LIBRARY USER SKILLS

At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the characteristics of the various types of libraries.
2. Discuss the various information sources
3. Discuss the organization of information sources in the
library
4. Explain the criteria for evaluating reading materials in the.
library.
LIBRARY: A place in which reading materials, such as books,
periodicals, and newspapers, and often other materials such as
musical and video recordings, are kept for use or lending.
-Libraries are invaluable institutions that serve as gateways to
knowledge, fostering intellectual growth and providing access to
diverse resources.
Types of libraries
Libraries can be divided into five main categories:
o National libraries
o Public libraries
o Special libraries
Private libraries
o Academic libraries
a) National Libraries are also referred to as reference libraries
because they are used for references.
 Their main function is to collect and preserve for posterity the
books, periodicals and newspapers published in the country.
They are formed through a law and these laws require publishers
to deposit copies of all publications they produce.
National libraries also purchase books published in other countries.
b) Public libraries are types of libraries that are funded by the
public through local authorities or government and the use of
these libraries is open to all members of public.
The function of these libraries is to promote a reading culture in
a country's citizens.
They provide a wide range of loan services, where you can borrow
reading material.
They endeavor to provide reading material to the entire country,
communities and they do this by providing travelling and mobile
libraries even in remote-areas.
They also provide special facilities for the old and disabled and also
organize provision of library services for hospital, jails etc.
Public libraries therefore build up their collection to relate to local
community interests.
The ideal public library should provide access to knowledge for all
people in the country besides providing books.
Many public libraries also provide meeting rooms for use by
community groups.
They should also sponsor lectures as well as participate in adult
education programmes.
c) Special libraries contain a collection of books and other
materials dealing with a limited field of knowledge for a
particular society, research organization, government department,
or educational institution department.
A special library may also be a special branch of a public library
serving certain interest or occupation group's.
A special library is intended to serve needs of specific users
requiring detailed materials in a limited area.

A library may be special in a variety of ways:

i) By nature of subject it deals with.
-This type of library stores resources on particular subject
e.g. Central Bank library, Kenya Agriculture Research
Institute (KARI) library.
ii) In terms of type of user.
-This type of library serves a special category of people i.e.
prisoners, children, pastoral communities etc.
iii) By nature of material or resource found there.
-These libraries have special format of resources for
instance and NTV as broadcast libraries. video libraries,
Braille, internet library, KBC, KTN,
 d) Private libraries are libraries owned by individuals, clubs, and
societies to which members of the public have no right of
access. They may contain a variety of materials or specialized
materials depending on the interests of the individuals or
group.
- are privately owned and are usually intended for the use of a
small number of people, or even a single person.
- Some people sell their private libraries to established institutions
such as the Library of Congress, or, as is often the case, bequeath
them after death.
Much less often, a private library is maintained intact long after
the death of the owner.
e) Academic libraries are libraries associated with educational
institutions and are established to serve the needs of those in the
institutions.
Such libraries include university, college, polytechnics and so on.
University libraries, for instance, are meant to serve academic
needs of students and members of the academic staff.

Information sources
Information sources are materials used as resources of information in
the library, which are selected to meet the needs of users of specific
libraries.
Types of information Sources
Information sources can be grouped into print or non-print
information sources.
A. Print information sources are print information sources are
devised into four categories.
a) Reference sources
b) Periodicals
c) Textbooks
d) Recreational books
1. Reference sources are designed to be consulted for definite
information and are meant to be referred to rather than being read
as texts.
Usually they are not allowed to be taken away from the library
building.
Reference sources include: encyclopedias, dictionaries,
bibliographies, indexes, and atlases.
Reference sources are divided into two; that is, general
reference books and quick references.
-General reference books include research reports, including theses
and dissertations; official publications such as government
publications including Kenya Gazette, parliamentary reports,
statistics reports, development plans and government budget
estimates; bibliographies; indexes and abstracts.
-Quick references are books that will provide you with material or
direct and factual information.
They provide basic and background information to a topic and are
designed for .consultation when you are in urgent need of a piece of
information or fact.
The .information provided is usually in shortened form for
quick reference.
They are written by specialists in specified fields.

