Challenges of taking the public library into the 21st century

Abstract

The need of upgrading the public libraries has long been felt all over the world. Abroad especially in developed countries, public libraries have undergone radical changes. The need for such changes has also been felt locally. The government has been investing in education in general but perhaps not enough has been done yet to upgrade our public libraries. In the last century big changes have occurred in the mode of information retrieval with the introduction of the computer. Most of the local people have realized about this change and invested in having their personal computer for their own use at home. Apart from the many services that the computer offers, the user has also the facility of the internet from the comfort of his own home. From the amount of information users are searching for and retrieving from their own homes, they are realizing that many of the public libraries are not adequately furnished for this time and age. In this dissertation, the authors studied in depth the services that are provided by the public libraries in Malta. As a result from this study, suggestions for improvement that might upgrade our public libraries have been put forward. The need information was acquired through reading; others are taken from textbooks, downloading information from the internet and questionnaires both for librarians and users.