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Unit 10: Library Legislation—I

put on the statute book public library laws. Notable among them are Kumar Munindra Deb Rai Notes
Mahasai of Bengal, K.V. Krishna Swamy Iyer, T.R. Venkataraman Sastry, Basheer Ahmed Sayeed of
Madras, M.V. Donde of Bombay, K.M. Ujalambkar of Hyderabad and P.N. Kaula of Delhi.
It is only after India’s independence that, Dr. Ranganathan’s dream of public Library Act enactment
was fulfilled. Through the good offices of the Minister for Education, Avinaslingam Chettiar, a
modified Bill was introduced in the state legislature which was passed as the Madras Public Libraries
Act in 1948. Since, then the following ten States have enacted library acts for their respective states:
1. Tamil Nadu (1948)
2. Andhra Pradesh (1960)
3. Karnataka (1965)
4. Maharashtra (1967)
5. West Bengal (1979)
6. Manipur (1988)
7. Kerala (1989)
8. Haryana (1989)
9. Goa (1993)
10. Mizoram (1993)

It is notable that the major states in terms of population and other natural
resources like UP, MP, Bihar, Rajastan and Panjab have no library legislation.

Self Assessment

Multiple Choice Questions:
3. Madras public libraries act was passed in the year:
(a) 1948 (b) 1946
(c) 1968 (d) 1965
4. West Bengal enacted library acts for their state in the year:
(a) 1948 (b) 1960
(c) 1979 (d) 1989.

State whether the following statements are true or false:
5. After India’s independence Dr. Ranganathan’s dream of public library Act enactment was
fulfilled.
6. Goa introduced library act in the year 1948.
7. States like UP, MP, Bihar, Rajastan, Punjab have no library legislation.

10.4 Summary

• Library Legislation clearly defines the government’s responsibility in the matter of public
libraries.

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