The book reports the results of an impact assessment study of rural libraries in Bangladesh. The main objective of this study was to assess the performance and impact of rural libraries on rural communities in Bangladesh. The book covers literature review relating to user studies, rural information needs and seeking behaviour and impact assessment studies, delineates rural library projects in the developing and developed world, describes the summary of focus group discussions (FGDs), discusses the rural library situation in Bangladesh and presents summary of findings, recommendations and conclusion. The results of this study showed that rural library services have the potential to make a positive impact on community development in Bangladesh. The results also yielded several implications for rural libraries in Bangladesh, including how their services could be improved to have even greater impact on the communities they serve. Finally, the book proposes a model plan for rural libraries which can be replicated to speed up rural development in Bangladesh and beyond.

Md. Shariful Islam is Associate Professor of the Department of Information Science and Library Management, Rajshahi University, Bangladesh. He obtained Honours and Masters in Library and Information Science. He received PhD in rural libraries from Dhaka University in 2010. He is the author of several articles published in reputed journals.