Public library services in the time of pandemic: a special reference to the public libraries in Matara district

Abstract

Information democracy if one of the major human rights of a civilized society. Public libraries are one of the main pillars that needs to be strengthen by the local authorities to bridge the information gaps of a country. Global pandemic lockdown situation has challenge to the libraries around the globe by limiting its services and led the libraries to find new dimensions of information dissemination and remote learning. Present study investigates the remote services provided by the public libraries in Matara District before and during the pandemic situation. A survey method was conducted to collect data from 38 public libraries. Results reviled that, most of the libraries are using free services such as social media, web 2.0 technologies, emails, and phone calls to continue the remote services of their libraries. Lack of higher authorities’ attention, lack of knowledge, lack of technological infrastructure are major limiting factors that libraries face when providing remote services. More attention towards public libraries needs to be ensured to well establish the information democracy and equity among right to information of the country.