Some quick reference books include:

i) Dictionaries, which may be general language dictionaries that
give meaning, pronunciation, spelling, usage of-meaning, trace
history of words, synonyms and antonyms. They may also be
subject dictionaries, which provide meanings of words as used
in that particular field.
ii) Encyclopedias, which are like dictionaries. Most, are in a
number of volumes covering all types of subjects and cover a
wide range of knowledge. Others are specialized and cover
specific fields of knowledge.
iii) Other quick reference books include yearbooks, covering
major events that occurred in the year of publication; and
atlases, providing varied geographical information.
4. Periodicals
These are publications that have a distinct title and published at
stated intervals.
They contain articles or other writings by several contributors.
The intervals in which they are published could be fortnightly,
monthly, quarterly, or once a year. Periodicals include:
i) Journals, which are publications by a society, institution or
professional body containing news, proceedings, transactions
and reports of work contained in a particular field of study e.g.
communication, linguistics, philosophy, political science etc.
ii) Magazines, which contain varied information written by
various writers. They deal with general 'topics, and are non-
professional and non-technical. Examples include Parents,
Adams, Time and Newsweek magazines.
iii) Newspaper, which contain recent news and may be published
daily or weekly. The news items generally include politics,
sports, business and advertisements among others.
6. Textbooks
A textbook is book written specifically for use by those studying for
examination in a particular system.
Textbooks discuss subject areas in details and are the main
material found in academic libraries.
They include most of course texts used in the university.
7. Recreational books
These are books read for leisure or entertainment and may not be
meant for serious study. This includes mainly fictional works.

B. Non-printed information sources

These sources of information are those that are not books or
periodicals or journals.
These information sources are audio-visual or visual and they
include materials such as films, video tapes, slides and internet
material which is in soft form.
Most of these materials require special handling and are an
important ...source of varied information.

Organization of information sources in the library

Libraries do have a wide and enormous variety of information,
which must be organized to make it easy to' access by library
users.
As a library user you need to understand how the sources are
organized in order to benefit from information they contain.

Library information sources are organized in two ways:

classification and cataloguing.
a) Classification
Classification is arrangement of documents in a logical order
according to their degree of likeness by either subject or form.

Classification enables librarians to place documents in a particular

order and the user to be able to locate these documents in
particular places in the library.
There are various classification schemes used in libraries.
The common ones in Kenya libraries are:
i) Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), which was invented by
Melvi Dewey.
This classification use:
-numbers to create division between subject areas and the
topics. In this system, the main subject area is indicated numerals
from number 1-999.
The sub-division within the subject areas are further denoted by
numerals 1-999 and those are separated from main subject area by
a decimal i.e. 1.35,685.7,23.867. . '
ii) Library of Congress Classification (LCC) was created by library
of congress in America.
Most libraries in Kenya use this system.
The system uses alphabetical letters from A to Z which are
used to classify the main subject areas.
For instance:
 A - General works.
B - Philosophy and psychology
BL-BX-Religion
H- Sociology
L- Education
P- Languages
All subject areas-are covered by alphabetical-letters.
Numerals are used to show sub-division in subjects and other
details. The symbol assigned to every book during classification
make up 'a call number.
The call number enables librarians to store books in particular
specified pattern for you to locate the books in the library.
For instance, in the following call number the details are as follows:
P
1
0
6

