INDIA STATUS PAPER ON PUBLIC LIBRARIES

To discuss uneven policy provisions in various states in India

Content• Background and Context– Needs Assessment- Objective

• Comparison of Public Libraries Act– Structure– Funding– Other

• Emerging Issues• Recommendation

Background

• Ipsos Public Affairs teams around the world conduct research on public policy issues and on the attitudes and behaviors of citizens and consumers. We also conduct public opinion research and elite stakeholder, corporate, and media opinion research.

• Globally Ipsos has been associated with BMGF’s Global Libraries Program- India, Romania, and other countries

• India association with GL’s program of BMGF started in 2013

• Ipsos has been the research partner for the baseline and currently carrying out a needs assessment in five states

Needs Assessment-Context

• The pilot implementation experience and recognition of differences in landscape of Public Libraries BMGF entrusted Ipsos the task of carrying out a needs assessment in five states – Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal

– To understand & assess the prevalent library structures as it is at state levels

– To understand the structural and budget provisions across the states and the various types of grants available (state-wise)

– To understand what are the main priority areas of the libraries/library management committees (services or infrastructure)

Comparative Analysis of Act based on

• Review of Public Libraries Act for respective states- Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal

• Initial set of key informant interviews in New Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal that represent government and non government stakeholders

Enactment of law

Bihar Kerala Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh West Bengal

Year of commencement

2008 1989 1948 2006 1979

So far, only 19 States of the Indian Union have successfully passed the library legislation

Public Libraries Structure- a comparison Parameters Bihar Kerala Tamil Nadu Uttar

PradeshWest Bengal

Has a Directorate of Public Libraries

No Yes Yes No Yes

Structure • Directorate have a separate Director, Deputy Director, Joint Director, at state level, followed by District Library Officer, and Librarians

• In Uttar Pradesh the Public Libraries are under the Secondary School Department and have Officer on Special Duty managing the charge of Public Libraries

• In Bihar Public Libraries are in the jurisdiction of State Library and Information Centre Authority

• In Kerala libraries came into being as part of social, political, education and literacy movement. The libraries are owned by people (now registered as a trust or society). Elected representatives are federated at Thesil, District and State Level. The libraries are affiliated to State / District / Thesil Council. Public libraries directly managed by the state are few – one in Trivandrum and the libraries in Malabar area

Funding MechanismUttar Pradesh

No mention of funds provision in the act, state

gives grants to district as per budget submitted

BiharAmount given by State Government as Grants, RRRLF grants, District

Development Fund, MP/MLA fund, Other funds and

donations

West BengalLocal library authority

maintains a library fund, contributions, gifts, and

income from endowments made to local library

authority

Tamil NaduLibrary cess- levied in form of surcharge- cess collected to

be paid to local library authority by the corporation, user fee collection, patrons

KeralaLibrary cess on property tax

collected by local bodies, one per cent of the amount

allotted for education in the State budget for the year, grants, contributions, and

gifts

Public Libraries- Other aspects

• Grading of libraries (based on rotation and users enrollment) used as a basis for fund and staff allocation – Tamil Nadu and Kerala

• Use of RRRLF funds for capacity building and training of librarians

• Monthly monitoring by DLO and Library Inspector• Guidelines for opening new libraries and opening

of libraries in other public aggregation places such as hospital, passport offices, etc

Emerging issues

• No act in about half of the states• Lack of uniformity in law, structure, and

funding mechanism that is a key determinant for growth and strengthening of Public Libraries

• Need to capitalize the existing infrastructure, a large pool of human resource with a common vision for knowledge society

Recommendations

• Champion the cause of uniform Public Libraries Act that would lend a huge impetus to our efforts for strengthening Public Libraries

• A dedicated National Library and Information Network (NLIN) for pooling, sharing and promoting access. NLN could be linked to National Knowledge Network (NKN)

THANK YOU!!