1 Public Library: Concept, Characteristics

Prof Rajesh Singh

1. Introduction

Public library is one of the most important democratic institutions evolved by the modern society. Like democracy, public library is an institution created for the people, by the people and of the people. You may understand it as a social institution owned and maintained by the public of its area which serves for the socialization of its books and kindred materials for free service to the people of the area. It exists in many countries across the world and is often considered essential for an educated and literate population. You would have seen various libraries different in shape, size and functions. Public library is the most popular of all types of libraries because of its functions and services across the society. Public Libraries are distinct from research libraries, school libraries, and other special libraries in that their mandate is to serve the general public’s information needs rather than the needs of a particular school, institution, or research organisation.

Public library is considered not only to be a library which is used by the public in leisure for passing time in recreational reading including study of poetry, drama, fiction, newspapers and popular magazines, but also as an intellectual power house, which strives to fulfill and meet the educational, cultural and informational needs of the users it serves through various kinds of materials. It caters to the varying needs of the people regardless of race, colour, creed, age, sex, status, educational attainments or language. A public library is a ‘People’s University’ with a primary purpose to provide information resources and services to all sections of the society.

In modern times, the concept of public library has undergone substantial change in the context of advancement of knowledge, technology and awareness of library importance. In addition to print books and periodicals, you will find that most public libraries today have a wide array of other media including audio books, e-books, CDs, cassettes, videotapes, and DVDs as well as facilities to access the Internet. The Sarojani Nagar Regional library and three other branches of Delhi Public Library provide these resources.

Public libraries also provide other services, such as community meeting rooms, storytelling sessions for infants, toddlers, preschool children, or after-school programmmes, all with an intention of developing early literacy skills and a love of books. One of the most popular programmes offered in public libraries is summer reading program for children, families, and adults. They also provide materials for children, often housed in a special section.

2. Public Library: Definition

There is no single unanimously accepted definition of public library. Different institutions and individuals have defined it in different ways, depending upon the importance given to its objectives. Emphasizing the educational role, Carlyle described it as the ‘People’s University’. It supports both formal and non-formal education systems of our society and serve as a centre for self education and life long learning as a auxiliary educational institution.

Describing the democratic setup of public libraries, Dr. S. R. Ranganathan defined it as “A library owned and maintained by the public of its area for the socialization of its books and kindred materials for free service to the people of the area (1)”. Thus public library is developed and maintained out of public fund. It is free to all and provides free access to all kind of required literature.

Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science defines that “Public library is a public institution, supported by taxation, one that opens its collections, facilities and services, without distinction to all students (2).” It is an institution created by public of a specific area and financially supported by money collected directly or indirectly from the public. The collection, facility and services are available to all members of society without any discrimination.

Librarians, Glossary defines public library as “a library provided wholly or partly from public funds, and the use of which is not restricted to any class of persons in the community but is freely available to all (3).” Public Library is maintained by public funds and equally accessible to each member of the community.

The Sinha Committee (4) definition of public library is quite comprehensive and widely accepted in India.

According to this definition a public library is an organization:

i. Which charges no fees from readers and yet is open for full use by the public without distinction of caste, creed or sex;

ii. Which is intended as an auxiliary educational institution providing a means of self-education which is endless; and

iii. Which houses learning materials giving reliable information freely and without partiality or prejudice on as wide a variety of subjects as will satisfy the interest of readers.

Public library is a free auxiliary educational institution for self education. Its collection and services represent the interest of readers and is available for full use by the public at large.

According to IFLA/UNESCO guidelines for development 2001, “A public library is an organization established, supported and funded by the community, either through local, regional or national government or through some other form of community organization. It provides access to knowledge, information and works of the imagination, through a range of resources and services, and is equally available to all members of the community regardless of race, nationality, age, gender, religion, language, disability, educational attainments.”

(5) The collection and services of a public library are equally available to all members of the society including the disabled. It should have ample resources in accessible formats like braille print, audio books etc. in its collection.

The UNESCO Public Library Manifesto originally framed in 1949, which was revised in 1972, and lately revised in 1994 (6), offers a more comprehensive and widely accepted definition of the public library. This definition is exhaustive and covers all the facets of public library services. According to UNESCO Manifesto:

Freedom, prosperity and the development of society and of individuals are fundamental human values. They will only be attained through the ability of well-informed citizens to exercise their democratic rights and to play an active role in society. Constructive participation and the development of democracy depend on satisfactory education as well as on free and unlimited access to knowledge, thought, culture and information.
The public library, the local gateway to knowledge, provides a basic condition for lifelong learning, independent decision- making and cultural development of the individual and social groups.
The public library is the local centre of information, making all kinds of knowledge and information readily available to its users.
The services of the public library are provided on the basis of equality of access for all, regardless of age, race, sex, religion, nationality, language or social status. Specific services and materials must be provided for those users who cannot, for whatever reason, use the regular services and materials, for example linguistic minorities, people with disabilities or people in hospital or prison.
All age groups must find material relevant to their needs. Collections and services have to include all types of appropriate media and modern technologies as well as traditional materials. High quality and relevance to local needs and conditions are fundamental. Material must reflect current trends and the evolution of society, as well as the memory of human endeavor and imagination.
Collections and services should not be subject to any form of ideological, political or religious censorship, nor commercial pressures.

