Improving Public Libraries Services in Akwa Ibom State and Rivers State: Strategies for Relevant Information Services for the Unreached Rural Communities

Abstract

Public libraries are obligated to provide information services and resources to rural communities. People in the rural communities seek information to fill an identified gap in their quest for knowledge. This study, therefore, investigated the methods for improving public library services in Akwa Ibom and Rivers States as strategies for meeting the information needs of the unreached rural communities. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Population of the study comprised of 326 rural dwellers and public library staff in Akwa Ibom and Rivers States. This figure is made up of 50 library staff and 276 rural dwellers. A purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of 13 rural community dwellers each from the 54Local Governments in the two states. The instrument
for data collection was a questionnaire designed based on rural people's views. The instrument was validated by experts in the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Uyo, Uyo. The instrument titled “Improving Public Libraries Services for Rural Areas Questionnaire” (IPLSRAQ) was designed in two categories to reflect the members of the population. Atotal of 326 copies of the instruments were distributed and 310 were useful for data analysis. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that the unreached rural people in the two states need different types of information for their daily lives and the strategies to improve their information needs is by establishing rural library services.