Page 175 - DLIS001_FOUNDATION_OF_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SCIENCE

Foundation of Library and Information Science

Notes

Case Study The National Library of India must Act Fast

he National Library (NL) in Kolkata is now in a state of flux and rudderless. It is
true the Library is visited daily by a large number of local readers and academics
Ttogether with a handful of outstation research scholars. Many of the local young
readers are using this as a library of first call. The rich and varied collection of the Library
is the mainstay of most academic pursuits in Kolkata. In the interest of social inclusion, the
Library follows a simple admission procedure. The continuous down-hill slide over the
last sixty years cannot be stopped as no one is there to hold the rein and infuse required
impetus and directions so as to put it on the galloping mode with strong determination of
making it to act as the hub of the nation’s library and information services and systems.
To set the recovery process on, one has to go into the roots to identify the causes of this
poor state of the Library. It would be unfair to point a finger only towards the Department
of Culture for their inconsistent policy guidelines and slow implementation machinery,
nor the staff associations of the National Library for their involvement by overstepping in
management issues with socio-political twist. The other party directly associated with the
Library is the senior management who also must share the responsibilities for bring the
NL to its present state. At the same time, one must not ignore the mute role of the library
professional organisations and users groups of the library, who by acting as lobbyists
with some support from the media, could have kept a watchful eye and bring moral
pressure on all the stakeholders. If we look at the management structure of any developed
country, having an effective national library system, one cannot miss the point of noticing
their national library has acquired the recognition of being the apex body for national
knowledge storage and handling systems and a guiding factor for all research and
developmental activities related to library and information services.
Sadly enough this is not what our library professional think tank is considering for India’s
National Library. The National Library is the weakest link within Indian library systems.
The most recent thoughts on Indian library and information services are being reflected in
the ten Recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission (2006) which presented
a programme of actions with 2020 as the projected target schedule for achieving the goals.
Its Working Group on Libraries (NKC-WGL) did not focus on the role of the National
Library, in the proposed library network development. For some reasons, best known to
the Group, it avoided dealing with the National Library exclusively. There have been
many national and international conferences and seminars held over the last few decades,
organised by the National Library and by other organizations on topics closely relevant
to it. Follow-up actions, if any, on the long list of resolutions or recommendations adopted
in these academic forums. Though have not been checked. Only very recently the Library
organized a National Conference on the National Library 2, (NACONAL, 2006) and brought
out a voluminous publication of the papers presented at the conference. This publication
and the NKC-WGL recommendations give us some idea of the trends of thoughts of the
library professionals. The National Library and the Indian library professionals individuals
and groups – must act together to pursue the policy makers for implementation of many
of these recommendations within a reasonable time schedule.

Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister while laying the foundation stone in 1989 of Bhasa
Bhavan, the latest building complex added to the National Library [of India], expressed
his desire to see the National Library at par with other national libraries of the world,
keeping in view of its massive information flow, its storage and retrieval. Dr Manmohan
Contd....

170 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY