Utilization of Information Resources and Services of Rural Public Library in Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka State

The access for the rural population to information sources is very limited. Public library presents various information needs to the society through its services to the community. The present study examines the findings of a survey of users of the rural public library in Dakshina Kannada district. An attempt has been made to understand and evaluate the use of the Bantwal branch public library by the users with respect to their demographic characteristics, frequency and purpose of using the library, and their satisfaction with the resources and services provided in the library. The results of the survey indicate that students and job holders in private/public sector were the regular visitors to the library, who visited the library daily or once a week, hence public libraries need to enrich their information resource collection and create better ambience and basic facilities needed to retain the visitors for longer duration. This study also suggests the transformation of existing libraries or establishing a new set up of dynamic information centres with the help of the latest IT to effectively cater to the information needs of the rural people.