PUBLIC LIBRARY LOCATION AS CORRELATE TO USERS’ PATRONAGE IN ABIA AND IMO STATES, NIGERIA

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ABSTRACT

This study investigated public library location as correlate to users’ patronage in Abia and Imo States, Nigeria. The study was aimed at finding out the relationship between the public library location and users’ patronage. That is to know if the location of public libraries in Abia and Imo States affected the patronage of users. Literature in relevant areas was reviewed.  An ex-post facto design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 914 registered users of public libraries in Abia and Imo States.  A total of 524 registered users from Umuahia Central and Owerri Central libraries in Abia and Imo States formed the sample for the study using purposive sample technique. A structured questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. Data were analyzed and presented using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC). The major findings of the study revealed that there is a high positive and significant relationship between the location of public libraries and users’ patronage, which showed that location of public library can affect the use. A significant relationship also existed between the distance to the public library location and users patronage. This implied that low level of patronage of public library could be as a result of distance of the library to the users. The findings also discovered that how users commute to the public library in their area relates to users’ patronage. Challenges such as non-centrality of the library to users’ residence, high cost of transportation, among others relates to users’ patronage. The study outlined solutions such as centrality of the location of public library, low cost of transportation, involvement of library and information professionals in planning and establishment of public library, among others. Thus the study concludes that centrality of the location of the public libraries can increase the level of users’ patronage. The study recommends that State Government should site public libraries in centralized locations. Library and Information Science Professionals should be fully involved in the planning and establishment of public libraries and also Non-Governmental organizations and philanthropists should be encouraged to support funding of public libraries.  



TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title                                                                                     page   

Declaration                                                                                                               i

Certification                                                                                                             ii

Dedication                                                                                                                iii

Acknowledgment                                                                                                     iv

Table of Contents                                                                                                     v

List of Tables                                                                                                           vi

List of Appendices                                                                                                   vii

Abstract                                                                                                                    viii


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study                                                                               1

1.2     Statement of the Problem                                                                              7

1.3     Purpose of the Study                                                                                      9

1.4     Research Questions                                                                                       9

1.5     Hypotheses                                                                                                    10

1.6     Significance of the Study                                                                              10

1.7     Scope of  the Study                                                                                        11


CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1     Conceptual Framework                                                                                12

2.1.1    Public Library                                                                                             12

2.1.2  History of public libraries                                                                              16

2.1.3  Public library location for users’ proximity                                                 20

2.1.4  Public library resources.                                                                                24

2.1.5  Public library services                                                                                   29

2.1.6  Utilization and users of public libraries                                                        33

2.2     Theoretical Framework                                                                                37  

2.3     Empirical Studies                                                                                          39

 2.4      Summary of Literature Review                                                            44

 

CHAPTER3: METHODOLOGY  

3.1       Design of the Study                                                                                         46

3.2       Area of the Study                                                                                             47

3.3       Population of the Study                                                                                   48

3.4       Sample and Sampling Techniques                                                                  48

3.5       Instrument for Data Collection                                                                        49

3.6       Validation of the Instrument                                                                           49

3.7       Reliability of the Instrument                                                                           50

3.8       Method of Data Collection                                                                              50

3.9        Method of Data Analysis                                                                                50


CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1       Results                                                                                                             52

4.2       Summary of the Findings                                                                                61 

4.3       Discussion of the Findings                                                                   62

 

CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1      Summary                                                                                                       67

5.2     Conclusion                                                                                                     70

5.3     Recommendation                                                                                           70

5.4     Implication of the Study                                                                                71

5.5     Limitations of the Study                                                                                72

5.6     Suggestions for further Study                                                                        72

 

References                                                                                                             73


 

 

             

LIST OF FIGURES


I:    Population Frame                                                                                           79

II:  Sample Size frame                                                                                          80

III:  Instrument for Date collection                                                                       81    

IV:  Computer Output of Internal Consistency of reliability                                82


 

 

 


 

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

For any society to advance socially and economically, adequate information and learning are needed.  The Public library is one of the vital institutions that provide information and learning to the general public irrespective of age, gender, and qualification. Public libraries are primarily, institutions of basic learning, having a mission which involves providing services to meet information needs of the local community. They serve as local gateway to knowledge and information and provide conditions for lifelong learning, community development and independent decision making by an individual. A public library, therefore, is a library that offers services to the public free of charge. Such services cover education, social, cultural and political information as well as reference and information services, and selective dissemination of information (SDI). 

