Public Library Act

Public Library Act

The Minister of Culture Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch has said that State Governments are pursued for enactment of Public Library Acts through Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation which is the nodal agency of Ministry of Culture, Government of India for development of Public Library System and services in the Country. Name of the States and year of passing of Library legislation are given below:-

Tamil Nadu-1948
Andhra Pradesh-1960
Karnataka- 1965
Maharashtra- 1967
West Bengal- 1979
Manipur- 1988
Haryana- 1989
Kerala- 1989
Mizoram- 1993
Odisha- 2000
Gujarat- 2001
Uttaranchal- 2005
Rajasthan- 2006
Uttar Pradesh- 2006
Lakshadweep- 2007
Bihar- 2008
Chattisgarh- 2009
Arunachal Pradesh-2009

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today Smt. Katoch said, the Government of India has constituted a High Level Committee,  i.e. National Mission on Libraries for preparing long term plans and strategies for development of the library sector, including conceptualization and approval of projects and preparation of a ‘National policy on Library and Information Systems for India’, interacting with State Governments on all library matters, especially on public library matters, cutting standards, including quality standards for library collections, services, technical work and infrastructure, and devising in-built mechanisms to ensure compliance for all types of libraries etc.

The Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation works for development of Public Library System and services in the country and implements Schemes in collaboration with Central/State Governments/U.T. Administrations, the Minister added.