Role of Public Library in Rural Area Development of Oyo State Nigeria

Public libraries play a vital role in the social and economic development of a society through their services. The main objective of this study is to investigate the role of public library services in rural community development in Oyo State. The study adopted a descriptive survey, and a simple random sampling technique was used to collect data from 100 public library staff. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 100 library staff in the study area, out of which 88 responses were used for analysis. The libraries used for the data collections were the Oyo State Library Board and the Bodija Samanda Community Library, both in Ibadan North, the Oyo Zonal Library in Oyo South, the Ogbomoso Zonal Library in Ogbomoso North, and the Ibadan South West Community Library, Oluyole Estate. Data was analysed using frequencies and percentages run on SPSS. Library services like mobile libraries, reading centres and community library services are available to the rural community dwellers in the selected local governments. Resources like textbooks, newspapers/magazines, pictures, posters, television video cassettes and VCDs were available in the public libraries in Oyo State. The findings for this study revealed that the role of library services in rural development, such as information and specialized program services were available. The study concluded that the public library provides information for both social and economic development in rural communities in Oyo State. For efficiencies, state governments should provide enough funds to strengthen public libraries in their service provision to the rural communities, as well as sustain their contributions to community development.