Funding and Development of Public Library Service: A Case Study Of Abia State Library Board Umuahia:- Edward Amadi

Abstract

The study examined funding and development of public library services in Abia State Library Board, Umuahia. It adopted the descriptive survey design with four (4) specific objectives. The population of the study was 42 library staff comprising 12 professional and 30 paraprofessionalstaff. The complete censussampling technique was adopted. The structured questionnaire instrument was used for data collection which yielded 38 respondents representing 90% response rate. The data collected were analysed and presented in tables using descriptive statistics to determine the frequency counts and mean scores. A 2.50 criterion mean was used to indicate agreement or disagreement in each item. The study revealed that thesources of funding for development of public library services are: funding from governments through taxation; revenue from users' fees such as: users' registration, overdue fines and levies; charges from users for services, e.g., photocopying and printing facilities, etc. It also showed that funding and development of public library services facilitate procurement of information and communication technology (ICT) tools; maintenance of equipment and furniture; purchase of stationeries; purchase of new books and non-book materials, payment for administrative expenses, among others. Challenges of funding and development of public library services were inadequate funding, power problem to provide effective public library services which can encourage public funding, insufficient ICT infrastructure and staff with ICT skills and poor conditions of service and prospects of public library staff to attract public funding. The study concludes that since funding is indispensable in the development of public library services, governments should provide adequate funds to the library in order to enhance effective and efficientservices delivery while management of the library should provide mobile services for improved development ofpublic library services. Keywords: Funding. Devel