Definitions of public library by scholars include: Nnadozie (2007),

“Public libraries are regarded as those government or public funded libraries established to provide free services and on equal basis to the generality of the people without discrimination as to race, age, gender, colour, religion, political/ideological inclination, educational attainment or economic status”.

 

Rubin (2010) holds that a public library is a library that is accessible by the public and generally funded from public sources such as tax. Nwokocha (2013), affirm that a public library is established to serve the generality of the residents of the community or town where it is located. Compared to other libraries, it has about the most heterogeneous clientele as there is no restriction as who can use it. It also provides an avenue for recreation and relaxation. According to Tiwari (2013), the public library provides services to the general public and makes at least some of their books available for borrowing, so that readers may use them at home over a period of days or weeks. Many public libraries also serve as community organizations that provide free services and event to the public such as story time, awareness of available government social amenities and educational services.

Kumar (2017) posits that the public library is the “people’s university” in a democratic society. It is operated for the people, by the people, and conserves and organizes human knowledge in order to place it freely in the service of the people without any distinction of occupation, creed, class, religion, or ethnicity. It is a university of the people since it is maintained and financed by the people of the community who freely throng to this institution to acquire the knowledge that they need in their day-to-day life.

The public library cannot achieve its goals and objectives without its resources. Public library resources are those library resources that are of fundamental importance to the achievement of the library goals. According to Nnadozie (2007), library resources are those possessions or property, which facilitate routine operations of the library. It includes human resources, facilities, and information resources. Human resources are staff of the library that provide technical, managerial and professional duties and other support-services. The facilities include the furniture, fittings and equipment. Information resources are the information collected to solve users’ needs through the information media or sources. As Aina (cited in Ibenne, 2010) notes, information sources refer to information carriers. As such, the information required by users of public libraries appears in a variety of formats such as books, serials, maps, and compacts discs. These formats are generally referred to as information carriers or sources. This is because these various resources bear information that is useful to the users of the public library. 

The entire human and material resources in a public library are put in place for the overall purpose of providing effective services to the library users. Library services are required for information sources to be accessible. According to Nwokocha (2013), library services are satisfying to users when there is a desire on the part of staff to offer quality services as diligently as possible. It also entails organization of the library environment and materials to reflect its readiness to provide services that would be of interest and profitable to its users. Public libraries offer additional services to their users beyond the provision of books and periodicals. Some of the services available include:

v  Lending services - where users can borrow books, CDs, e-books and other materials. 

v  Children’s lending service - where books and other materials for children of all ages are made available.

v  Internet service - where users can access the internet and other online resources.

v  Reference service – which makes available and maintain up-to-date reference materials on market trends and career opportunities for consultation in the library. 

v  Community groups - where space and support are provided for a range of groups like book clubs, movie clubs.

v  Offering settlement support.

v  Economics and workforce development (Salman and Mugwisi, 2014)

Some public libraries provide literacy support services where information on how to encourage children to read and also help the users who have learning challenges are offered. Other services are local studies, business and employment supports services, environmental information, information services, educational support for schools and students and reprographic services. One of the most popular services offered in public libraries are summer reading programmes for children, families, and adults. It also provides free services such as pre-school story times to encourage early literacy, quiet study and work areas for students and professionals or book club to encourage appreciation of literature in adults. Most services provided by the public library are built around the delivery of information to the clientele.

Information is the pivot, or the fulcrum around which the economic, social, industrial, political and technological development of any nation revolves (Ogunrombi & Sanni, 2009). No society, whether developed or developing, can aspire to greater heights economically, socially, politically, and even technologically without adequate and unhindered flow of relevant information (Uhegbu, 2007). The public library critically provides this information. This explains why nations of the world today are classified as either developed, developing, or underdeveloped based, among other things, on the status of their public library and availability and accessibility of information to her citizens. 

 The economic importance of the public library lies in its value as a source for information provision and the strategic value of information in decision-making and planning (Ogunrombi & Sanni, 2009).   According to Onu (2005), information is the oil that greases the wheel of governance, as well as drives the programmes and activities of the government, organizations and individuals. Viewing it from every slant, it is obvious that the need for adequate, current, and timely information is crucial for society. Auspiciously, public libraries, which are the local gateways to information and knowledge, have come to close the gap between the people within and around a given geographical area.

