Libraries 'need funding and staff'

The Education Council asked librarians and 7,260 visitors to 244 libraries across the country to evaluate services. The results showed most were substandard, mainly because of lack of funding.

Some 43 per cent of the evaluated libraries, mostly in the Non-Formal Education Department, received an annual budget of less than Bt50,000.

However, some municipal libraries received several million baht a year, said Prof Chutima Sajjanant of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, head of the research team.

Chutima said inferior public relations also meant libraries often failed to inform visitors about their services.

Lack of personnel was another significant problem as most of the libraries had only two librarians, 48 per cent had no librarian's assistant, 96 per cent didn't have a clerk and 56 per cent had no janitor.

Most libraries "passed" the evaluation in regard to their use of information technology.

Parames Sukmak, of the Non-Formal Education Office, said some of its libraries had fewer than 10 visitors a day.

Supinya Na Mahachai

The Nation