ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to investigate community participation in community library development in South East Nigeria. Six articulated purposes of the research guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and the population for the study was 2,052 communities and Directors of Library Services. This was made up of2,047 communities that were represented by 2, 047 traditional rulers of the communities and 5 Directors of Library Services in the five states of South East Nigeria. Yaro Yemane's formula was used to determine the 335 respondents (Traditional Rulers and Directors of Library Services) obtained as the sample size of the population while Bowley’s proportional allocation formula was applied to determine the proportion of respondents for each ofthe five states. Data collected through the questionnaire were coded, analyzed and presented by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study revealed that: the communities participated to a little extent in community library development; community participation minimally contributed to community library development. Poor/inadequate enlightenment, poor leadership, ineffective mobilization of the people, and unfavourable government policies were among the challenges associated with community participation in community library development in South East Nigeria. Some of the recommendations of the study included that community leaders and community-based organizations should mobilize the people towards increased community library development actions; and that librarians and library associations should create awareness of the need for community participation in community library development and also mobilize the community leaders to get increasingly involved in the development of community libraries.

Keywords Community; Community Library; Development. Community Participation; Community Library