Abstract:

The main objective of this study, which deals with the rapidly growing number of municipal libraries in the framework of the information society, is to determine the views of employees who work in the municipal libraries on the impact of the information society on the municipal libraries. The data of this study, which is used by Nicel research methods, are the answers of 195 participants working in the 20 municipal library, which serves according to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Library and Museum Directorate, to the survey questions. In the framework of the survey, along with the process of transition to the information society, the participants’ opinions were evaluated on the time of public library services to the municipalities, the change in the quality of service of the municipal library, the most important problem that the municipal library lives and the system in which the public library in Turkey should be managed. It has been found that employees' opinions on these questions do not differ according to their level of education. The study found that 67.7% of participants believed that the form of administration of public libraries should be transferred to local governments along with the transition to the information society. However, the vast majority of participants (84.1%) stated that the local qualities of the municipal libraries in the information society should be strong. When the municipal libraries are assessed on the basis of the current problems, building failure is the most common problem with the common opinion of 28.2% of the participants. This is due to budget and staff shortage.

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