The Public library is the only type of library that opens its doors to all members of the community regardless of their sex, ethnicity, creed, social or class status, age, academic qualifications, or political leanings. Therefore location of a public library is a major factor in its use. Location simply means a place or position. It is the place where a particular point or object exist. Location also means the physical composition of an area. Location is geographically used to identify a point or an area on the earth’s surface or elsewhere. It generally implies a higher degree of certainty than place; the latter often indicating an entity with an ambiguous boundary, relying more on human or social attributes of place identity and sense of place than on geometry (Hornby, Ashby &Wehmeier, 2017). Robinson and Dividson (2001) define location as a position or situation. It is also the act of locating or process of being located. Therefore the location of a public library is an essential prerequisite in achieving its objective.

The term “User” is defined as a person or thing that uses something, and “patronage” is regarded as the support that is given to a person or an organization by a patron (Hornby, Ashby &Wehmeier, 2017). Pasad, cited in Solanke & Nwalo (2016), notes that the person who is actively seeking access to information and when successful obtains and uses the information is described as a user. According to him, users can be grouped by discipline or by the type of activities. The patronage of the public library services centers around the need for information either for education, information, or recreational purpose. Odunola and Tella (2019) defined library patronage as the consultation or use of library informational resources by the users of the library either physically or via remote access. In other words patronage of the library means regular utilization of library services by the intended users. Hence, in the content of this study, users’ patronage will imply the constant utilization of public library by the library users in the location it is situated.  Onuoha and Subair (2013) are of the opinion that the essence of evaluating the patronage of a library is to gather useful information on whether the library is fulfilling its mandate and to also help in the reform of services provision, planning and the effective management of the library.  

According to Ibrahim and Wada (2021) the level of patronage of library is a good measure of how well libraries can facilitate teaching, learning and research activities.  Before a service is patronize by the intended users, the users must have access to the services, hence patronage of public library may be influence as a result of the location of the library.  A Public library is a potent democratic institution that brings people from all walks of life together in their search for information, education and continuous self-development. Therefore, in siting a public library, the residence of the library users and the distance to the library must be taken into careful consideration. A Public library should not be located far away from the users, where they have to spend much on transportation or have to trek long distances to access library services. 

In addition to distance, natural and artificial barriers between users’ residences and the library should also be taken into consideration. Public libraries should not be located where users would have to cross a river, climb hills, or descend deep valley to access a public library service point. It should also not be located in a noisy area like a market. This is because the noise will affect the desired concentration. This will mar the users from use of the library. This point has been proven in a survey conducted by Iwhiwhu and Okorodudu (2012), which revealed that the location of Edo State public library is one of the challenges that influence the underutilization, as the library is located along ever busy road and also surrounded by commercial buildings that generate a lot of noise, which could distract users in the library. The noise from the location can discourage the users from coming to the library. This consideration is of utmost importance in developing countries where online services are not yet well developed to make library services accessible from any point or location. Effort should be made to site the library where users will not have to cross very high traffic flows before accessing it. The reason is that, if public libraries are located where such barriers exist, access to the library could be impacted negatively and use impaired.

 Everywhere in the world, including Nigeria, public library services are designed to be used by the citizens. This is because; these libraries are local centres of information which help to promote literacy and the pure enjoyment of reading. People are expected to use the services provided by the public libraries to meet their educational, cultural, technological, economic, and political information needs. Unfortunately, from observations and studies such as Adegbilero (2014) which seek to find out how often users patronized Public Libraries in South West Nigeria, all pointed out that public libraries in Nigeria  are experiencing decline in patronage.

 Considering the poor state of public libraries in Africa, the Carngie Corporation, based in New York, United States of America (USA), sponsored an investigation for revitalization of public libraries carried out by the International Network for the Availability Scientific Publication (INASP) in the year 2001 and this was to obtain firsthand information on the state of public libraries in 10 African countries namely; Botswana, Ghana, Kenye, Nigeria, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zambabwe (Baffour-Awuah, 2021). That investigation led to a literature survey and the report which was then published included a researcher’s report on each country. The conclusion was that the public library movement in Africa is very weak as it has numerous problems such as financial constraints, lack of human resources, outdated materials and poor use. As

Onadiran cited in Mamman (2015), notes, “the usefulness of any public library depends on its ability to serve the community and the encouragement it provides for people of all ages to educate themselves continually”. This cannot be achieved without the library being situated in a location that the users doesn’t find difficult to access. 

 It is evident from the above account that location exerts some influence on the use of information services, and public libraries are not exempted. The level of influence also varies from one public library to the other. This makes it imperative that the relationship between the location of the library and users’ patronage in a specific library should be investigated to avoid over-generalization or wrong assumption. It is for this reason that this study examines the public library location as correlate to users’ patronage in Abia and Imo states of Nigeria.


1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Public library is one of the most important libraries. Public libraries are characterized by making accurate and up-to-date information resources available to all without discrimination, whether in print or non-print format. Unfortunately, the public library is alleged to have been underutilized. The location of anything has implications for its accessibility and utilization. The location of public library influences the use of the library either positively or negatively. The preliminary observations of the researcher indicated that in Nigeria, available public libraries are not effectively patronized by the citizenry. This scenario could be ascribed to some challenges such as improper and distant locations. However, there is no empirical evidence to verify this claim. Yet, it is important to solve the problem of underutilization of public libraries, calling for the need to examine the implication of their locations. Thus, this research is carried out to investigate the relationship between public libraries location and their patronage, with a focus on Abia and Imo States.


1.3     PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 

The general purpose of this study is to determine public library location as a correlate to users’ patronage in Abia and Imo states. The specific objectives are to:

i.               ascertain the relationship between public library location and users’ patronage,

ii.              determine the relationship between the distance to the public library location and users’ patronage.

iii.            determine the relationship between users’ means of commuting to  public libraries in their area and their patronage

iv.            ascertain the challenges of the location of the public library as it concerns users’ patronage and,

v.              proffer solutions to the issues of the location of public library as related to users’ patronage.

1.4     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions are formulated to guide the study.

i.               Is there any relationship between public library location and users’

patronage? 

ii.              What is the relationship between the distance to the location of the public library and users’ patronage?  iii. What is the relationship between users’ means of commuting to the public library and their patronage?

iv.            What are the challenges of the location of public libraries to users’ patronage? 

v.              What are the solutions to the challenges of location of the public libraries and users’ patronage? 

 

1.5     HYPOTHESES 

The following null hypotheses would be tested at 0.5 level of significance:

 

HO1:    There is no significant relationship between the location of the public libraries and users’ patronage 

HO2:     There is no significant relationship between the distance to the locations and users’ patronage of public libraries.

HO3:    There is no significant relationship between users’ means of commuting to public library and their patronage of public libraries 

HO4:    There is no significant relationship between challenges of location of public  libraries and users’ patronage 

HO5: There is no significant relationship between possible solutions to the issue of  location and users’ patronage of public libraries.


1.6       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is expected that when published, the result of this study would be beneficial to government as the parent body of public library, library administrators, communities, library and information professionals, researchers, students and the public in general. 

It will enable government to understand the state of public libraries in Nigeria and propel them to take appropriate actions that will bring about positive changes in the public library sector in Nigeria. It will also help to bring about improvement in the location of public libraries.

 To library administrators, the findings will provide data to be used in planning, organizing, directing and coordinating all public library activities and operations; assesses users’ needs, recommend programmes, implement and evaluate programme(s) effectiveness. It will also propel them to work with library managers in the establishment of branch libraries. It will draw the attention of community to the public library and make them to realize the importance of public library location, thereby making them to collaborate with the relevant Government agencies in the development of the public library. 

The findings of this study are expected to be beneficial to library and information professionals who and serve as a reference document when saddled with the responsibility of establishing public libraries. The findings will also be beneficial to researchers because the study will add to existing literature in this area of public library location. It will create awareness to the students, especially, those who may not have been aware of the location of public libraries in Abia and Imo States and who before now did not realize the availability of public libraries in their localities.

 Lastly, the findings from this study will be beneficial to the general public, by creating awareness of the distributions of public libraries in Abia and Imo States and encourage the populace to access and patronize public libraries, thereby promoting reading culture and an informed public.


1.7    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The geographical scope for the study is the public libraries in Abia and Imo States. The study is delimited to the location of the public libraries in relation to users’ patronage in Abia and Imo States Public Library Services. The content scope covers public library, history of public library, public library location for users’ proximity, public library resources, public library services, utilization and users of public libraries. The population scope is limited to registered users of the public libraries in Abia and Imo States.



 

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