FEE-BASED SERVICES IN SOUTH EAST STATES PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Abstract

A central tenet of public libraries is the idea of equal access to its information resources by all irrespective of age, background, educational level or economic status. These libraries however cannot be immune from the economic and technological developments that are reshaping social and cultural institutions globally. These changes are forcing public libraries to shift from their traditional operational modes of granting free access to information to all with books on the shelves to exploring new technology in order to survive in today’s market driven economy and maintain their relevancy in the scheme of information delivery. Such new operations and services require more funds than the government have been able to provide. Public libraries are therefore being constrained to open up new revenue streams and the attachment of fees to their services is a most veritable option. This survey therefore examines fee based library services in the five South East states public libraries. The types of services for which these libraries charge fees and the rationale for setting prices for such services are also studied. Data was also collected from the staff and users of the State Public Libraries through questionnaires and interviews. The data was analyzed using statistics and tables. It was discovered that the five State Public Libraries charge fees for core service. The study while recommending that alternative sources of income for the State Public Libraries should be explored also recommends that they should resuscitate their bindery and book depot services.