NOTES ON MUNICIPAL PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN COLOMBIA

Abstract

This article is intended for librarians and general community and it shows the real world of many public libraries in small towns in Colombia. Those libraries do not have government’s support and have to face many politic, economic and cultural problems and therefore the service provided might be considered poor and occasionally nonexistent. Nevertheless, the national government has made remarkable effort to improve the public library system of Colombia and has focused on guaranteeing all small towns have at least one public library. It also presents a general analysis of the causes of the existence of poor Public Libraries, and some problems related to the government and librarian’s responsibilities are posed.