Public libraries infrastructure and services in the Malda District, West Bengal

Particularly in India's semi-urban and rural areas, public libraries are essential for promoting literacy, lifelong learning, and sociocultural development (Dasgupta, 2020). This study looks at how satisfied patrons are with the services and infrastructure of a few public libraries in West Bengal's Malda district. The goal is to evaluate the effectiveness and sufficiency of current provisions, pinpoint current issues, and suggest solutions. Using a descriptive evaluative research design, structured questionnaires, staff interviews, and observational assessments were used to gather qualitative and quantitative data from 180 registered users in urban and rural libraries. On the other hand, user satisfaction with digital access services (mean score 2.54) and ICT facilities (mean score 2.82) was significantly lower. Due in large part to differences in resource availability, comparative analysis shows that urban libraries have a 10–12% advantage over rural libraries in terms of overall service quality (Banerjee, 2021). Outdated collections, inadequate ICT integration, a lack of employees, and irregular maintenance are some of the main issues. Increased RRRLF funding, upgrades to digital infrastructure, ongoing staff training, and organized user feedback mechanisms are some of the ways it suggests improving policy support. These initiatives would contribute to the transformation of Malda's public libraries into welcoming, user-focused knowledge centers that meet the needs of the modern digital world.