PARQUE LÚDICO 

In this section, the socio-demographic characteristics of the heads of branch/public libraries and the library users involved in the study are presented. The selected demographic data variables are sex, age, highest educational qualification along with occupation of the library users. Table 5.3.1 shows the sex distribution of the groups of participants.

Table 5.3.1: Classification of the respondents by gender (N=51/N=332)

Gender Heads of branch libraries Library users

Frequency Percent Frequency Percent

Male 48 94.1 238 71.7

Female 3 5.9 94 28.3

Total 51 100.0 332 100.0

Table 5.3.1 above indicates that only three (3; 5.9%) of the heads of branch libraries were female. Most of the heads of the branch libraries (48; 94.1%) were male. Of the library users, 238 (71.7%) were male and only 94 (28.3%) were female. Similarly, the qualitative data revealed that four (4; or 80%) of the directors were male, but only one (20%) director was female. Public libraries are expected to serve the needs of every individual in the society regardless of his/her gender. With the inclusion of this variable, the data indicates that gender is a significant factor in the provision and utilization of public library services in the area under study. Table 5.2.2 below shows the age classification of the participants.

Table 5.3.2: Distribution of the participants by their age groupings (N=51/N=332) Age range Heads of branch libraries Age range Library users

Frequency Percent Frequency Percent

25 – 30years 3 5.9 18 – 27years 115 34.6

31 – 35years 3 5.9 28 – 37years 93 28.0

36 – 40years 5 9.8 38 – 47years 77 23.2

41 – 45years 12 23.5 48 – 57years 35 10.5

Above 45years 28 54.9 Above 57years 12 3.6

Total 51 100.0 332 100.0

Just over half of the heads of branch libraries were above 45 years of age (54.9%), with less than half 42.1% of them below 45 years. This shows that age matters in the headship of the branch libraries. As suggested by the data, the libraries were rarely headed by younger people and the headship was dominated by people above 45 years. Similarly, this indicates that a library staff member has to have some years of experience in the service before appointed as

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head of a branch library. The criteria used in the appointment of a head of branch library could perhaps have to do with seniority in the rank and file of the library staff.

For the library users, over one third, 115 (34.6%) were between the ages of 18 and 27 years, while some 93 (28.0%) were between the ages of 28 and 37 years. These two age groupings were found to be the dominant age groupings of the library users. Users above these ranges made up 37.3% as shown in the table. Thus the library users were mostly younger people in the society.

The choice of these age ranges for the library users from 18 years and above in the current study was deliberate, simply because of time and other resource constraints. The age ranges below 18 years involve children require parental consent and child consent. Most of the children in the Northern parts of Nigeria do not come to the libraries with their parents, as such, involving children in a research means reaching out to their parents at their individual households to seek their consent. This requires a lot of time, money and other resources which were found to be among the major constraints involved in carrying out the research. Both the heads of branch libraries and library users were then asked to indicate their highest educational qualification. Thus, the highest educational attainment of the individuals in the two groups (heads of the branch libraries and the library users) is presented in Table 5.3.3 below.

Table 5.3.3: Distribution of the participants by their highest educational qualifications (N=51/N=332)

Highest educational

qualifications of the participants

Heads of branch libraries

Library users Frequency Percent Frequency Percent

No formal Schooling - - 7 2.1

Non-formal Islamic Education - - 22 6.6

Elementary - - 6 1.8 O level - - 59 17.8 Certificate 13 25.5 31 9.3 Diploma/NCE 33 64.7 93 28.0 Degree/HND 5 9.8 108 32.5 Masters - - 6 1.8 Total 51 100.0 332 100.0

Among the heads of the branch libraries, the lowest qualification was a Certificate, obtained by 13 (25.5%) respondents, so all respondents had some form of formal education beyond basic schooling. The heads of branch libraries with a Diploma or Nigerian Certificate in

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Education (NCE) numbered 33 (64.7%) while some five of the heads of branch libraries had a Degree or Higher National Diploma (HND).

Among the library user participants, seven (2.1%) said they had no formal schooling while 22 (6.6%) had only non-formal Islamic education. Those with primary school education among the users were six (1.8%) and 59 (17.8%) had secondary school education. Those with certificate courses numbered 31 (9.3%). A certificate course is a post-secondary school certificate obtained between six and nine months as the case may be. The findings show that 93 (28.0%) and 108 (32.5%) of the library users had a Diploma/NCE and a Degree/HND respectively. But only 6 (1.8%) of the users had a master’s degrees.

This distribution implies thatmost of the participants that patronize public library services in the rural areas were relatively educated while the number of the illiterate people that patronized the library services was negligible. As will be seen later in this chapter, reasons for non-use of the libraries by the majority of illiterate people were literacy levels, language barriers, nature of information resources and services offered by the libraries and their distance from rural communities, and lack of knowledge about the existence of libraries and economic factors. As such from the data, it indicates that the majority of this category of rural dwellers did not patronize the library services. Table 5.3.4 below shows the number of professional librarians working in public libraries in each state relative to LRCN (2015) minimum standards:

Table 5.3.4: Number of professional librarians working in public libraries in each state under study relative to LRCN (2015) minimum standards

S/N State No. of branch libraries Total number of Professional staff LRCN (2015) minimum standards 1 Kaduna 9 4 45+ 2 Katsina 22 15 110+ 3 Jigawa 14 5 70+ 4 Kebbi 5 2 25+ 5 Zamfara 2 3 10+

(Source: Library staff lists and the LRCN [2015] minimum standards and guidelines for public libraries in Nigeria).1

1

N.B. the LRCN (2015) standards and guidelines for public libraries in Nigeria provided that for any public library serving a population of up to 35, 000+ people in the area of service is recommended to have 5+ professional librarians.

