Public Library Service in Delhi:Present Status and Development Plan 2010-2020

Ideally a public library is a library that is freely accessible to all members of a community irrespective of gender, social status, level of literacy, age, etc and is generally funded from public sources, such as taxes, cess, etc. India has, in recent years, attached considerable importance to transforming itself into a knowledge society. This is evident from the various initiatives such as National Literacy Mission, National Knowledge Commission, Digital India, etc of successive governments. The National Knowledge Commission even set up a Working Group on Libraries, which emphasized the importance of libraries in the rapidly transforming and changing environment. The vital role of public libraries in a developing society such as ours was emphasized by Dr. S. R. Ranganathan who prepared a model library bill and was also instrumental in getting the first public library legislation in Independent India enacted in 1948 in the then state of Madras. While in the last nearly seven decades since independence many Indian states have enacted public library legislation, even today there are states that do not have a public library law. There are also some states that have enacted public library legislation, but have not implemented the act.