Public Libraries at the Central Region of Jordan and Obstacles Facing Them as Perceived by Library Users

The present study aims at investigating how users perceive the evaluation of information services in public libraries in Jordan’s Central Region and the challenges they encounter in using them. The public libraries in Amman, AL Zarqa, AL Salt, and Madaba were the subject of the study. The study sample included (600) library patrons, and (466) of them took part in the study, representing a return rate of (77.7%). A questionnaire was created with the proper items based on previously published research in order to gather the data for the study. The demographic information (sex, age, education, occupation, and governorate) is presented in the first section, and the information on the information services offered by public libraries in Jordan’s Central Region is presented in the second section, which has (58) items. The third section has (26) paragraphs that discuss the challenges that the various libraries’ patrons must overcome. Findings indicated that the degree of evaluating the services was “medium” with a mean score of (3, 68). The results also indicated that the obstacles facing the users of public libraries at the Central Region of Jordan were moderate. In accordance with the findings the study suggested some recommendations stressing the importance of the development of these libraries.