Public Librarians in Sri Lanka in Demand for Career Networks

Abstract

As per the official records, Sri Lanka has 170 public libraries across the Western Province of Sri Lanka (Statistical Handbook on Libraries in Sri Lanka, 2018), which is one of the nine provinces and the most socio-economically developed part in the country. Out of these, 13 libraries are in Grade I, the second highest level, next to the Supra Grade (There are only 2 Supra Grade libraries in the province). A group of three (03) LIS professionals led by the author visited 13 Grade I libraries and produced a report to the Western Provincial Council – the governing authority of the province. This talk highlights the results of the evaluation report on Grade I Public Libraries in the Western Province of Sri Lanka (Gamage et al., 2021) submitted in December 2021, and proposes a strategy involving career networks to overcome issues identified. All public libraries in Sri Lanka are operating under the direct supervision of ...