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Unit 6: Public Libraries

part of the concept of a public library, therefore, assumes active cooperation between Notes
public libraries and academic libraries of a given area.
4. A Mandatory Institution: A free library; supported by public funds in order to provide
free access to every citizen impartially needs to be established under the law of the land by
a competent authority like the Parliament or the State Assembly. In a democratic welfare
nation, it should be legally ensured that a public library is established, maintained and
developed in all localities so as to enable a citizen to reap the benefits, whatever free
access to information, education and culture could bring. Thus, in the recent past almost
every civilised nation has enacted a library law under the provisions of which public
libraries have come into existence. In India, ten states, viz., Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Manipur, Kerala, Haryana, Mizoram and Goa have
enacted library laws to provide public library services.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:

9. A public library charges its users any fee for any of its services.
10. A person who owns a property when he pays the property tax pays also the library access.
11. The libraries attached to educational institutions provide direct assistance for the teacher
and the taught.
12. In India, seven states have enacted library laws to provide public library services.

6.4 Functions of Public Libraries

Having acquainted ourselves with some features of Indian society let us try to visualize the role;
a public library could play in changing the unproductive mass of population into productive
and contributive individuals in the overall progress of the nation. A public library as enunciated
in the UNESCO Manifesto is expected to play its role mainly in the three principal areas –
information, education and culture.

6.4.1 A Centre for Information

We have unusually large human resources which need to be harnessed and made productive.
Lack of information and lack of free flow of information to the masses are impeding this effort.
We, therefore, need to provide information suiting the needs of individuals and groups, almost
at their door step and in a language understandable to them. The three immediate implications
of this policy are (a) we need to establish more public libraries as information centres in rural
areas where the maximum population resides, (b) such information centres needed to be oriented
largely towards agriculture and (c) information presented in a non-book form i.e., by the use of
oral, audio-visual and mass media communications in view of high level of illiteracy in the
population.
Rural Communities: To mitigate the hardships of poverty, libraries need to disseminate
such information as people can use in seeking employment, skill development or in
generating self-employment activities.

Example: Rural folk needs to be appraised of the policies and programmes of the
government whereby a farmer is able to get money to cultivate his land, purchase quality seeds

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