Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:56:36 -0800 (PST) From: Pijushkanti Panigrahi <panigrahipk@yahoo.com> 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 --------------------------------- Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.