Public library services in the time of pandemic:

Abstract

Information democracy is a major human right issue of a civilized society. Public libraries are one of the main pillars that need to be strengthened by the local authorities to bridge the information gaps within the country. The global pandemic lockdown situation has a 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. The present study investigates the remote services provided by the public libraries in Matara District before and during the pandemic situation. A survey was conducted to collect data from 38 public libraries. Results revealed that many libraries use free services such as social media, web 2.0 technologies, emails, and phone calls to continue their services to users remotely. Lack of higher authorities’ attention, knowledge and technological infrastructure are major limiting factors that the libraries face when providing remote services. More attention towards public libraries needs to be ensured to establish better information democracy and equity among rights to information of the country.