USER'S PERCEPTION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICES OF SELECTED ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN EBONYI STATE

1.1 Introduction

Public relations is defined as a planned and sustained efforts by a library association or a library authority to promote librarianship within a given community or society. Similarly, according to Harlow, public relations is a distinctive management function which helps to establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and co-operation between an organization and keep informed on and responsive to public opinion defines and emphasis the responsibility of management to serve the public interest, help management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends, and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its principals tools.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The practice of public relations can be traced back to ancient times. The military reports and commentaries prepared by Julius Caesar can be viewed as triumph in personal and political public relations. During the medieval times both the Church and the guilds practice rudimentary forms of public relations. It was not until the Nigeria revolution against the British rule that more recognized PR activities became evident. The early patriots were aware that public opinion would play an important role in the Nigerian independence and planned their activities accordingly.

The debate of modern public relation techniques dates back to the first decade of the 1900's. Most historians agree that the first real PR pioneer was a man named Ivy Lee. In 1903, lee and George Parker opened a publicity office. A few years later, lee became the press representative to the anthracite coal operators and the pennsylvama Railroad. When confronted with a strike in the coal industry, Lee issued a “Declaration of principles”.

This statement endorsed the concepts of openness and honesty in dealing with the public. It is also marked the shift from 19th century press agency to 20th century public relations. Lee went on to have a successful career counseling people such as john D. Rockfeller (Jr.). Among other achievements is most effective when it affects employees, customers and members of the community.

As Harold Lasswell explained 1928 “public relations” was a term used as a way of shielding the profession from the ill repute increasingly associated with the word “propaganda”. Propaganda has become an epithet of contempt and hate, and the propaganda have sought protective coloration in such names “public relation council, specialist in public education, public rela-tion adviser”.

Public relations and publicity are not synonymous, but many PR campaigns include provision for publicity. Publicity is the spreading of information to gain public awareness for a product, person, service, cause or organization, and can be seen as a result of effective PR planning. More recently, in public relations, professionals are using technology as their main tool to get their messages to target audiences. With the creation of social network, belongs and even internet radio public relations professionals are able to send direct messages through these mediums that attract the target audiences. Methods used to find out what is appealing to target audiences include the use of surveys, conducting research or even focus groups” tactics are the ways to attract target audiences by using the information gathered about that audience and directing a message to them using tools such as social media or other technology.

There are various tools that can be used in the practice of Public Relation; traditional Tools include press releases and media kits which are sent out to generate positive press on behalf of the organization other widely and annual reports. Increasingly, companies are utilizing interactive social media, such as blogs, twitter and face book, as tools in their PR campaign unlike the traditional which allowed for only one-way communication, social media allows the organization to engage in two-way communication, and receive immediate feedback from their various stakeholders and publics.

Therefore, in Ebonyi State where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the User's Perception of Public Relations Practices of Selected Academic Libraries.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the library plays an important role in this process. A significant number of people in the country do not only lack an understanding of what library does but, also lack the knowledge of the range and nature of services offered by libraries. To this and public relations practices in libraries has been at a very low ebb with no visible result achieved. Another view or opinion has it that due to the peculiar nature of the operations and services of libraries, their public relations practices is not basically based on print and electronic advertisement alone.

Through public relations we should seek to establish, maintain and develop mutual understanding between the library and the various publics. This false image should be corrected in a possible way by informing and educating the public about the services offered by public libraries.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the User's Perception of Public Relations Practices of Selected Academic Libraries in Ebonyi State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the role of library user education in creating and enhancing the image of the library, its resources and service utilization.
2. To identify those who are responsible for carrying out the practices of public relations in public libraries.
3. To discover the public relation procedures, techniques, strategies and available operational tools.
4. To estimate the impact and benefits to be derived from good PR practices by Nigerian public libraries.
5. To critically evaluate Public Relation operations in public libraries problems and prospects.
6. To identify the inhabiting factors of public relations practices in academic libraries in Ebonyi State.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Do academic libraries have liaison Librarians and PROs with specific Pr duties to perform?
• Do academic libraries provide extension services to the host community and faculty user?
• What are the activities of public relation units?
• What impact has public relations practices made to library services?
• What tools are used by library to facilitate public relations practices?
• What problems hinder effective PR practices in the library?
• What is the use made of and the importance attached to library week programme by university libraries as PR approached?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant role played by library user education in creating and enhancing the image of the library, its resources and service utilization.
• H1: There is a significant role played by library user education in creating and enhancing the image of the library, its resources and service utilization.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There are no significant factors inhabiting public relations practices among academic libraries in Ebonyi State
• H1: There are significant factors inhabiting public relations practices among academic libraries in Ebonyi State

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1.7 Significance of Study

The study on completion will basically add to the literature of librarianship especially in the area of public relations practices in university libraries. It will help librarians to realize the Pubkic Relations (PR) programme nee to be planned for, and executed to enhance the image of the library and utilization of its resources.

The study will definitely go a long way in providing information to libraries Pr planners as a guide to relation and maintenance of a PR programme that will stand the test of time. It discovering the public relation procedures, techniques, strategies, challenges and available operational tools.

Finally, with its suggested areas for further study, the study will serve as a reference tool and a guide to all those students and scholars who would want to improve on the work by way or replication.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the User's Perception of Public Relations Practices of Selected Academic Libraries in Ebonyi State.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Public Relations: the management functions which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest and executes a programme of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. (Onwubike and Onu, 2002)

Strategies: This is a plan intended to achieve a particular purpose. It is also a process of planning something in a skillful way.

Challenges: A demanding task or situation. It is a new or difficult task that tests somebody's ability and skill.

Academic Library: According to the librarians glossary they are libraries established, maintained and administered by a university or any other tertiary institution of learning to meet the educational objectives of the institution.