Don't blame us, protest librarians Need for a library law stressed

Such is the importance of a library in society that after World War I, one of the ways Adolf Hitler decided he would rebuild Germany was by establishing and maintaining public libraries.

The closure of Lucknow's British Library brought under attack the crass quality of services that the rest of Lucknow's half-a-dozen-odd public libraries provide. But the librarians of these libraries protest that given that Uttar Pradesh doesn't even have a library legislation, they should not be the only ones to be held responsible.

A law helps in creating conducive conditions under which modern public libraries can be established, freeing the ordinary reader from digging a hole in his pocket everytime he wants to read a good book or needs to do reference work. In the absence of a library legislation the development of adequate library services at all levels across the length and the breadth of the country becomes impossible.

The government is supposed to maintain public libraries like other kinds of educational institutions. A library law provides for the structure of library systems; establishment and maintenance of library systems and their development along proper lines; proper management; and, above all, financial support.

In order to provide a stable financial base, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have levied library cess on property and house tax; while Karnataka has levied library cess on tax on lands and buildings, on entry of goods into the local area, on vehicles, professions, trades and callings. Such a cess is buttressed with a matching grant from the government in the annual budget.

Andhra Pradesh even has a Minister for Public Libraries; it is a consequence of the acceptance of the importance of libraries in society that Andhra Pradesh has a State Central Library, regional libraries and even a mobile library. Besides, there are libraries under Zilla Grenthalaya Samsthans, and other state-aided libraries run by panchayats, co-operatives and private agencies.

The Connemara Public Library in Tamil Nadu, under the Delivery of Books Act, 1959, requires every publisher in the country to deposit with it a copy of each publication.

It is considered desirable to create a separate Department of Public Libraries at par with the Department of Education. The Director of Public Libraries must be a professional librarian.

But even as city librarians shirk the blame on the government, it is noteworthy that the West Bengal Public Libraries Act was enacted in 1979 mainly due to the efforts of the West Bengal Library Association. The aim of the act is "to provide for the establishment of public libraries in the State of West Bengal and to regulate, guide, control, supervise and to grant recognition to existing libraries in the state as also to provide for a comprehensive rural and urban library service..." "Libraries in under-developed countries are like water in a desert," says academic Sachin Agarwal, "and asking for State commitment to public libraries to quench one's thirst for books isn't like asking for the moon."

Email: shivamvij@indiatimes.com

Contributed By : Shivam