Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao
Published in Deccan Chronicle on
8th December 1985
(Revived in September 2011)
The basic function of all libraries is to collect and preserve recorded knowledge. With the passage of time, they have taken upon themselves many other functions so as to be able to serve every culturally significant social need. The material they stock now, often includes, films, slides, phonograph records, tapes and microforms as well as host of similar items in addition to the conventional printed documents. Thus by housing large collections and storing information, libraries act as social agencies of communication of knowledge and as necessary sources of instructive and creative reading, viewing and listening. This is still a reality despite Internet, Facebook and Google+.
Realising the importance of library as a ‘bridge’ between the ‘past and present’ and the ‘present and future’ almost all countries have established national libraries to preserve the knowledge - traditional, cultural and historical - and help the future generations. Every book and magazine that is being printed in their countries can be acquired by law, free of cost, by these national libraries.
The French national library “Bibliothèque Nationale”, situated in Paris is one of the oldest in the world. The National Library of France traces its origin to the royal library founded at the Louvre by Charles V in 1368. It expanded under Louis XIV and opened to the public in 1692. The library's collections swelled to over 300,000 volumes during the radical phase of the French Revolution when the private libraries of aristocrats and clergy were seized. After four centuries of control by the Crown, it became the property of the French people. Following a series of regime changes in France, it became the Imperial National Library and in 1868 was moved to newly constructed buildings. In 1875 the library was further expanded and by 1896, the library had become the largest repository of books in the world, although it has since been surpassed by other libraries for that title.
The British Museum in London which originated in 1753 largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane is one of the world’s great national libraries and a non-lending reference library. The building in which the library is housed was designed by Sir Anthony Panizzi. The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture from its beginnings to the present. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents. The Museum was first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington in 1887. Until 1997, when the British Library moved to a new site, the British Museum was unique in that it housed both a national museum of antiquities and a national library in the same building.
Similarly, “The Library of Congress” in Washington supposed to be the biggest of the national libraries, is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The Library of Congress was built in 1800, and was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century. After much of the original collection had been destroyed during the War of 1812, Thomas Jefferson sold 6,487 books, his entire personal collection, to the library in 1815. During the rapid expansion of the 20th century the Library of Congress assumed a preeminent public role, becoming a "library of last resort" and expanding its mission for the benefit of scholars and the American people. Although it is open to the public, only Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and other high-ranking government officials may check out books.
The V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR from 1925 until it was renamed in 1992 as the Russian State Library is the National Library of Russia, located in Moscow. It is the largest in the country and the third largest in the world for its collection of books (17.5 million). The library has over 275 km of shelves with more than 43 million items, including over 17 million books and serial volumes, 13 million journals, 350 thousand music scores and sound records, 150,000 maps and others. There are items in 247 languages of the world. The library is designated by law as a place to hold a "mandatory" copy of every publication issued in Russia. In addition to these libraries, the Chinese national library in Peking, Japan’s national library in Tokyo and the Jewish library in Jerusalem are also worth mentioning.
In India, the Indian National Library in Calcutta established in 1903 and which was called once as “Imperial Library” has enormous printed and other reading material. The history of the National Library began with the formation of Calcutta Public Library in 1836. The Imperial Library was formed in 1891 by combining a number of Secretariat libraries in Calcutta. In 1903, Lord Curzon, the Governor General of India, conceived the idea of opening a library for use of the public. He noticed that Imperial Library and Calcutta Public Library were under-utilized for want of adequate facilities or restrictions. He decided to amalgamate the rich collection of both of these libraries.
After the independence the Government of India changed the name of the Imperial Library as the National Library, and the collection was shifted from The Esplanade to the present Belvedere Estate. On February 1, 1953 the National Library was opened to the public. In 2010, the Ministry of Culture, the owner of the library, decided to get the library building restored by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). While taking stock of the library building, a previously unknown room of around about 1000 square feet was discovered. The ground-floor room has no opening of any kind. ASI tried to bore a hole through the wall instead of breaking it. There are speculations about the room being a punishment room used by Warren Hastings and other British officials, or a place to store treasure. The National Library has over 2,270,000 books, 86,000 maps and 3,200 manuscripts in about 45 kilometers of shelf space. Reading rooms can accommodate over 550 people.
According to unconfirmed but available statistics, there are around 70-80 thousand libraries of different types in our country. These include the ten libraries of national importance, affiliated to various agencies approved by the Indian Parliament. In addition to them, about five thousand special libraries affiliated to various State and Central government departments are also there. Under the delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954, the copyright libraries are entitled to receive a copy of every new book and magazine published in our country. National Library, Calcutta; Central Library, Bombay; and Connemara Library, Madras are entitled to receive under the Act.
Besides these, Government also gives financial aid to a number of manuscript libraries and libraries of oriental learning. Around five hundred libraries, supported by government and non-government agencies also maintain manuscript collection useful for study and research. Some of the important manuscript libraries are: “Saraswathi Mahal Library” (Tanjore), “Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library” (Patna), “Raza Library of Rampur” (U.P) and the “Sanskrit University Library” in Varanasi. The libraries attached to the Indian Council of World Affairs at New Delhi, the Indian Statistical Institute at Calcutta, and few more at Patna and Madras are some of the important research centres. The Central Secretariat library in New Delhi and the Delhi Public Library are also big libraries.
