Rural library services: historical development and modern-day examples from West Africa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the historical development of the rural library services in Africa, and highlight modern rural village libraries in Ghana and Burkina Faso within this context.Design/methodology/approach – The information in the article comes from a number of different impact studies, including one research study of the rural village libraries in Ghana and one research study of the rural village libraries in Burkina Faso. In particular, the studies examined the impact and role of the libraries on the communities they serve, and enquiries included library use by students, reading habits, leisure reading, attitudes of community members towards the library, and the library's role in academic support. The methodology included focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, examination of library circulation information, and many hours of observation. A review of the professional literature is also provided to contextualize the historical review and the findings from t...

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