.
Y
8

1
 9
9
6
C3
 P is the main
subject
(Languagetext)
 106 is the sub
division of
subject
 Y is the first letter of the author and
 8 is the eighth book by the author
 1996 is the year of publication of that
book,
 C3 Represents copy number 3 of the
same book in the library
b) Cataloguing: Cataloguing or Library
Cataloging is the process of creating and
maintaining bibliographic and authority
records in the library catalog, the
database of books, serials, sound
recordings, moving images, cartographic
materials, computer files, etc.
Cataloguing is the process in which all materials in the library are
listed.
These materials are listed in a particular order.
A catalogue list of information about materials will include the
author, subject, title of the in material, as well as year of publication,
number of copies.
In computerized catalogue, it may also indicate whether the material
is borrowed.
There are different types of catalogues and different libraries choose
to use different types of catalogues
depending on convenience and personnel they have in libraries.
The common types of catalogue are:
a) Author catalogue, where a library lists material in library
alphabetically according to the surname of the author.
b) Title catalogue, where a library lists materials arranged
alphabetically according to the title of the materials.
Articles that precedes titles e.g. a, an, and, the, are, not included
in the title. They are ignored.
c) Subject catalogue, which lists materials in the library in
alphabetical order according to subject heading.
i) Card catalogue, in which catalogues are done on cards where
each card contains only one entry and
the card entries are arranged alphabetically either using author
 system, subject system or title system.
The cards are placed in drawers where they can be [Link]
library user. Most libraries are phasing
out this system in favour of computer catalogue.
ii) Computer catalogue format uses computers which have
catalogue information of Various entries of
materials found in a library. The system is very efficient and can
be used to ‘store more varied
information than card catalogue. It can also be accessed very fast,
at the click of a button.

Evaluating information sources

In a library there are numerous information source and you need to
be able to select information sources that would be most helpful for
study or research.
In the case of a book its various parts may guide you into evaluating
this information source.
The various parts of a book that might be relevant include:
i) Book cover, which contains the author’s name and the title of
the book. At the back cover, it contains a brief history of author and
may indicate his/her credibility and also a brief summary of the
contents of the book
ii) Title page, which shows the title of the book, full name or
names of authors, edition, volume, publisher, place of publication, the
translator etc.
iii) A preface is written by the author and tells readers how and
why the book came into being.
-it is the section that reveals the purpose of materials contained in the
book as well as its relevance.
The forward is usually written by someone else other than author
who is an authority or has a great understanding of materials
contained in the book.
- tells the readers why they should read the book.
i)The glossary is a list of technical or special terms used
in the text and their definitions.
ii) Table of content, shows the title of topics, chapters and pages
the information is found.
iii) . An introduction introduces readers to the main topics of
the manuscript and prepares readers for what they can expect.
-it usually provides general survey of material contained in the
book.

-It also offers advice on how the book is arranged and should be
read e.g. whether it should be read progressively or
whether each section may be read independently
 vii) Appendix comes towards the end of-the book and it may
contain notes about things that might not have been fully
explained in the text.
It also includes tables, statistics and so on, for which there is no
room to be included in text.
viii) The Index is a systematically arranged list of items which show
information for each item and how it can be traced by means
of page number.

Choosing the right book

Using the parts of book described above you can now assess, the
quality of books in the library before reading them.
Coupled with the information above, there are other criteria that you
can use in selecting
the right book as illustrated below:
i. Relevance of the book, which is determined by the purpose
you have established for your reading
which can be achieved by looking at various sections of books
described above,
ii. Up-to-datedness which is the publication date of the book and
the edition.
This is important because
information keeps changing over time or new developments
 emerge in a' field of study." Therefore
more current books contain new developments that old books
may not have.
iii. The credibility of author and publisher. You need to select
materials that are written by credible
authors and well known publishing firms.
In so doing you will be reading material that is reliable and
reputable.
This is more so because a lot of materials circulating which
may pass off as .facts may
actually be coming from unreliable sources.
iv. Book's popularity .
A popular book will have certain characteristics: It is in
high demand as reflected in
sales and it has several reprints.
v. Presentation of material .This refers to how the author
presents material, which is very important in assessing the
suitability of the material; Presentation involves how the
material is produced, how it is
organized, the usefulness of illustration used and the level of
language used.
REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Explain the considerations one should make when selecting a
material to read in the library
2. Explain the advantages of virtual library over the ordinary library
to learners
3. Describe the various types of catalogues in a library.