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From Table 5.3.4 above, it can be seen that in Kaduna state there are only four professional librarians available working in public libraries in the entire state, far lower than the LRCN recommendations. Katsina state has only 15 professional librarians, Jigawa state has only five, Kebbi state has only two and Zamfara states has only three professional librarians. In most of these states even the few professional librarians were not posted in the branch libraries but remained in the headquarters of the library boards. From the data, it indicates that only 5 (9.8%) heads of branch libraries had a Bachelor’s degree (see Table 5.3.3).

The library users were asked to indicate their various occupations. The classification of the library users by their occupation is presented in Table 5.3.4.

Table 5.3.5: Classification of the library users by their respective occupations (N=332) Occupations of the library users Frequency Percent

None 4 13.0 Scholar 6 1.8 Farmer 13 3.9 Student 121 36.4 Housewife 16 4.8 Civil servant 116 34.9 Artisan 4 1.2 Others (unspecified) 13 3.9 Total 332 100.0

Among the library users as reflected in Table 5.3.5 above, four (13.0%) did not indicate their occupations. Only 6 (1.8%) were scholars (Islamic teachers who acquired their Islamic knowledge through informal schooling system) while some 13 (3.9%) were engaged in farming as their primary occupation; 121 (36.4%) were students and 16 (4.8%) were housewives. The civil servants among the library users numbered 116 (34.9%) and four (4) (1.2%) were artisans while 13 (3.9%) were of other unspecified occupations.

The heads of branch libraries were also asked to describe the categories of library users. Table 5.3.5 below shows the heads of branch libraries’ identification of the occupations of the library users in frequencies and percentages with mean scores that are rated on a five midpoint scale to indicate the most agreed consensus of categories of users by occupation.

Table 5.3.6: Heads of branch libraries description of the library users (N=51) SA= Strongly agree; A= Agree; D= Disagree; SD= Strongly disagree; UD= Undecided

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of your library? F % F % F % F % F %

Students 39 76.5 10 19.6 - - 1 2.0 1 2.0 4.7 0.71

Subsistence farmers 13 25.5 24 47.1 4 7.8 6 11.8 4 7.8 3.7 1.20 Large scale farmers 10 19.6 18 35.3 6 11.8 6 11.8 11 21.6 3.2 1.46 Artisans 3 5.9 16 31.4 4 7.8 18 35.3 10 19.6 2.7 1.27 Civil servants 28 54.9 22 43.1 - - - - 1 2.0 4.5 0.70 Literate people 30 58.8 15 29.4 2 3.9 1 2.0 3 5.9 4.3 1.07 Non-literate people 2 3.9 19 37.3 6 11.8 19 37.3 5 9.8 2.9 1.14 People living in terrain areas 3 5.9 14 27.5 7 13.7 21 41.2 6 11.8 2.7 1.16 Adults 34 66.7 15 29.4 1 2.0 _{- -} 1 2.0 4.6 0.73 Children 28 54.9 19 37.3 _{- -} 2 3.9 2 3.9 4.4 0.98 Housewives 15 29.4 14 27.5 3 5.9 14 27.5 5 9.8 3.4 1.42 Unemployed 23 45.1 15 29.4 1 2.0 7 13.7 5 9.8 3.9 1.39 Others (teachers, nurses and researchers) 2 3.9 - - - - 3 5.9 46 90.2 1.2 0.81

The participants were provided with a list of occupational categories and asked to indicate whether they strongly agreed, agreed, strongly disagreed, disagreed or were undecided about whether their patrons fell into the listed categories. An additional option called ‘Others’ was provided for occupations not included in the list. From the responses about the occupations of library users by the heads of the branch libraries represented in Table 5.3.6 above, overall it can be seen that civil servants form the largest category of users of the libraries. As indicated by most (50; 98%) of the heads of branch libraries. Civil servants are followed bythe general category of adults and students within the respective communities. This was revealed by the majority (49; 96.1%) of the heads of the branch libraries. 47 (92.2%) participants indicated that children were next in the ranking followed by the general category of literate people (45; 88.2%) and subsistence farmers (37; 72.1%) and housewives along with large scale famers (28; 54.9%). The data indicates that subsistence farmers also patronized the library services. This was due to the fact that farming is the primary occupation of the rural dwellers.

The data also shows that other categories of persons like non-literate people, artisans and people living in terrain areas virtually do not patronize the library services at all. This is indicated by the less than midpoint (3.0) rating of their usage by the heads of the branch libraries. Unemployed people (jobless) were also indicated as being library users by 38 (74.5%) heads of branch libraries. This could perhaps suggest that the unemployed patronized the library services in search of job vacancies in the dailies. Another reason could be that they might probably patronize the library services for leisure and current affairs with a view to

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keeping themselves abreast about day-to-day happenings. The data shows that heads of libraries are generally aware of who their user groups are, as their responses reflect the categories of occupations provided by the library users themselves.