Libraries in transition: How librarians in Mongolia are re-visioning the role of libraries in the new democracy, a case study

This paper reports on a study that sought to understand the effects of transition on librarians' perception of their role in Mongolian society. Ten librarians were interviewed by a native Mongolian speaker in the summer of 2006 in Ulaanbaatar. Findings from the study indicate that libraries are emerging from the difficulties of the transition period, which eroded the role of libraries and resulted in declining library services and readership, severely reduced library budgets, the closing of many libraries, and the laying off of hundreds of librarians. In contrast to socialist times, Mongolian librarians currently believe that libraries should respond to the demands of its users, provide proactive information services, and help individuals achieve their own personal goals. The main obstacles they see to achieving the kinds of services they would like to offer are lack of funding, inadequate government policy towards libraries, and centralization of the budget. The librarians have absorbed many of the attitudes prevalent during economic transition to the point where even the language of the market place has permeated library discourse.