Facilitating community information service for national development

Abstract

Community information comprises of services offered by libraries and information centers to provide the people with information that is relevant to their daily life. The information helps the poor and marginalized groups to improve their standard of living and contribute in decisions that affect their lives. This paper highlights the relevance of information in generating participatory approaches for community engagement and development. It examines the issues in the communities and the gaps between the rural dwellers and the duty bearers. The focus is to raise consciousness of the governed on policies and service deliveries because governance is meant to benefit every member of the society, irrespective of location or status. Many rural communities have continued to be underserved; hence, information becomes necessary in integrating the needs of the people for sustainable development. Librarians and libraries are charged with providing the information resources and outreaches to the communities to help build the bridge between the people and their representatives in the government. But the challenges before them are repackaging, restructuring, coordinating and collaborating with relevant groups that reform the community ideologies on information service. The best practices in community information need to be adopted immediately to underlie governance responsiveness at the community level so that the dwellers will function effectively.

Keywords: community information, rural dwellers, duty bearers, library, information