Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management)

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Library Awareness among Non-users of Public Libraries: A Study with Reference to the Hilly Areas of Darjeeling District, West Bengal


Affiliations
1 Siliguri College, PO- Siliguri, Dist- Darjeeling, India
2 Department of Lib. & Inf. Sc., Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032, India
     

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This paper is an attempt to assess the library awareness among the non-users of Government and Government sponsored Public libraries in the hilly areas of Darjeeling district of West Bengal with respect to their personal characteristics, library membership of their family members, reasons of not becoming the library members, their familiarity with nearest public library, preference of reading materials in the library, willingness and approach to become member of library, awareness of free reading facility in the library, sources of their information needs, difficulties in obtaining their information and their opinion about the library providing these information. Hence a survey of 61 non-users of public libraries across the hilly areas was conducted through a structured questionnaire. Finally it is concluded that there is need for improvement in the public library services so that the non-users may get attracted to visit the library.

Keywords

Public Library, System And Services, Darjeeling District, Hill Community, Non-user of Library, Information Needs.
User
About The Authors

Prabin Karkee
Siliguri College, PO- Siliguri, Dist- Darjeeling
India

Krishnapada Majumder
Department of Lib. & Inf. Sc., Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032
India


Notifications

  • Census of India 2011: population totals for West Bengal 2011. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. Table A-2.

  • Census of India 2011: Office of the District Census Board, Darjeeling.

  • Dewan, Dick B. (1991). Education in the Darjeeling Hills: an historical survey, 1835–1985. New Delhi, Indus Publishing House.

  • Government of West Bengal. Department of Mass Education Extension & Library Services Department. (2007–2008 & 2008–2009). Annual Report of the Mass Education Extension & Library Services. Kolkata.

  • O’Malley, L.S.S. (1907). Bengal District Gazetteers: Darjeeling. Alipore: Government Printing Press.

  • Bandyopadhyay, Amit Kumar. (2008). A study of the Public Libraries in different districts of West Bengal. Librarian, 15:17–32.

  • IFLA/UNESCO Public Library Manifesto: 1994. IFLANET. Retrieved from: http://www.archive.ifla.org/VII/s8/unesco/eng.htm [Accessed on 20.04.2012]

  • Samanta, Ranjan. and Bhattacharya, Udayan. (2010). Public Library Services in West Bengal: a survey report. Librarian, 17:88–95.

  • Shivalingappa, Anupam. and Tadasad, P.G. (2009). Use of gram panchayat libraries in Gulbarga district: a study. SRELS Journal of Information Management. 46(1):87–94.


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  • Library Awareness among Non-users of Public Libraries: A Study with Reference to the Hilly Areas of Darjeeling District, West Bengal

Abstract Views: 520  |  PDF Views: 17

Authors

Prabin Karkee
Siliguri College, PO- Siliguri, Dist- Darjeeling, India
Krishnapada Majumder
Department of Lib. & Inf. Sc., Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032, India

Abstract


This paper is an attempt to assess the library awareness among the non-users of Government and Government sponsored Public libraries in the hilly areas of Darjeeling district of West Bengal with respect to their personal characteristics, library membership of their family members, reasons of not becoming the library members, their familiarity with nearest public library, preference of reading materials in the library, willingness and approach to become member of library, awareness of free reading facility in the library, sources of their information needs, difficulties in obtaining their information and their opinion about the library providing these information. Hence a survey of 61 non-users of public libraries across the hilly areas was conducted through a structured questionnaire. Finally it is concluded that there is need for improvement in the public library services so that the non-users may get attracted to visit the library.

Keywords


Public Library, System And Services, Darjeeling District, Hill Community, Non-user of Library, Information Needs.

References