According to the Constitution, libraries come under the State list. The Union Government also maintains its own libraries besides providing financial assistance to others. The need for enacting comprehensive library legislation to provide for the establishment, organisation, maintenance and improvement of libraries throughout the country has been a major theme of every professional and intellectual deliberation.
A library in a culturally organised society is as ubiquitous as a school, a theatre or a public garden. It further came to be also accepted as indispensable as any other community service. This idea underlies the provision of library service as the responsibility of local governments, at public expense. This is how public library establishment and development originated in the western world more than a century back.
The kind of public library system under the patronage of local governments first come in to vogue in England owing to Sir Anthony Panizzi - a political refugee from Italy - who was the principal librarian of the famous British Museum between 1856 and 1866. He was instrumental in passing of an Act by the British Parliament in 1850, enabling the local governments levying a tax for this purpose. Panizzi’s primary concern was provision of public library facilities for poor students, so that they could indulge in their ‘learned curiosity’.
Library legislation in India was first thought of in the year 1930, when a model Library Act of late Dr. S.R. Ranganathan was adopted by the library service section of the first All-Asia Educational Conference at Banaras. The Madras Public Library Act of 1948 was the first legislation of its kind in India. The pattern of organization and development of Library System has not been uniform all over India. Funding Libraries still remains a chronic problem. The library legislation primarily speaks for establishing public libraries. The Indian Library Association has many times requested the Government to study the existing pattern of public library system, to develop libraries by enacting public library legislation in States, Union Territories and to evolve a library and information service policy at the national level. It had also requested the State Governments to establish separate departments of libraries to develop a properly planned public library system.
At present, the states that have enacted library legislation are Tamil Nadu (1948), Andhra Pradesh (1960), Karnataka (1965), Maharashtra (1967), West Bengal (1979), Manipur (1988), Kerala (1989), Assam (1989), Haryana (1989), Mizoram (1993), Goa (1993), Gujarat (2000), Orissa (2000), Rajasthan (2005), Uttar Pradesh (2005), Uttarakhand (2005) and Pondicherry (2007-2008). Rest of the states and union territories are yet to initiate.
Andhra Pradesh is one of the few States to have library legislation through the Hyderabad Public Libraries Act of 1956 which later became as the A.P. Public Libraries Act of 1960, by establishing public libraries under Zilla Grandhalaya Samstha constituted for all districts including the twin cities. Andhra Pradesh has a distinctive position in the library movement as a "Peoples' movement". It carved out for itself a most significant and prominent place in the annals of library movement of India. It is the first state where library enthusiasts organized themselves into a library association. The Andhra Pradesh Library Association (formerly Andhra Desha Library Association) was established on April 10, 1914 and is the oldest state library association in India. As a result of Andhra Pradesh Public Libraries Act 1960, a network of public libraries started functioning in the State. The public library system chain includes State Central Library (SCL), Regional Libraries (RLs), District Central Libraries (DCLs), Branch Libraries (BLs), Village Libraries (VLs), Book Deposit Centers (BDCs) and Mobile Libraries (MLs).
The importance of developing libraries as a ‘weapon’ to be used for raising public opinion against the British Government and as well as against Nizam rule was realised as early as 1900, despite the then government looked with suspicion of their existence. In fact, this region had libraries even during the days of Buddha. The first public library in this region was established in 1869 in ‘Pulivendala’ under the name ‘Saraswathi Vilas Mandiram’. Later in Ongole and Vizianagaram libraries were started in the year 1898. A library was established in Rajahmundry, which has become familiar as ‘Goutami Library’. The government took over this in 1978.
In the princely State of Nizam, the year 1901 saw the establishment of the ‘Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam’. This library besides serving as a reading centre remained for a long period as a meeting place for many state political leaders organising the national movement. In Andhra Pradesh, the library movement was always a part of the national political movement. This library since its establishment had been preserving such useful reading material, some of which, perhaps, may not be available elsewhere. Other prominent libraries started during those days and popular even now are: ‘Saraswathi Niketanam’ in Vetapalem, ‘Vardhamana Samajam’ in Nellore, ‘Vignana Niketanam’ in Khammam etc.
The State central library in Hyderabad was established in 1891 during the Nizam’s rule as the Asifia Library. This library has many manuscripts, old books, and a number of other useful reading materials of historical importance. The State Central Library started in Vizag in 1954 has been converted as a regional library subsequently and was later shifted to Guntur.
State central library in Hyderabad
Library legislation will of course ensure the development of a network of public libraries at all levels. A public library system alone is not enough. A standard legislation should be implemented at the national level to provide even development and funding for all states. The aim should be to organise a national and state system of library services bringing every kind of library within its scope.
At a time when every thing is digitalized and all the information is available on the net, if proper care is not taken to promote effective library system to preserve printed material in print form, the habit of book reading is certain to vanish.
(Jwala Narasimha Rao worked as a Professional Librarian for 18 years)
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