MST-Department of Library and Information Science

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Browsing MST-Department of Library and Information Science by Subject "County Assembly Libraries"

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    Strategies of Facilitating Usage of County Assembly Libraries: A Case of Kakamega County Assembly Library, Kenya.
    (Kenyatta University, 2023) Rapando, Victor Aswani; Daniel Wambiri Muthee
    The strategies adopted by a library to promote and enhance the usage of its information resources are critical in ensuring that its target in terms of mission and vision is achieved. Usage of libraries in legislative settings has hardly been examined in the mainstream literature prompting this study. The purpose of the study was to assess the strategies of promoting and enhancing the usage of county assembly libraries with particular reference to Kakamega County Assembly Library in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to; determine the extent of usage of Kakamega County Assembly library and services by MCAs, find out the perception of MCAs towards Kakamega County Assembly library and services, find out promotional strategies by Kakamega County Assembly to enhance usage of the library by MCAs and to establish the challenges encountered in enhancing the usage of Kakamega County Assembly library and services. The study was ground upon access, capacity and environment framework and adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 91 MCAs, 3 library staff and the clerk of the county assembly whereas the sample size was 77 respondents. Simple random sampling technique was used to select MCAs whereas purposive sampling was used to select the library staff and the clerk of the county assembly. Questionnaire was used for data collection from the MCAs and the library staff. Interview technique was used to collect data from the clerk of the county assembly. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences and presented graphically and in tabular form. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically and presented through narrations. The findings established that while the general perception of the MCAs towards library services and resources at KCA was not favourable, they acknowledged the importance of the library. It was also revealed that the library was underutilized as only 12 MCAs had patronized the library and this could ostensibly be attributed to the location of the library which is not within the same precincts where main activities related to functions of MCAs occur. Further, the findings revealed that the preferred sources of information for the MCAs who patronized the library were government documents, legislative documents and newspapers. In addition, the study established that promotional approaches or strategies that are in form of events are considered as the most effective strategies for enhancing usage of the library. The study recommended that KCA should ensure all services are centrally provided within the same precincts for ease of MCAs to patronize the library for the resources and services. The study also recommended that KCA should engage in rigorous marketing strategies for library services including but not limited to opportunistic approach, presentations, library tours, producing a leaflet or a guide about services in the library and induction programme for new MCAs. Lastly, the study recommend that KCA should consider rolling out remote access services to facilitate the technologically savvy MCAs to patronize library resources and services without necessarily being physically present in the library. This study contributes to the body of knowledge particularly in as far legislative libraries in the county assemblies in Kenya is concerned. Furthermore, the study makes a significant contribution to the literature on parliamentary and legislative libraries that is very limited.