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Brief Overview of the Ghana Library Authority

The early history of the Ghana Library Authority (formerly Ghana Library Board (GLB) can be traced as far back as 1946 when the then Anglican Bishop of Accra, the late Rt. Rev. John Orfeur Aglionby donated £1,000 for the commencement of library services in Gold Coast[1]. The Aglionby Library Management Committee in collaboration with the British Council Advisory Committee worked towards library development in the then Gold Coast. The work of the Committee resulted in the passing of the Gold Coast Library Board Ordinance, Cap 118, in December 1949, which became operational on January 1, 1950. The British Council later handed over its Librarian, Miss E. J. A. Evans and a book stock of 27,000 volumes to commence the public library service (Ghana Library Board, 2010). However, it was not until 1970 that the Ghana library Board (GLB) was established by an Act of Parliament (Act 372), with the functions to establish, equip, manage and maintain public libraries in the country. Fegan (1940) a British Council librarian noted that, it would be prudent for expatriates to train some librarians who would in turn train their own assistants. As a result, Fegan trained twelve staff from selected four British West African colonies in Achimota College in 1944. Six of these were from the Gold Coast, five from Nigeria and one from Sierra Leone. It was a joint sponsorship of the British Council and the Colonial Office (Ghana Library Board Silver Jubilee Brochure 1950-1975, 1975).

Africa. The Authority is currently headed by Ghanaian Social Entrepreneur, Hayford Siaw who was appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo[2] 

Mandate

The mandate of the Ghana Library Authority is to establish, equip, manage and maintain public libraries in Ghana.

Vision

The vision of the Ghana Library Authority is to establish well-resourced libraries throughout the country.

Mission

The Ghana Library Authority exists to provide a comprehensive and accessible public library service to promote lifelong reading habits among the populace with the objective of ensuring the development of the individual’s social and intellectual capabilities and the creation of a well-informed society for national development.

^{Core Services}

In the case of Ghana, the Ghana Library Authority (GLA) formally known as Ghana Library Board has as its mission to promote a lifelong reading habit among Ghanaians especially the youth and a vision to establish public libraries throughout the country. The idea is providing access to modern to modern public libraries within easy reach of not more than eight kilometers[3]. The Authority seeks to support formal and informal education through the provision of the following services.

1. ^{Issuance of ISBN, ISSN, ISMN}
2. ^{Reference support}
3.  ^Lending
4. ^{Individual lending}
5. ^{Family lending}
6. ^{School Book lending}
7. ^{Corporate Book lending}
8. ^{Reprographic services}
9. ^{Printing, scanning and photocopying.}
10. ^{Library consultancy}
11. ^{Co-working space.}

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[1] Newman, E., Kavi, R. K., Obeng-Koranteng, G. & Bugyei, K. A. (2016). An assessment of the Ghana Library Authority In-service Training for Junior Library Assistants. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 1483

[2]   Quinn, M. E. (2014). Historical Dictionary of Librarianship. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 123

[3] Krampah, N. (2012). Is The Ghana Library Authority Serving Its Purpose? Retrieved from http://www.ghanadot.com/Review.krampah.libraries.011612.html