Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:56:36 -0800 (PST)
From: Pijushkanti Panigrahi
PM asked to launch library commission
Statesman News Service
NEW DELHI, Jan. 14: The National Knowledge Commission has asked Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh to constitute a National Commission on Libraries
and create a Library Fund with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore to promote
knowledge economy in the country. �A permanent, independent and
financially autonomous NCL should be set up by the central government as a
statutory body to address all the information needs of the citizens,�
Commission chairman Mr Sam Pitroda said in a letter to the Prime Minister.
As a prelude, the government should immediately set up a national mission
of libraries, which should subsequently be converted into a permanent
commission. �A Central Library Fund should be instituted for upgrading
existing libraries over a period of 3-5 years. Initially, the value of
fund from the government may be Rs 1,000 crore, which may be matched by
the private sector through corporate philanthropy,� Pitroda suggested in
the letter. He suggested that in order to facilitate the coordinated
development of libraries across different sectors and to provide
legislative framework, required legal support and financial backing to the
library sector, the government could consider including libraries in the
Concurrent List of the Constitution. Mr Pitroda pointed out that the Task
Force of the Department of Culture be given adequate financial and
administrative support to prepare a national consensus by undertaking a
countrywide survey on a priority basis. Mr Pitroda also suggested that an
Indian Institute of Library and Information Science be set up to boost
research and development on libraries. The Commission Chairman pointed out
that a specified percentage of the central and state education budgets
must be earmarked for libraries and that public libraries ought to be run
by the local self-government. �Libraries should also integrate with all
other knowledge based activities in the local area to develop a community
based information system,� he wrote in the letter. The catalogues of all
libraries should be put on local websites with necessary linkages to
enable networking of different types of libraries and setting up of the
National Repository of Bibliographic Records and a centralised
collaborative virtual enquiry handling system using the ICT, he said.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2007-01-15&usrsess=1&clid=2&id=170975
Dr Pijushkanti Panigrahi, Reader, Dept of Lib and Inf Science, University
of Calcutta, 87/1 College Street,Kolkata - 700 073, West Bengal, India,
email : panigrahipk@yahoo.com, (M) : +91 94342 43522. Secretary, Education
Division, IASLIC; Associate Editor, IASLIC Bulletin, IASLIC, Kolkata-700
054
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