Abstract
In libraries, outreach is often described as services for those who are infrequent users or non-users, or as services for those who are traditionally underserved. Library outreach strives to provide equitable delivery of library services to all, through the development of programs, services, and policies that make the library available to everyone to engage with public and to offer specific targeted services. The aim of this chapter was to identify the current range and scope of public library outreach service models, including an overview of the development of these models to explore the strengths, weaknesses, costs, benefits, and opportunities of different outreach models that can be used within public libraries.
TopReview Of Literature
Sunilkumar, M and Jayakumara (2015) has assessed the job oriented Information seeking behavior of public library users in Mysore. This study was conducted in 18 branch public libraries in Mysore city. The result of the study revealed that majority 166 (90.21percentage) of respondents are male, about 76 (41.30 percentage) users are P.G Degree, nearly 58 (31.52 percentage) users mentioned U.G degree ‘more number of users visit the library daily. Regarding searching of job related information, more number 88 (47.82 percentage) of users use newspaper. Nearly 64 (34.78 percentage) respondents use ‘employment news’. Finally the study indicates that the users are satisfied with the job oriented information available in the library.
Thavamani, K (2014) studied on the Information use pattern of Connemara public library, Chennai. The majority of 88.50 percentage respondents are satisfied with availability of the information sources like newspapers and magazines section being situated separately in the library. The results of the study, also indicates that majority of the users 92 (46 percentages) are college students. The users have good opinion about the reference sources.
Padma P., Ramasamy K. and Chinna Ayyar (2014) state that the majority of respondents use the branch library at Usilampatti for preparing themselves for various competitive exams; 30 percentage respondents use the library once a week; Majority of users visit the library to read newspapers and reference books, 11 respondents (22 percentage) opined that lack of adequate library staff is their major problem. 37 respondents (74 percentage) opine that the quality of internet service offered by the library is good; 32 respondents (64 percentage) are highly satisfied with the information they access from magazines and journals; 24 respondents (48 percentage) rated the quality of overall library services as very good.
Key Terms in this Chapter
User Information: Information transferred across the functional interface between a source user and a telecommunications system for delivery to a destination user.
Information: It is the answer to a question of some kind. It is thus related to data and knowledge, as data represents values attributed to parameters, and knowledge signifies understanding of real things or abstract concepts.
Public Library: A library that is accessible by the general public and is generally funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT): An extended term for information technology (IT) which stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals).
Newspaper: A serial publication containing news about current events, other informative articles about politics, sports, arts, and so on, and advertising.