CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Fundamental areas responsible for the dwindling educational standards and fortunes in our educational system today especially at the secondary school level is the area of library education and library service utilization among our pupils, as the. The mission of libraries are to provide timely, accurate, current, and reliable information to their users. Olowu (2004) posited that “librarians are devoted to improving access to information and satisfying the user’s information needs”. “There is a growing recognition in library services, particularly in public libraries, as an an integral part of the national socio-economic development and improvement of the general quality of life” (Kibat, 1990). Libraries have an important role in the advancement of knowledge. “This role can be effectively carried out with well-structured and well-planned library services, which include the packaging and repackaging of information” (Iwhiwhu, 2008).
A public library is therefore a library that offers services to the public free of charge and it also provides educational, social and political information to people in a particular community. Generally, public libraries are accepted as a public good. In the words of Olanlokun and Salisu (1993), public libraries are libraries set up to provide free but traditional “service to everyone”. A public library is an organization established, supported and funded by the community, either through local, regional or national government or through some other form of community organization. It provides access to knowledge, information and works of the imagination through a range of resources and services and is equally available to all members of the community regardless of race, nationality, age, gender, religion, language, disability, economic and employment status and educational attainment.