a library or community information
resources centre (hereafter simply referred to as resource centre) or updated on a
regular basis once a service is functional.

Usually library and information workers decide (instinctively) what

information resources people ‘need’ rather than empirically assess the needs from
people themselves. It is also common for libraries and resource centres to supply
resources and information based upon the needs of current users and to ignore
those of potential users. This type of information provision has limits. It is logical
that a resource centre, which only uses instincts, and current users’ needs as the
basis upon which to provide information can serve a limited section of its
community only.

As communities change so do the information needs of people. Therefore, a

resource centre cannot continue to attract its current and new or potential users
without tailoring information and resource to meet the ‘new needs’ of the
community. “One of the most difficult [but necessary] activities in the provision
of community information is the assessment of information needs… This must be
done regularly, if established resource centres [and those to be developed] are to
continue to be relevant in any given community” [3].

There are several reasons why few library and information workers and their
respective resource centres conduct information need assessment. Some of the
more obvious include, on the one hand, the fact that certain librarians are simply
too lazy to conduct such assessments and, on the other, a genuine lack of staff,

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financial resources and time. Related to the above, and perhaps more critical, is
the lack of knowledge of information needs assessment techniques and difficulties
encountered in developing simple but reliable methodologies for collecting data
on community information needs.

2. CONSTRAINTS OF LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT

But, assessment of users’ information needs by the library and information

centre staff is by no means an end by itself. Fulfillment of the users’s information
needs is the ultimate objective of a library. Thus, society should gear its efforts to
build an effective and efficient library and information system, which is not again
free of hurdles. Experts have identified a number of constraints affecting library
development plan, which can be grouped under the following heads [8]:

2.1 Environmental constraints

• The lack of tradition of considering information as a resource for use;

hence, low priority is given to developing library and information
facilities.
• Training in searching for and using information is not yet included in
educational programmes.
• The tendency of the community to expect to obtain information free of
charge.
• Senior administrators and decesion makers have their own channels for
obtaining information and therefore tend to forget that other groups are
still information poor.
• Poor rapport between users of information and librarians as information
providers.
• The tendency of the scientific and technical community to look only for
information from advanced countries, and to undervalue nationally
generated information.
• There is little understanding that the library and information system is
much interrelated with country’s publishing system.

2.2 Administrative constraints

• Library services are being developed very much apart from research and
development (R&D) activities, with the result that many decisions in the
R&D sectors are not supported by the necessary information provision.
• The tendency of research institutes to build their own libraries which
causes much duplication of collection building but at the same time shows
the poor representation of the world output of scientific and technical
information in the country.
• Low priority is given to collection building and improved access.

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 • The very low annual budget that libraries receive for management,
acquisitions, marketing and other communication activities.
• Cumbersome procedures for the importation of foreign books, journal,
non-book materials, exchange materials and so on.
• Formal national policies and plans are still missing in order to secure co-
ordination in the implementation of national services.

2.3 Manpower constraints

• The shortage of senior library personnel to voice needs for management

and services.
• Education and training facilities are falling behind the fast development of
information technologies and the information industry.
• The unattractive career development prospects of librarians in government
agencies.
• The shortage of manpower (fund also) to do research aimed at improving
weakness in the country’s library and information systems.
• Language barriers impede education and training programmes.

One aspect of the constraints which needs special emphasis is the shortage of
skilled recruits entering the library and information field. Adam and Rose [1] have
recognised the importance of national agencies in conducting training in
information systems, for technical staff as well as planners. Library practitioners
and the academic community should discuss the above issues in order to prepare
the development of a cadre of professionals able to cope with the demands of the
new information age. Training programmes are not just a matter of designing
packages of tehcnical knowhow; it is more important to train managers to look for
new strategies to serve the cultural and educational needs of people.

3. USER EDUCATION PROGRAMME

However, success of any system is very much dependent on the quality and
ability of its users. Users should be capable of appropriating the benefits borne out
of the system. The library and information systems and their users are no
exception to this. Quality of users and their library and information use habits are
primarily governed by the state of social, economic and technological
developments of the particular society to which these users belong to. But, many
believe, the library and information workers too have some role to play in this
connection. One such role is library and information workers as conductors of
user education programme. If assessment of users’ information needs and their
fulfillment are the primary responsibilities of the library and information worker,
to educate and to train the users of a library in a manner to help them to reap the
benefits of the gamut of services provided is a work of nonetheless responsibility.
The library manager should chalk out an adequate user education programme for
this purpose.

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 User education programme can be designed with the following objectives in
mind:

a) to assist the users to know and understand the services provided by the
library and how to make the most of them;
b) to assist the users to know how to use the various resources of the library;
c) to assist the users to learn and to interpret what they have learnt to an
acceptable standard; and
d) to instill into the students the basic skills of lifelong education.

Though user education programme designed for a public library system

should cover the members of the community as a whole, we intend to centre our
focus on the education of the student user community. This is because, they are
the future citizens of any nation who will take active part in shaping its destiny.
And, a better-informed citizen is the most sought after asset for effecting the
sustainable development of a nation. User education programme is not only very
helpful to increase the student users’ awareness of the available resources, but also
to improve their skills in independent learning and presentation of course work.
The following topics need to be incorporated within such an effective user
education programme.

3.1 Maximising the use of the library

This topic is intended to expose users to the myriad of information resources

available in the library. It is also intended to familiarise them with the
nomenclature and terminology used to identify the various types of information. It
is further intended to familiarise users with the various services offered by the
library. To this effect, the sub-topics are:

a) the nature of information;

b) the various formats of information; and
c) the library services.

