The public library movement in Ghana began in 1928, as a personal effort of the then Anglican Bishop Orfeur Anglionby of Accra.
[3][4] The public library movement in Ghana began in 1928, as a personal effort of the then Anglican Bishop Orfeur Anglionby of Accra who succeeded in building a small library at the Bishop's House with book donated by church members in England for reading and borrowing by the public.
The work of the Committee resulted in the passing of the Gold Coast Library Board Ordinance Cap 118, in December, 1949, which became operational on 1 January 1950.
The Authority is currently headed by Ghanaian Social Entrepreneur, Hayford Siaw who was appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo [13] In May 2021, the Ghana Library Authority was awarded the ‘Library of the Year’ at the London Book Fair (LBF) International Excellence Awards.
The committee approached the Commonwealth Education and Welfare Trust for money to build more branches especially children's library.
The present premises was officially opened on 17 May 1956 by the governor Sir Charles Arden Clarke, the prime minister, and the president of the British Library Association.
It also organises reading competitions among school children during their long vacation It is located right behind the Osu Commercial Bank in Accra.
Operations in the current building which was put up the Member of Parliament common fund in 2006 but had a structural defects so the library was closed to the public in 2010.
The Ledzokuku Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) worked on the building until 2015 when most of the defects have been corrected, thereafter was opened again to the general public.
Source:[22] Bono Region Bono East Region Ahafo Region The objectives of the Ghana Library Authority is to provide materials for educational support, in the areas of both formal or informal education, in order to have a mass of informed citizens in the country and act as a centre for the dissemination of information of any kind and by any means, such as books, newspapers, magazines; to provide facilities for study and research.
It organizes Outreach Programmes for selected Senior High Schools, Readers Club, Research and French Literacy services to the public.
Its resources include books, newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, government publications, laws and historic maps.
Its objective is to promote the reading habit among children and establish the foundation for life-long learning.
The library organizes children's programmes such as story hour, film shows and other literacy related activities.
The extension section was created in 1960 to cater for the deprive and unserved communities that do not have access to physical libraries.
The Mobile Library services also embarks on ICT Classes for selected basic schools that do not have computer for their practical lessons in the communities across the country and this initiative is supported by EIFL.