The provision and use of public library services to Africans and Caribbeans

The principal objective of this study is to examine the provision and use of library services to Africans and Caribbeans in the London Borough of Hackney. Chapter one, the introductory chapter, examines the objectives, rationale and parameters of the study. It also gives a very brief geographical, cultural and economic outline of Africa and the Caribbeans. Other issues briefly considered here include the history of Black people in Britain and some general information on Africans and Caribbeans in Hackney. The current state of library service provision to Africans and Caribbeans and a brief account of black library staff in the borough are discussed in chapter 2. Chapter 3 elaborates on the availability and the arrangement of stock of African and Caribbean interest in all the borough’s libraries being studied. The research’s methodology and its justification are detailed in chapter 4. Topics deliberated on include the questionnaire and its design and the processing, analysis, interpretation and presentation of survey data. Chapter 5, which forms the bulk of this thesis, contains the survey’s results. The population’s response to every question on the questionnaire and some relevant inter-relationships from such responses are examined in detail here. The study’s conclusion and recommendations for improvement in areas like service provision and use and stock and staffing are given in chapter six.