Ashanti Library

Ashanti Library is a great place to study. The facility is in good condition for research purposes. People can also borrow books for home reading.

The Ashanti Regional Library is located at Bantama in Kumasi. The site of the library is ideal considering the following factors: Firstly, most of the first cycle schools in Kumasi are concentrated within three kilometres distance from the library which makes it easy for school children to get there. Also, it is accessible by means of public and private transportation because it is near the main lorry station “Kejetia” where all public and private transportation in the metropolis converge. Moreover, the location is in the centre of the town, has several thoroughfares and enough space for future expansion. Methodology The study is purely descriptive, and is based on personal observation and interviews with the Regional Librarian and members of staff of the Ashanti Regional Library particularly, the Heads of Department, namely Children, Reference and Lending. Also records on files available at the Library were used. In addition a former employee of the Library as well as the Metropolitan Director of Education were interviewed. The latter’s interview covered the statistics of schools and their enrolment for the 2008/2009 academic year. The observation consisted of occasional visits to the library for a period of six months (i.e. June to November. 2009) and involved the evaluation of the library building, facilities and the environment, the stock and its exploitation by users and recorded activities and happenings. The information obtained was supplemented by secondary sources such as books, journals articles and the Internet. Relevant data extracted from both the observation and the interviews were illustrated in the form of tables. Historical Account of the Ashanti Regional Library The Ashanti Regional Library was formally opened in 1954. It was the first regional library to be built in the country by the Ghana Library Board (Evans, 1964: 66). It formed part of the Ghana National Cultural Centre (now Centre for National Culture – Kumasi). The library is located at Bantama, Kumasi, and shares a piece of land with the National Archives, the Ghana Museum and Monument Board, the Ghana Tourist Board and the National Cultural Centre. The total number of readers in 1954 was 711, of which 206 were Europeans (Ghana Library Board, 1975). The cost of constructing the Ashanti Library was about £25,000. The Commonwealth Education and Welfare Trust and the Kumasi Town Council made a generous contribution of £15,000 (made up of £10,000 and £5,000 respectively) towards the building of the library. These donations made the construction of the whole building a reality because before the appeal was launched, the Ghana Library Board had decided to build only part of the library (Gold Coast Library Board, 1954). Since the Ashanti Regional Library was the only public library in Ashanti at that time, it enjoyed quite a remarkable number of readerships. Mobile library services were provided to the rural communities in the region as well as Brong Ahafo. The building is now considered to be too small for the ever-growing population of Kumasi which by the year 2000 was 1,170,270 (Ghana Statistical Service, 2000).