A Comparative Study on Various Development and Services of Public Libraries In Haryana

Public libraries in India is spread all over the countries, consist of state central libraries in every state, district libraries, urban public libraries at the cities and rural public libraries at the villages. Public libraries are mainly supported by state governments and local authorities, and sometimes by the central government, developmental agencies, nongovernment organizations and private trusts. The Delhi Public Library (DPL), established in 1951 by government of India in collaboration with UNESCO, caters library and information services to the National Capital Territory of Delhi. It has 176 service points spreads over five regions and consists of branch libraries, sub-branches, community libraries resettlement colony libraries, reading rooms, mobile library points, Braille library and deposit stations. The DPL is a recipient of books published in India as per the provision in the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954. The DPL has collections about 2 million books and other documents. Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation (RRRLF) is the nodal agency of the Government of India to support public library services and system and promote public library movement in the country. The RRRLF undertakes different functions in each state and union territory through a State Library Planning Committee (SLPC) or State Library Committee (SLC). Its headquarter is located at Kolkata and it has four zonal offices in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. RRRLF provides financial and technical assistance to public libraries and organisations engaged in the promotion of public library development through different schemes. Public libraries arose worldwide along with growth in education, literacy, and publications. Every country has its own public library history with influential leaders. Monarchs, wealthy people, and philanthropists have all made a contribution to society in the form of public library development. India is no exception. Libraries were established in ancient India mainly by the patronage extended by emperors, major capitalists, and scholars. Indian emperors and kings were supported scholars and scholarship. There is evidence of well-developed libraries even in the sixth century A.D. The famous Nalanda University in Bihar had its own magnificent library with a massive collection of manuscripts covering the universe of knowledge. Admission to library was restricted to scholars. Other ancient universities, such as Taxila and Vikramashila, also had valuable libraries. Muslim influence in India during the 13th century A.D. marked the dawn of another era of learning and scholarship. The Mughal librarians. The Mughal emperors were patrons of art and literature. In the period of Emperor Babur, Humayun, and Akbar many new libraries were established and existing ones further developed. Mughal libraries featured magnificent buildings, rare manuscripts, and scholar librarians. The names of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh of Jaipur and Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab will be remembered with appreciation in the history of library services in India. The Maharaja of Tanjuar started the famous Saraswati Mahal Library in 17th century A.D. It remains a unique institution in its nature of collection and services (Sathikumar 1993, p. 18). The Public Library is regarded as a social service centre for whole community, which offers its services for recreation information, education to public under its jurisdiction, irrespective of any dissertation. Today’s society is the characteristic of continuous change at a very fast speed. The requirements of individual in the society are also increasing day by day. Public Library is the agency, which is able to benefit each individual in the society by preparing him to adopt himself to the situation accordingly. Public Library is regarded essential civil amenity. It seeks to provide free charge service to one and all. It strives every one in the community to read young and all, man and woman, professionals, pensioners the highly educated and literate and like. It is a popular institution of masses where one can think freely on any topic without being apologetic. It offers the refreshment of romance to tired people and gives latest information according to their taste.

Haryana is the eighth state in India with library legislation. The preamble stated its objectives as, “An Act to provide for the establishment, maintenance and development of Public Libraries in the State of Haryana and for matters ancillary thereto”. Some of the important features of this Act are: 1) Constitution of State Library Authority to advise the Government on all matters for the promotion of library services in the State. Minister-in-charge of libraries will be the Chairman; 2) Establishment of State Library Directorate to execute the programmes approved by the State Library Authority; 3) Establishment of State Central library; 4) Constitution of District Library in each district and Municipal/City/Town library; Block library; Village library; and Smaller book deposit centers; 6) Levy of Library cess in the form of surcharge on property tax and house tax as decided by the government from time to time; 7) Provision to recognize state library associations, and co-operative institutions by the State Library Authority. Before the creation of this separate state, some public libraries were already established, Guru Gobind Singh Municipal Library (formerly Fyson Library) in 1926, Shri Parmeshwari Yuvak Librray in 1927, and Sri Bal Amar Samiti Library in 1932. A State Central Library (Jagnayak;1999;67) was started in 1967 by the Government of Haryana. Besides it has started 12 District Libraries, 11 Sub-Divisional Libraries and 11 Municipal Libraries. Many philanthropic trusts and local bodies/organizations had also established public libraries, which took active role in the promotion of reading habits and library services in the state. The Haryana Library Association was founded in 1967. The Haryana Public Libraries Bill was passed in 1989 and independent Directorate of Libraries was established in January 1993. Mobile library services to reach the interior of the remote villages with reading facilities were started and the people are very much encouraged for the development of libraries at villages and panchayat levels as a social education center and community information center as well. The library legislation of Haryana has been approved by the Haryana state. Now the state is planning to have the separate department of public libraries. Now this department is under the Director, Higher Education. One Assistant Director deals with libraries along with other assignments. There are only 7 government libraries in the state. These are one state library and 6 district libraries. Municipal Committees libraries serve population in a sub division. There are 43 Municipal libraries in the state, maintained and run by municipal committee. These are known as municipal committee libraries and some times receive assistance in book form from the state government. There is possibly no aided library in the state. Each library works as an individual entity and one library is not linked with the rest in any way. Haryana Vidhan Sabha has a passed library Legislation vide notification No. 28 H.L.A. of 1989/41, The Haryana Public Libraries Bill, 1989, under provision to rule 128 of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Haryana Legislative Assembly:- Bill No. 20, H.L.A. of 1989. The Haryana Public Libraries Bill, 1989. To provide for the establishment, maintenance and development of public libraries in the state of Haryana

1. This act may be called the Haryana Public Libraries Act, 1989. 2. It extends to the whole of the State Haryana. 3. It shall come into force on such date, as the state government may be notification in the official gazette appoint.

