Rural libraries in Bangladesh: Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee experiences

Abstract

This study focuses on assessing the experiences of, and challenges to, Union Libraries (or Gonokendra Pathager) operated by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in rural areas of Bangladesh. BRAC is one of the giant non-government organisations in Bangladesh, and has earned a worldwide reputation for its innovations in poverty-focused programs and for the unprecedented growth in the content and coverage of it's programs. This paper will discuss the library services of BRAC Union Library Program and also other additional activities performed by these libraries. Recommendations are also given for further improvement of the program. The major success of the BRAC Union Library program is that it established a model for rural libraries in terms of finance and management which could be used by other organisations or the government in Bangladesh as well as in other developing countries.