Bolgatanga, May 14, GNA - The Upper East Regional Librarian, Mr John Ayeseya, has stated that the lack of good working conditions for staff of the Library Board was affecting the retention of qualified personnel to man libraries in the Region.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga, he said the Ghana Library Board (GLB) was having problems retaining qualified staff because they get disillusioned with the conditions of service and leave. He noted that currently there were only two qualified librarians in the Region compelling them to internally train other staff to man the libraries in the region.

He said apart from the Regional Library, which also serves as Municipal Library, Navrongo, Bongo and Sandema were the only district capitals in the Region that had library facilities set up by the GLB, whilst Bawku and Zebilla put up their own libraries with staff trained by the GLB. He said the Regional Library was not well stocked with books to meet the demands of the reading public, and most of them too were old and out of date.

Mr Ayeseya noted that the people who use the library were students, civil servants and school children and said even though the library provided lending services, those who wanted to benefit from it must be registered members.

"A major challenge facing the Library is the retrieval of borrowed books," he added.

He noted with regret that even though the Library had been provided with a service van to operate as a mobile library, the programme could not take off because funds were not available for fuelling of the vehicle as well as paying allowances for staff.

The Regional Liberian appealed to Non-Governmental Organizations, Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), Municipal and District Assemblies and public spirited individuals to help by equipping the library. Mr Ayeseya emphasized that libraries played very crucial role in national development, saying, they served as the store of information. 15 May 09