Management of Libraries in Government Ministries and Departments in Nairobi

Abstract

Libraries in government ministries and departments face a myriad of management chal lenges. These challenges have had a serious effect on the delivery of services. Although these libraries are supposed to render valuable services to the parent organizations that fund their activities, they are hampered by many factors. Among these are inadequate funding, negative perception by policy makers, outdated information resources and acute staffing problems. All these factors affect the management of these libraries. The study therefore investigated the management of libraries in government ministries and departments in Nairobi with a view to proposing ways and means of improving their performance. The specific objectives of the study were to: establish how information service and activities in libraries in government ministries and departments are ma naged; examine the funding of libraries in the government service; examine the staffing situation in these libraries and how it impacts on the delivery of services to the users; establish the problems affecting the management of these libraries; and propose solu tions to the problems identified in the study. The theoretical framework of the study was the management function as advocated by administration theorists. The theory puts em phasis on forecast and plan, organize, command, coordinate and to control as a man agement process. The study population comprised library managers and policy/decision makers i.e. Permanent Secretaries or Senior Deputy Secretaries, and other designated officers in parent government ministries and departments. Qualitative research methods were used in this study and data were collected by the use of semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics and content analysis. It was fur ther enhanced by percentages. Among other findings, the study established that man agement of libraries in government ministries and departments were faced with prob lems and most of the problems were similar. The major problems faced by these libra ries are inadequate funding, inadequate staffing and lack of recognition of the role of libraries by policy/decision makers. These problems were gravitated by lack of li brary/information policy in the country. Problems faced by these libraries have led to ineffective and inefficient service delivery. It is hoped that the recommendations ema nating from the findings if implemented, will improve the management of libraries in government ministries and departments. It is also hoped that the study would fill up the gap in literature on libraries in government ministries and departments in Kenya. The study concluded that the management of libraries in government ministries and depart ments was faced with various problems and challenges. Other than inadequate qualified staff, there were other factors that contributed to management problems. Among the recommendations, is the development of a library/information policy framework that will act as a legal foundation for sound management of libraries in government minis tries and departments in Kenya, employment of more qualified library staff by the Gov ernment, and provision of adequate funds for libraries by increasing the annual financial allocation for all libraries in government ministries and departments in order to ade quately meet the information needs of their clients and improve on the working envi ronment of these libraries