Public Library: The Poor People’s University

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Libraries are social service organizations that serve the people to boost knowledge among citizens. They are built by different bodies and are usually render services within larger establishments to provide knowledge and useful informational services to their targeted users.

The parent bodies served by libraries have peculiar missions, vision, focus and goals which determines the classification of libraries.

However, the focus of the work is on public library and it has positive effects on a common man who can not afford formal education and some that can not even go beyond secondary school level.

Public library catered for everybody in the society irrespective of their status. It also serves as alternative library to both schools and academic libraries in providing information that supports teaching, learning and research activities.

The functions of public library in terms of educational enlightenment, culture heritage, research, information dissemination and recreational activities etc can not be overemphasized in building an ideal society.

All these led to UNESCO seminar at Ibadan in 1953 that strengthening the development of public library in Nigeria effective from eastern region of the country to other region of the country (then).

According to UNESCO, a United Nations Agency, every areas or region in Nigeria is expected, among other things, to erect, provide, equip, and maintain a functional public library to support teaching, learning, research, information dissemination, cultural activities and aesthetic enjoyments.

Public library is an integral part which every institution revolve around and it is machinery that pump knowledge and ideas and keep every society alive.

These prompted a scholar, Professor S. Toye to observe that: “If there were no laboratories and lack of fund to recruit staff, the enterprise of teaching, learning and research could still flourish if an institution had a well stocked library” (Ijiebor J.A. 2010).

Public library as we are aware has an important roles to play in the educational wellbeing of our society.

Those who could not afford formal education could still becomes relevant in the society with the helps of public library services to all (adult and mass literacy education) and those who could not proceed their education beyond secondary school could as well be competence of their professional aspirations with help to educational and research efforts of public Library.

According to Ogunsheye (19980 as cited by Aliyu M.B. 2012), the most important indication of wealth of a nation is the quality of human resources because they are required to exploit the natural resources and generate capitals. The most effective method of developing human resources is through education and enlightenment.

Because of the age of many of people or their economic aridity; many cannot benefit from formal education. Informal education is very necessary if the masses are to attain certain Literacy level.

The above assertion have justified how public library serve as a poor people’s university and to buttress the said view above I hereby outline the following as services render by public libraries:

1. They provide resources and services geared towards general education and cultural knowledge as such.

2. They guide the user to locate and judiciously use the available library tools and resources.

3. They promote research through acquisition of up-to-date materials on different fields of knowledge.

4. They organize adult and mass literacy programs.

5. They provide special services to under-served and children with the helps of positive learning aids to catches them young.

6. They provide practical training for users on binding, lamination, photo stating, computer and
internet services.

7. They organize and conserve information for future purposes.

8. They organise conferences and symposium to train and retraining people on various discipline.

9. They provide extensional services through mobile library services system to those living outside library environments.

10. They provide both current awareness service and selective dissemination of information to various categories of users.

– Adabara A. Abdulhadi.


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