Collection development in public libraries in Waterberg district, Limpopo province, South Africa

Abstract

Collection development in public libraries is a process of acquiring, managing books and maintaining the library’s collection such as books, periodicals, audio-visual materials and digital resources. Collection needs to be regularly updated to meet multiple information needs of the users. The purpose of this study was to investigate collection development in Waterberg District, Limpopo province, South Africa. The study has adopted a qualitative research approach and self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The study collected data from 250 library users from Mogalakwena public libraries. The quantitative research approach allowed the investigator to distribute the self-administered questionnaires personally in five public libraries to collect data. A total of 278 library users were selected through simple random sampling and only 250 respondents returned the self-administered questionnaires. The findings indicated that the information sources were accessible to the library users, while the majority (92%) of the respondents were satisfied with the performance of the librarians. More than a quarter (80, 32%) of the respondents was satisfied with the information sources. Additionally, the findings indicated that all (100%) library users requested library personnel to assist them in accessing the library collection, instead of using the installed library system. The findings indicated that the majority (72%) of the respondents had Wi-Fi in the public libraries, most (69.2%) of the respondents had both internet and computers available in their public libraries. Nearly half (48%) of the respondents indicated the challenge of no participation in collection development policy. Fewer than half (42%) of the respondents indicated that their public libraries contained old information sources that cannot be used to meet their multiple information needs. The study concluded that recruitment of new library personnel is needed to help with delivery of the library collection as well as to offer training workshops on collection development. The study recommends that the public libraries should be on a hybrid system, adopt the use of printed and e-sources, and evaluate collection development through interviews and social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook. Periodical sources should also be acquired to feed the library users with the current information.