Due to current financial restrictions public libraries need to become indispensable for the information needs of the community in order to survive. To achieve this, the library needs to respond to user needs, assess its products and services, promote its image and change its style of management by integrating community members.
Translation of the chapter 10, “The Public Library: An Essential Service”, in Managing today’s public library: blueprint for change, WEINGAND, Darlene. Colorado: Librarries Unlimited, Inc. 1994. ISBN 0-87287-807-4. Translated by Lozano Palacios, A, with the collaboration of the students of Faculty of Library and Information Science, University of Granada.