The future of quiescent public library system: a developing country prospective

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the contemporary status of public libraries in Pakistan. Its key objective was to identify the number of public libraries and their condition to provide a policy document to higher authorities for the development and sustainability of the Public Library System (PLS) in Punjab, a province of Pakistan. The findings are outcome of a questionnaire based survey, in-depth interviews with district coordinators and a focus group with LIS researchers. The province of Punjab is administratively divided into 36 Districts. The data shows that 176 libraries exist in the province. The quantitative data shows that libraries are in poor condition such as absence of professional staff, outdated collection, tattered library buildings, insufficient and irregular budget, , poor IT infrastructure, lack of interest by different stakeholders and absence of proper administrative control over these libraries. Qualitative data suggest the ways to solve the issues identified in the data and recommend the future course of action for the improvement of these libraries.