Public Library Services: A Panacea for lifelong learning of Users in Cross Rivers State Library Board

Abstract

The study investigated public library services: a panacea for lifelong learning of users in Cross Rivers State Library Board. Public library  services will afford users the opportunity to improve their learning in the society. The study adopted a survey research design, two  objectives with corresponding research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study is two hundred and five users. The simple size was proportionally distributed amongst users. The simple random  sampling technique was used to select the sample of 170. The instrument for data collection was a self-developed structured  questionnaire tiled “Public Library Services: A Panacea for Lifelong Learning of Users in Cross Rivers State Library Board (PLSPILLQ). Data  collected was analyzed using mean to answer the research questions while the test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of  significance and degree of freedom of 168. Findings revealed that poor library services, ineffective, inconsistent and insufficient information resources in Cross Rivers State Library Board deprive users of having access to the right information resources to enhance  lifelong learning. The study concluded that public libraries should fulfill their obligations by meeting up with the information needs of users. It was recommended among others that. Librarians should encourage users of library to independently source for information by  making all the necessary needed information available to them.