The UNESCO Public Library Manifesto further emphasizes that the public library should be established under “the cleared mandate of law”. It should be “maintained wholly from public funds”. There should be no “direct charge for its any of the services”. It should be open “for free and equal use by all members of the community”.

5. Missions of the Public Library

The UNESCO Public Library Manifesto (7) has spelled out the key missions of Public Libraries. The following key missions which relate to information, literacy, education and culture should be at the core of public library services:

1. creating and strengthening reading habits in children from an early age;

2. supporting both individual and self conducted education as well as formal education at all levels;

3. providing opportunities for personal creative development;

4. stimulating the imagination and creativity of children and young people;

5. promoting awareness of cultural heritage, appreciation of the arts, scientific achievements and innovations;

6. providing access to cultural expressions of all performing arts;

7. fostering inter-cultural dialogue and favouring cultural diversity;

8. supporting the oral tradition;

9. ensuring access for citizens to all sorts of community information;

10. providing adequate information services to local enterprises, associations and interest groups;

11. facilitating the development of information and computer literacy skills;

12. supporting and participating in literacy activities and programs for all age groups, and initiating such activities if necessary.

These missions are guiding principal for the public libraries. These mission statements are a complete outline of public library services. The public library assimilating above mission will develop well informed citizens in society. Decision makers at national and local levels and the library community at large, around the world, should implement the principles expressed in this Manifesto.

In nutshell a public library is a library that is generally funded from public fund; governed by a board to serve the public interest; open to all and every community member can access the collection; functions as local gateway to knowledge; provides collection and services relevant to all age groups; and provides basic services without charge.

6. Characteristics of Public Libraries

A close examination and analysis of above definitions and review of literature provides the following characteristic features of public libraries. These are:

Library for all
Free Library
Maintained by Public Funds
Auxiliary Educational Institution
Mandatory Institution

6.1 Library for all

The public library is a democratic institution being run for the people, of the people and by the people. It is the property of general public and is open to full public use. The resources and services are equally available to all members of the society regardless of race, age, gender, religion, nationality, language, social status, disability, educational attainments etc. The collection and services represent the needs of all age groups and every individual of the society. Specific resources and services are provided for those users who cannot, use the regular services and resources. For example, we see children section in all the public libraries across the glob. Similarly, we find braille print and audio book collection in many public libraries for people with visual disability. Mobile library services are also extended to the far off public.

The Delhi Public Library provides children section in many of its branches. It also facilitates braille services, mobile library and prison library.

6.2 Free Library

From consultation of books in the library to loan of books for home reading, from reference service to recreational services, from story hour to intellectual lectures and from cultural programmes to film show, a public library does not charges any fee for any of its services. All services are rendered free to the citizen of the locality it serves. It provides a unique opportunity to have free access and use of its varying resources and services.

However, in certain cases there could be nominal charge. But it is too trivial to be meaningful. For example a user is required to pay nominal charge of Re. 1 to become member of a public library or when an article is photocopied, the user may be charged nominally. Except such nominal charges for few services, most of the facilities and services of public library are free to all.

6.3 Maintained by Public Funds

Public Library is a library which provides resources and services to all its users across the society free of charge. You may ask how, then, such library maintains itself? The answer is from public funds. Public libraries are established, developed and maintained mostly from public funds. The local, regional or national governmental body, as the case may be, under the prevalent laws levies an indirect tax usually known as ‘Library Cess’. Depending upon the library legislation, the library cess is levied as a surcharge on house and / or property tax, income tax, vehicle tax etc. For example the state government of Andhra Pradesh levies a library cess @ 8 paisa per rupee on house tax and property tax collected by local bodies. Similarly, the government of Tamilnadu levies library cess in the form of surcharge on the property tax or house tax @ 5 paise per rupee.

However, the fund collected by way of library cess may not be sufficient for establishment, development and maintenance of public libraries in many cases. The state government in all such cases contributes certain amount to the library fund. For example the state government of Karnatka contributes 3% of the land revenue of a district to the District Library Fund. Besides, in some cases such as Maharashtra, Manipur, West Bengal there is no provision of library cess and the government meets out entire expenditure. In addition central government, other organizations and philanthropists significantly contribute to public library funds.

