| Summary: | Academic libraries are concerned about being involved in the communities in which
they exist by rendering library and information services. In order to maintain effective
community involvement, academic libraries find it is important to find ways in which
they can serve the community. The study investigated the Mangosuthu Technikon
Resource Centre's (MTRC) involvement in the community. The intention was to
determine the extent of usage of the MTRC services by Umlazi high school teachers
and to identify problems which these teachers experienced with regard to the MTRC
services. Umlazi high school teachers as users of the MTRC services and MTRC staff as
providers of the services, were the two groups chosen for the study. Two
questionnaires, one for external respondents, the Umlazi high school teachers, and
another for the internal respondents, MTRC staff: were hand delivered to and
collected from the respondents. The results of the survey indicated a very low
percentage of usage of the MTRC services by Umlazi high school teachers and a
high percentage of interest in and lack of knowledge of the MTRC services by
Umlazi high school teachers. There was agreement of opinions between Umlazi high
school teachers and MTRC staff on the reasons for non-use of the MTRC services
by Umlazi high school teachers. Reasons indicated were that teachers did not know
they could use the MTRC. There was a lack of promotional brochures and
newsletters, and teachers obtained what they needed elsewhere.
It was recommended that MTRC staff be educated on the MTRC's responsibility
to community involvement; that the MTRC provide library user education to Umlazi
high school teachers; that the MTRC base its services on community needs
assessment; that marketing practices be injected into the MTRC services; that
consultation with the community during planning stages of community services be
maintained; that MTRC provide the community only with services not provided
elsewhere; and that the MTRC take initiative in establishing a multitype area network
with Umlazi Public Library and Umlazi high schools. === Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.
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