CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Library is a learning institution equipped with treasures of knowledge, maintained, organized and managed by trained personnel to educate the children, men and women continuously and assist in their self-improvement through an effective and prompt dissemination of information embodied in the resources. This is an instrument of self-education, a means of knowledge and factual information, a center of intellectual recreation and a beacon of enlightenment that provides accumulated preserved knowledge of civilization which consequently enriches one’s mental vision and dignifies his habit, behavior, character, taste, attitude, conduct and outlook on life. (Islam, 2004).
The public library is a social institution that is inextricably linked to the political and social reality of the communities in which it exists. This is an open-to-the-public library, as the name indicates.
"Those which serve the inhabitants of the community or region free of charge or for a modest price," according to UNESCO (1966). It is a public library intended to serve the entire public.
"Public libraries that serve the public are sustained by government subvention, municipal rates or levies," according to Oduagwu (2002). He went on to say that a public library is sometimes referred to be a poor man's university. Its clientele is diverse, with little regard for ethnicity, position, or rank as to who would avoid using its services. It carries every imaginable thing that contributes to society's knowledge, education, research, information, and cultural requirements. In Nigeria today, each of the 36 state Win the country including Abuja has a public library board established under the public library act as United Kingdom (UK), but here in Nigeria, library board of states is established by edit or laws made by the states legislators.
Oparaku et al (2005) defined a public library as “an institution that is set up by the government through enabling law, funded and mentioned expected to meet the educational, informational and recreational needs of its community”.
Public library funding refers to making money available for the day to day running of the library. Funding deals with making money or funds available to public libraries. Finance is the life wire of any establishment including labor, capitals and entrepreneur and information the capital here refer to finance which can be used to procure other factors of production thereby making it more important than others. Fund is obviously the major element in every establishment. It is equally the working capital of an establishment. Public library funding generally means the various ways public libraries derive the expected funds for capital and recurrent expenses.
According to New Lexicon Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary (1991) public libraries is “a library usually run by a municipality from which books may be borrowed freely”.
According to Encyclopedia of librarianship (1958), a library is “concerned with all material. Values to the individual and the community and its duty not only to meet existing demands but also to encourage and facilitate wider demands from more people.