Librarians call for government’s intervention to improve facility

Mr Robert Aryee, an Assistant Librarian at the George Padmore and Research Library has appealed to government to support the library with modern equipment for it to occupy its rightful position in the industry.

The library, which is serving as the country’s major library lacks the requisite technology to a state-of-the-art library to make it attractive to students preparing for their examinations.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr Aryee called on stakeholders to “have the library at heart” and help in upliftingit into a fully furnished modern library to help provide swift service to learners and researchers.

He said the library had no air-conditioners and other facilities that would make researchers comfortable and appealed to government and other donors to support them to make the place research friendly. 

Mr Aryee noted: “If the stakeholders have the place at heart, they will bring the place to a certain level”

Meanwhile, the library, which also serves as the centre for the registration of International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for Ghanaian publications registered 1,707 publications and 1,843 publications in 2015.

Mr James K. Naabah, Assistant Liberian at the facility told the GNA that the laws for the registration of publication by Ghanaians were not adhered to making it difficult for the facility.  

Mr Naabah noted that it was more advantageous to register books because many readers and researchers got to know for the fact that data of registered authors were recorded in the Ghana National Bibliography. 

He said: “The law demands that every publication in Ghana should be deposited here and failure to do so attracts a fine of £40 pounds.”

“If the law was adhered to, this facility would have been richer by now,” he said adding that there was no need to pursue an author to benefit from something they would enjoy better”.