Page 113 - DLIS101_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SOCIETY

Library and Information Society

Notes 10.1 Purposes of Library Legislation

(a) It should clearly define the government’s responsibility in the matter of public libraries.
(b) It should lay down the constitution and functions of the library authority–that is to say,
the body which should determine the library policy and which will also be responsible
for the execution of that policy.
(c) It should provide for access by the library authority to the resources of a public library
service, the most important being finance.
(d) It should lay down in outline, nonetheless in clear terms, the public library system.
(e) It should provide for participation by the representatives of the public in the work of the
public libraries.
There will of course be clauses in a library act dealing with other matters. But these will be subsidiary
to the five main purposes of the act mentioned above of the five objectives, (b) library authority and
(c) library finance, further define the core of library legislation. The soundness of library legislation
will depend on the soundness of these two parts.

10.2 Essential Features of Library Legislation

We will now briefly discuss each of the five objectives of library legislation.
(a) Library legislation should lay down the responsibilities of the government in the field of
libraries or public libraries in view of the following considerations:
(i) The claims on the resources of a modern government particularly if it finds itself in
the throes of economic reconstruction, are so may, and the pressures generated by
the claims so great, that the government may be tempted to carry out the minimum
requirements of the law, instead of observing the government’s responsibilities in
order to save it from pursuing a shadow, thinking it is the substance.
(ii) In the world of today, the government’s library responsibility is not confined to pub-
lic libraries. Many governments which do not realize that they have any responsibil-
ity for a public service, nevertheless, provide library service to their own depart-
ments, or to scientific or other organizations under them. The question arises whether
there should be a single comprehensive library legislation covering the entire field
of library service to be provided by the government, or whether library legislation
should confine itself only to public libraries. The library law in Czechoslovakia is
comprehensive in this sense. Possibly, this is the general pattern of library laws in
people’s democracies. There is a good deal to be said on the side of such a compre-
hensive law. Without, however, going into the pros and cons of the two types of
library laws, it should seem that for the countries likely to benefit from the delibera-
tions of this seminar, the narrower type of library law, namely, that confining it to
public libraries only, should be the most suitable.
It has been assumed here that library responsibility will be entrusted not to local
bodies, but to state governments. This is against the prevalent pattern in the west.
South Asian conditions, however, call for a different pattern. In the first place, the
widened concept of library services in modern times calls for library units covering
larger and larger areas. It is not, of course, necessary that in this process local librar-
ies lose their identity, however, they certainly lose their self–sufficiency. In the West,
where local library authorities have a proud tradition behind them, the larger units
are achieved through the co-operation of smaller units. But for countries organizing
their Library services for the first time, it would be better to start from the larger
units. Even in the West, local library authorities have to come to look upon their
state governments as sources of welcome financial assistance.

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