3.2 Sources of information in libraries and how to use them

This component of the programme is intended to familiarise the users with the
broad categories of sources of information after literacy and to highlight the
different uses to which they could be put. It is also intended to equip the users
with the necessary skills required for efficient consultation of the various
categories of resources. The sub-topics are:

a) physical sources (primary sources, e.g., books, periodicals, models, etc.);

b) bibliographic sources (secondary sources, e.g., the library catalogues,
abstracts, indexes, etc.); and
c) library sources (tertiary sources, e.g., yearbooks, encyclopaedias, etc.).

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3.3 How to study

This component is included in order to help the user to adjust to independent

learning, as opposed to absolute dependence on lectures. The role of the
individual in shaping his destiny is to be emphasised. Consequently, the various
methods of successful study are to be introduced to the users through the
following sub-topics:

a) plans and time-tables;

b) learning and remembering;
c) notes and lectures;
d) reading; and
e) group discussion and group work.

3.4 Efficient reading

The idea of the individual’s role in his own education would need to be
strengthened by his ability to read efficiently. This component is intended to equip
the user with the relevant skills for quick and efficient reading. The sub-topics
are:

a) the process of reading; and

b) the strategy of reading.

3.5 Assignment skills

This component is intended to equip the user with the skills of preparing for
an assignment. It is also intended to expose the users to logical ways of thinking
when preparing an assignment. The sub-topics are:

a) what to do;
b) where to go for information;
c) how to locate and select the resources;
d) how to record and store relevant information;
e) how to use the resources;
f) how to present findings; and
g) how to check oneself.

3.6 Writing an assignment

This component is closely related to the previous topic. The purpose of this
component is to equip the user with the various techniques of presenting an
assignment or term paper. The sub-topics are:

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 a) efficient reading;
b) using printed sources;
c) planning;
d) note taking;
e) referencing; and
f) methods of presentation

The programme is thus designed in two distinct sections. The first section is
basically concerned with bibliographic instruction, or teaching the students how
to maximally use the library resources; the second is intended to assist students to
adjust to the style of education, which is largely dependent on individual
participation and motivation as it is mostly resource based [6].

4. RECOMMENDATIONS

The public library should play an important role by providing community

information services. For this, the role of the existing library system should be
changed first. Then, the model for restructuring of the information centre is to be
built in such a way that it should cover programmes with the objectives of the
development of the community.

A number of recommendations about the future role of public libraries are

mentioned below [2, 7]:

1. There should be a programme for the eradication of illiteracy. In such a case,

the library may participate in the National Literacy Campaign Programme,
although the provision of support for literacy programmes run elsewhere.
2. The meeting of study needs, i.e., libraries should also be careful of developing
and preserving the reading materials in respect of the particular language and
script of the community.
3. A programme may focus on the encouragement of the students for their
education, through formal or informal schooling provided by the library
professionals.
4. Inculcate reading habits among the people particularly the younger ones. The
libraries should develop services aimed at serving neo-literate of the
community with suitable literature and prevent them from falling back to
illiteracy and organise adult education classes for illiterates. In other words,
there is a provision of alternative education programmes by way of non-
formal education, adult education, etc.
5. The promotion of parental development programmes through encouraging
reading in the home.
6. The professionals of the rural libraries should take the responsibility of
educating the mothers of the community on how to seek and use information,
to initiate document and disseminate rural community information by calling
for community participation.

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7. Changes in the methods by which students may receive information.
8. The development of life-skills programmes, i.e., the library and information
centres may guide the people for the use of various welfare measures such as
the utilisation of solar energy and so on.
9. The provision of work-skills programmes (designed to help certain groups
obtain and perform particular jobs).
10. The teaching of childcare skills.
11. The libraries should develop special collections for the community according
to their needs. The libraries should develop audio and video collections and
organise audio-visual programmes for their benefit.
12. Efforts should be given by the library and information centre to collect all
sorts of information relating to and on the community with an objective to
make the people aware of all the opportunities of education, employment,
economic and cottage industry development, agricultural training, fishery
management, water facilities, medical and health care, any type of preventive
measures, etc. both in the government and non-government levels, which they
should avail for their own betterment and existence. The advantage of the
modern computerised data/information storage and retrieval as well as access
to the communication network systems may further facilitate the availability
of information in respect of the community.
13. Community information should be provided by developing “Local History
Collection” including geographical or topographical situation of the place,
history of the place and the place name, the history of the original inhabitants
as well as the present inhabitants of the place, and their races, castes,
genealogy, etc.
14. Collect the necessary information from newspapers, TV and radio.
15. Design a network of the teachers, nurses, doctors, civil servants, agricultural
extension workers, traders, lawyers, etc. to supply all types of community
information.
16. The library may motivate the people of the community to hold their meeting
for the settlement of their disputes, to attend any story-telling classes, to
organise any cultural programmes of dance and music, to celebrate the birth
days of national leaders, to observe any red-letter day, etc. by providing them
the library premises to use freely in order to accelerate the exchange of
information among the community.
17. An arrangement for occasional get-together among the library members of the
community may be held in the library premises. In this case the arrangement
for some cultural programmes or the like may indirectly strengthen the
information exchange and general awareness among the community.
18. The library and information centre may encourage the people for their
involvement in the socio-economic development projects in their leisure time.
19. Make provision for assistance and advice to pensioners/aged users.
20. Increase over-all efficiency of the libraries (i.e., community information
centres).

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