Town-Gown Relatioship: Assessment of Community Information Services by Academic Libraries in Ondo State Nigeria

Abstract The relevance of academic library to people outside the academic setting needs to be redefined because of restrictions and non inclusion of their information needs in collection development policy. The study therefore evaluated town-gown relationship in Ondo State Nigeria with direct cognisance to assessment of Community Information Services (CISs) by academic libraries. Complete enumeration sampling technique was adopted to distribute questionnaires to all 58 librarians working in academic libraries in the State. 52 questionnaires were returned and found useful. The response rate was therefore 89.7%. The study found that CISs were being rendered mainly to scholars who visited the library and not artisans, market women, drivers and so on. It was also found that visitors were not registered and not allowed to borrow. The main information being sought was on politics, job opportunities, entertainment and research, while materials used most were newspapers and textbooks. It was recommended that additional information materials that would carter for the needs of external community members should be procured while security should be beef up around academic libraries