ABSTRACT

 This study investigated the acquisition and organization ofgovernment publications in Imo State Public library. Five research questions were designed tofind out the nature and means ofacquisition and organization ofgovernment publications, establish the needfor acquisition and organization ofgovernment publications in public libraries, the various obstacles that impede the acquisition and organization ofgovernment publication, methods of organizing government publications in the public library and suggest ways of solving the identified obstacles in the library under study. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population ofthe study comprised 28 staffofImo State Public Library, Owerri. Census was the sampling technique used for the study and a .Questionnaire on Acquisition and Organization of Government. Publications (QAOGP) was used for data collection. Descriptive statistical method such asfrequencies, mean, and standard deviations were used to analyse the data. Findingsfrom this study have shown that government publications are acquired in Imo State Library, Owerri with the absence of records of proceedings and debates. Furthermore, purchase, gift and donations, legal deposit, exchange, bequeath, photocopying, and Membership Association co-operation were highlighted as the methods of acquisition of government publications in Imo state public library. Also cataloguing, classification, indexing, abstracting, shelving, andfilling are the methods oforganization of government puy are; adequate funding, adequate bibliographic tools, implementation of standardfor publishing, documents to be added to the collection of the library should be properly scrutinized to ensure completeness in the information contained in such document etc. Based on the findings it is recommended that; the government publications should be upto-date and relevant to all that use the public library; alsothat further research should be done to know further acquisition methods that could be used to ensure adequacy of information resources, the management ofthe public library in Imo state should ensure that the rules stipulatedfor organizing information will befollowed to the later etc.