Traditional Values Still Relevant in Library Usage and Readership Enhancement

Abstract

In most developing countries, the effectiveness of a special library is still measured based on the collection and its usage in quantitative terms. Managing a library is not what it was a decade ago, as the impact of automation and raising expectations of users and management with the emergence of Internet are all adding to the tensions and anxieties of the modern day librarian. A learning programme on Library Utilization and Readership Enhancement (LURE), an innovative experiment, conducted at several intervals in the 1990s at the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, India, was presented as an illustration. Through LURE, the interaction with users of the library and peers in the profession increased and the library services improved. The strategies for long-term adoption were identified and presented.

Key Words:

• Library management
• library automation
• library usage
• user participation
• management strategies
• case study
• National Institute of Rural Development