Make public libraries attractive – GES

Mr Emmanuel Keteku, Volta Regional Director of Ghana Education Service (GES), on Monday urged the Ghana Library Association and its stakeholders to make public libraries attractive.

He asked them to stock public libraries with “modern and relevant” materials to attract the public to read.

These suggestions were in a speech read on his behalf at the maiden Volta Regional Library and Information Week in Ho.

The event, on the theme; “Information literacy and Public Library,” was to create awareness about the importance of public libraries.

Mr Keteku said poor reading and study environment accounted for the low interest in public libraries and charged the authorities to make the libraries conducive places for studying.

He said public libraries were now competing with electronic media for patronage adding that until public libraries were made attractive, patronage would remain low.

Mr Keteku said some basic schools and communities in the country lacked public libraries and appealed to the Ghana Library Board (GLB) to extend their services to those schools and communities.

Mr Elikem Tamakloe, Volta Regional Manager of the Ghana Library Board, said libraries in the country had stood the test of time, were adaptable and “refreshingly inspirational” despite challenges posed by changing societal values and technological advancements.

He said the GLB, however, needed significant support to reduce the country’s illiteracy rate from 43.4 per cent to the barest minimum.

Mr Tamakloe said his outfit was organising reading clinics as part of activities to mark the event in a bid to help inculcate reading habit in the youth.

Mrs Dora Humado, Ho Municipal Director of Education, said the poor academic performance of pupils and students in the region was due to bad reading skills.

Some students at the function, in an interaction with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), expressed frustration at the delay of work on the construction of the regional library in Ho.

Senanu Addo, a form two student of Mawuli School, said lack of adequate space and modern materials at the improvised regional library made it not  conducive for studying.

Checks by the GNA indicated that work on the new regional library, which began in 2003, is 68 per cent complete.

The GNA was also told that about 40 people visit the improvised regional library daily.

Source: GNA