Thus every individual of the society does not contribute equally to public library funds but entitled to equally enjoy the resources, services and facilities of public library.

6.4 Auxiliary Educational Institution

Society has evolved a number of institutions for formal and non –formal education and libraries play very important role in supporting education. The libraries attached to institutions of formal learning like schools, colleges and universities provide direct assistance in teaching, learning and research. They adequately support the teacher and taught for their educative information requirements. However, because of various reasons such as distance location of academic library or lack of proper resources or services, those who are attached to formal education do also use public libraries to their benefit. But the responsibility of supporting non-formal education rests completely with the public libraries. Public libraries also provide resources and services for and support life long education to all its users. In fact public libraries are the most important institution of life long learning. Thus a public library supports both formal and non-formal education and serves society as an auxiliary educational institution.

6.5 Mandatory Institution

An analysis of evolution and development of early libraries world over establishes that libraries are crucial for social development and essential for a democratic country. However, the early libraries could not sustain for a longer period as these were not systematically developed, there was no regular financial support, and services were available to selected few. This requires public libraries to be a mandatory institution supported by public fund and established under the law of the land by a competent authority like the State Assembly or the Parliament.

In a welfare democratic country the establishment, development and maintenance of public libraries should be legally ensured to enable and enrich the citizens to free access to information, education and culture. Economic prosperity and library advancements are complementary to each other. The public libraries should be made a mandatory institution and a network of libraries from village to national level should be established to serve all the localities.

7. Modern concept of Public Libraries

The concept of public libraries has undergone substantial change in the context of advancement of knowledge, technology and passage of time. The advances in and applications of ICT tools have not only changed the role of public libraries but also their shape and nomenclature. ICT has made available new tools to produce, store, distribute, and communicate information in an effective and efficient way. The public library collection has become hybrid, consisting partly a cohesive digital library and partly local physical library. The heritage collection is mostly digitized and available in multimedia format.

The expansion of Internet has fundamentally changed the framework conditions of the public libraries. The ever increasing amount of information available in public domain on Internet is of questionable value and accuracy. Public libraries are playing increasingly significant role in providing Information Literacy skills to enable the users to select, assess and use the public domain information that best meet their needs. Public libraries have become welcoming places to both real and virtual users. The ICT has enabled the public libraries to provide access to required information from anywhere in the world and at any given point in time.

Because of all these advances in and applications of ICT the shape and nomenclature of public libraries have changed and are being termed as, ‘Knowledge Centre’, ‘Information Kiosk’ and ‘Community Information Centre’.

8. Summary

Public Library is a democratic institution created for the people, by the people and of the people. It is the most popular of all types of the libraries and essential for an educated and literate society. It is considered to be the most fruitful place in society for not only passing leisure time in recreational readings but a place which strives to fulfill and meet the educational cultural and informational needs of the users it serves. Emphasizing upon different objectives of public libraries, various institutions and individuals have defined it in different ways. It is regarded as the ‘People’s University’, which supports all forms of education. It does not discriminate the library users on the basis of cast, creed, age, sex status, educational attainments, or language. It is supported financially from public funds and opens it collections facilities and services to all without any distinction. The collections represent the requirements of the end users. Most of the public libraries have special collection for children and disabled users. Public libraries have the following characteristics:

Library for all
Free library
Maintained by Public Funds
Auxiliary Educational Institution
Mandatory Institution.

The concept of public library has changed. Besides print material, most public libraries today have e-books, CDs, Cassettes, Videotapes, audio book as well as facilities to access the Internet.

REFERENCES

1. Ranganathan, S.R. Library Development Plan : Thirty years Programme for India,with draft library bills

for the union and the constituent states. Delhi: University of Delhi Press, 1950. p.274

2. Kent, Allen, ed. Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Science. V24. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1978. p. 267-291.

3. Harrod, LM. Harrod’s Librarians’ Glossary and Reference Book. London: Gower Publishing, 1987.p.636.

4. India. Ministry of education and Youth Services, Report of the Advisory Committee for Libraries, 1959, New Delhi: Ministry of Education (Rev. Ed.) p. 32

5. Gill, Philip, ed. The Public Library Service: IFLA/UNESCO guidelines for development. München: K.G. Saur, 2001. http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s8/proj/publ97.pdf (Accessed on 12.09.2013)

6.UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, 1994. Paris: Unesco, 1995.

http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s8/unesco/eng.htm (Accessed on 19.11.2012)

UNESCO Public Library Manifesto. op.cit.