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Unit 12: Bibliographical Sources

History of INB Notes

The Government of India set up an interim commission in 1949 and its first conference was
inaugurated in 1954. The culture sub-commission of the national commission recommended the
formation of a sub-committee for libraries and bibliographies of documents. “It also
recommended:

The national commission and the Indian Government should prepare comprehensive lists
of outstanding works of arts in India for transmission to UNESCO.
A national programme of translation of foreign works into Indian languages and of
works from one Indian language into another should be formulated and implemented as
soon as possible.”
Influenced by Paris Conference of UNESCO in 1950, Government of India took serious initiatives
for the development of the bibliographic services. The Government of India enacted the Delivery
of Books [Public Libraries] Act, in 1954. The Act made it obligatory for the publishers in India to
deposit a copy of each book published to the National Library, Calcutta (now Kolkata) and three
other public libraries. The three other public libraries are Connemara Public Library, Madras
(now Chennai), Central Library, Bombay (Now Mumbai) and Delhi Public Library, New Delhi.
The publishers are supposed to send their copy of publication to these libraries within thirty
days from the issue of the publication at their own expenses. The copy deposited in the National
Library is passed on to the Central Reference Library, Kolkata for the compilation of the Indian
National Bibliography. The Act was amended in the year 1956 so as to include Periodicals and
Newspapers. This Act was a step forward in the direction of bibliographic control of Indian
publications. It made it possible to plan the compilation of a comprehensive National
Bibliography in thirteen Indian languages, recognized by the Indian Constitution, and English.

In 1955, the then Ministry of Education appointed a committee of the Indian National Bibliography
consisting of seven members headed by late B.S. Kesavan, the first Librarian, National Library
of Independent India, Calcutta to make initial plans for a National Bibliography. The committee
laid down general structure and the principles for governing the compilation of Indian National
Bibliography. They are concerned with the coverage, script, classification, cataloguing, periodicity
etc. The INB unit started functioning from August 1955 in the premises of National Library
Kolkata. In 1970, CRL started to function as a separate subordinate office of the Department of
Culture, Govt. of India, headed by a full-fledged Librarian.
The aim of INB is to publish an accurate and comprehensive bibliographical records of current
Indian publications in major fourteen Indian languages of India [Assamese, Bengali, English,
Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and
Urdu] received at the National Library, Kolkata under the provisions of the Delivery of Book
[public libraries] Act, 1954. The first volume of the INB appeared as quarterly with annual
cumulations from 1958 to 1963, and its periodicity was changed to monthly in 1964 and continued
up to 1977. After a few years, it became irregular. Only annual volumes were published during
1978 and 1979. 1980-81 was published as cumulative volumes in two parts. Since January 1984,
the periodicity of this publication became monthly. This continued till 1993. Again from 1994,
monthlies could not be published. June 2000 is the landmark in the history of Indian National
Bibliography when its compilation was completely computerized. Up to today, all the monthly
issues are being published regularly.

12.6.2 British National Bibliography (BNB)

The British National Bibliography (BNB) is the national bibliography of the United Kingdom.
It lists and describes the books and serials newly published or distributed in the United Kingdom

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