How Libraries Contribute to Communities and Society - Ozean ...

types were ―fixed set‖ in which the original combination of books remained unchanged and were rotated among
different communities. The second type were ―open-shelf‖ which were collections made up for a specific
community from a central general collection. Most of the books were fiction, with a few non-fiction titles. The idea
was to encourage reading for the purpose of reading as a wholesome and uplifting recreation. Another interesting
point to note is that the first rural service was not free. Every state except Delaware and California required the
borrowing community to pay at least some of the transportation charges.
As Stith and Klee (1983) have reported, telephone is another important tool that had been used to provide library
services in the rural areas. In this regard, telephone reference service includes all the calls that a library receives
from its patrons. These calls may be request for direction or library hours or request for readers’ services which
require checking the card catalogue or offering interlibrary loan services. Regardless of the level of reference service
executed, every telephone call plays an important role in the library. In the rural setting the telephone’s critical role
is intensified by the library’s geographical isolation from patrons and large libraries.
The picture of rural library service in the developing world is not as bright as the one painted above. Aboluwarin
(1998), Agboola (2000),Ikhizama and Okojie (2001) have documented the efforts of some libraries in information
dissemination in rural areas of Nigeria. Nevertheless adequate attention has not been paid to library services in the
rural areas of Nigeria. As Aboyade (1987) has observed, some librarians argue that because it is not yet possible to
adequately serve the city dwellers, who have the educational capacity to use library services, serving the rural
dwellers, who are mostly illiterate would be a misdirection of efforts. However, the outcome of a modest pilot
project aimed at giving library and information services in a rural setting which Aboyade (1984) set up in Badeku
village near Ibadan in Oyo State of Nigeria has proved that argument wrong.
At Badeku library service was provided in a building that was erected through the efforts of the village women. The
building was often used as a meeting place for the villagers and other research teams. The library team visited the
village on Fridays. Friday was the only work-free day in the village when people could spare some time to use the
library.
The project was an eye opener to the role of the library in the rural area. In the first place, the project has shown that
the information needs of rural dwellers are many and diverse. They include interest to know more about farming,
concern with cultural matters, public affairs and entertainment. Secondly, it has shown that the library can assist
even rural dwellers in a country where the majority of the population are illiterate, but not unintelligent, to realize
their aspirations quickly. Thirdly, it has been realized that non-literate rural dwellers can make effective use of a
sophisticated institution like the library, when it is tailored to their own structure of information demand. For
example, the pilot project gave the people an opportunity to voice out their information needs. It was eventually
found that they were most willing to utilize such information they requested for much better than any other type of
information given to them.
Moreover, it was surprisingly discovered that the villagers could benefit from other aspects of information that are
not so functional. ―Sitting down in a relaxed atmosphere and listening to someone read to them was a completely
new and pleasing experience to nearly all the patrons. In the traditional mode they were the ones required to retell
folktales to children by moonlight. Now they themselves received similar pleasure from modern creative writings.
Consequently, there were demands for more books than the project could afford. That was the only limiting factor to
the new horizon that broke before the people who could not read themselves‖ (Aboyade, 1987)
.
From the above one could see that the cultural purposes of a library are not limited to and appreciated by the refined
members of the society who do not have to spend most of their time, like the rural dwellers, just to make ends meet.
Therefore, reading or listening can play an important role in the beneficial use of leisure, in addition to what rural
people normally do to fill their work-free hours. The library in a rural setting can consciously strive to help people to
cultivate a taste for books and reading.
Above all, the project has demonstrated that the library, through some of its activities, can draw all interested groups
together. This can be done by providing a forum in particular localities where all officials like agricultural extension
officers, rural health personnel, community development officers, home economic agents and political field agents
can obtain reference information and materials for their extension services. They will, through this, get to know and
use other materials that are not produced by their own institutions. This will also enable the library to intervene with
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