Abstract:
This paper reports part of a study of 2007, on the assessment of public sector libraries to
enhance public officers’ quality service delivery in Ethiopia. Most public officers of
Ethiopia were found to have their highest qualification as first degree 125(51.4%) and most
library staffs had diploma in library science 14 (27.5%). Most library staffs are in the lower
level of the public service, who, mostly are not involved in policy decision-making of their
organizations. Both public officers and library staffs indicated the types of library and
information services provision in the public sector libraries to include; lending services
186(63.3%) and reference and information service 169(57.5%), while the least response
was on abstracting service 24(8.2%). Public officers on the other hand were satisfied with
the type of library and information service provision in the public sector libraries of
Ethiopia. The study concluded the Libraries in the Ethiopian public sector are inadequately
equipped with professionally qualified library staff to meet the professional needs of users
on the provisions of library and information services in the public libraries in Ethiopia. The
library staffs are not trained, and the significance of libraries’ roles are not satisfied by the
users. The study advanced some recommendations and suggestions for further studies.
