What Do People Need of Libraries, and How Can We Find Out?

Abstract

Starting with an analysis of the concepts of use, demand, want and need, the paper proceeds to list what we already know, for instance that people like systems that are easy to use, that many users are not very articulate in expressing their real needs, or that different constituent groups tend to rate aspects of the library quite differently. Discusses both the conventional and the ‘less conventional’ methods of finding out what users need, such as recourse to so-called user focus groups or using library staff as ‘a kind of market research team’. Concludes with some thoughts about the library of the future: the library as a physical place will continue to exist, but it will be a centrifugal rather than a centripetal system; the constraints imposed on library services by the limitations of physical media and distance will go on being loosened; and, new opportunities for reaching people wherever thy may be will continue to appear.The paper was presented at the Info Africa Nova Information Conference in Pretoria in June 1994.

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