Members of County Assembly (MCAs) Perception Towards Kakamega County Assembly Library Services, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out the perception of Members of County Assembly (MCAs) towards Kakamega County Assembly library and services, find out promotional strategies by Kakamega County Assembly to enhance usage of the library by MCAs and to establish the challenges encountered in enhancing the usage of Kakamega County Assembly library and services. The study was ground upon access, capacity and environment framework and adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 91 MCAs, 3 library staff and the clerk of the county assembly whereas the sample size was 77 respondents. Simple random sampling technique was used to select MCAs whereas purposive sampling was used to select the library staff and the clerk of the county assembly. Questionnaire were used for data collection from the MCAs and the library staff. Interview technique was used to collect data from the clerk of the county assembly. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences and presented graphically and in tabular form. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically and presented through narrations. The findings established that while the general perception of the MCAs towards library services and resources at Kakamega County Assembly (KCA) was not favorable, they acknowledged the importance of the library. The study recommended that KCA should ensure all services are centrally provided within the same precincts for ease of MCAs to patronize library resources and services. The study also recommended that KCA should engage in rigorous marketing strategies for library services including but not limited to opportunistic approach, presentations, library tours, producing a leaflet or a guide about services in the library and induction programme for new MCAs. Lastly, the study recommend that KCA should consider rolling out remote access services to facilitate the technologically savvy MCAs to patronize library resources and services without necessarily being physically present in the library. This study contributes to the body of knowledge particularly in as far legislative libraries in the county assemblies in Kenya is concerned. Furthermore, the study makes a significant contribution to the literature on parliamentary and legislative libraries that is very limited.