Educational and vocational guidance and information services for the youth in public libraries

Abstract

The results of an investigation into the public library's role in the provision of educational and vocational guidance and information to the youth and its links to the school and other career guidance service providers in South Africa are reported. The empirical study focused on public library services to the youth in general and to high school learners in particular. The results showed that public libraries continue to provide separate user services to children but that separate provision is only made for teenagers and young adults in the case of large public libraries. Career-related requests are frequently received from high school learners but inadequate resources affect the development of specialised educational and vocational guidance and information services (EVGIS) for them. Lack of cooperation between public libraries, schools and other career guidance service providers hinders the development of support networks for learners. It is recommended that existing general user services to the youth could be extended to introduce specialised EVGIS for high school learners. Recommendations are made in respect of collections, facilities, staff and funding.