Public library development in the state is the responsibility of the respective state government. Ten states in India have enacted Public Libraries Act in their states. The library legislation ensures the smooth functioning of the public libraries in the state. A state may have three tiers of public libraries in hierarchy. The apex body would be a state central library, the next tier consists of district libraries in all districts of the state, and third tier consists of rural and urban public libraries spread all over the state. Public Libraries Act also ensures each village or city at least have one government-aided public library. This Act also makes provisions of finances, human resources and other resources for the development and functioning of public libraries. Some state governments provide grants for the public libraries; some other state governments collect Library Cess from the taxpayers. The states that passed Public Libraries Act are shown below along with the year: • Tamil Nadu (then called Madras Public Libraries Act, 1948); • Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad Public Libraries Act, 1955; then Andhra Pradesh Public Libraries Act, 1960); • Maharashtra (Kolhapur Public Libraries Act, 1945; then Maharashtra Public Libraries Act, 1967); • Karnataka (Mysore Public Libraries Act, 1965; then Karnataka Public Libraries Act) • West Bengal (West Bengal Public Libraries Act, 1979); • Manipur (Manipur Public Libraries Act, 1988); • Kerala (Kerala Public Libraries Act, 1989); • Haryana (Haryana Public Libraries Act, 1989); • Mizoram (Mizoram Public Libraries Act, 1993);

Review of related studies helps to bring clarity and broaden the knowledge base in the subject area. The review shows that many studies were conducted in India and abroad to examine the different aspects of public libraries. The review of these studies were made under different headings such as public library movement, library development, library collections, library finance, library services, public library special services, use and user study, computerisation of public libraries, role of public libraries, collaborations with other institutions, evaluation of public library effectiveness, and public libraries Acts. Survey of related literature being an important and crucial aspect of a research means to locate, to read and to evaluate the past as well as current literature of research with the planned investigation. So, this section provides information an regards to the definitions and delimitations of a problem, methodology of research, tools and technique used in the previous research and basis for formulating hypothesis and stating objectives already and concisely through abstracts, research periodicals, materials thesis and dissertation, Journals and newspapers etc.

Ratta (1985)6 describes the importance of public libraries and the part played by them in cultural, economic, educational and spiritual development of both individual and the society. But the people are not conscious of the important fact. Some are the state of affairs about public libraries in the state of Haryana. Developments of public libraries in the state are given in brief. Kalia (1998)12 has enlisted seven different public library systems in India. The first system is the Local Bodies System, under which the British government in India entrusted public libraries to the local bodies with the expenditure on public libraries being met from the consolidated fund of the local body concerned. The second system is termed the Library Cess System with Local Library Authorities. In this system, library cess is levied on property tax which has to be collected by the local bodies in their areas and then passed on to the Local Library Authorities (LLAs). LLAs are the provision of Madras Public Libraries Act (1948). The third system is called the system of State Library Autonomous Board with, in which statutory State councils are empowered to select and buy books. The Andra Pradesh Public charged. Employees of the subscription libraries are paid by the government. Public libraries of Maharashtra and West Bengal belong to this system. In the fifth system, public libraries are entrusted to the local bodies by authorising each one of them to levy library cess with the approval of government, collect the same and disburse it. Public libraries of Haryana belong to this system. The Kerala Public Libraries Act belongs to the sixth system. This Act creates a three-tier system namely State Library Council, District Library Council for each district and a Taluk Library Union for each taluk. All grants to individual libraries are routed through the council at a pre-determined rate. Public libraries run as governmental institutions belong to the seventh system. A majority of them has directorates of public libraries under a director or a superintendent as in Bihar. The entire expenditure is met by the governments. It is suggested that a model bill, which can offer one system which should have constitutional and legal support might be adopted by the State governments. Sahib Singh Verma (2002), 17 in his survey of the existing conditions of public libraries in Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan examines the effect of the library legislation in the development of public libraries and the role of public libraries in literacy movement. The study revealed that: 1) The role of public libraries has not been realised much in the rural areas as compared to the urban areas, 2) Public libraries have contributed more in fulfilling the recreational/cultural rather than the information/educational requirements of the society, 3) A majority of the public libraries are not associated with literacy programmes, 4) Only big libraries have their own buildings, and 5) Public library reading materials and services are not based on the needs of the community. Sunil Kumar (2005)56 has undertaken a research project to assess the information needs of rural communities and this study aimed at the development of a model for a Rural Library and Community Resource Centre. For the survey, the researcher selected a sample of 375 persons from the village ‘Bohar’ of Rohtak district in Haryana. The model for a well functioning Rural Library and Community Resource Centres (RLCRCs) has the proposals of 1) well developed infrastructure for the smooth flow of information, 2) rural Book Trust should be established for encouraging the publication of books on local contents, 3) NGOs should be encouraged to take part in the integrated rural library programmes, 4) a strong government policy in this regard, 5) trained library personnel should be appointed for managing and running the activities of RLCRC, and 6) the curriculum of Library Science course should need to be revised to accommodate rural information services as a part of the study. investigation has been undertaken to study the situation of district public libraries in Haryana on the basis of survey conducted at a specific district library i.e. Hissar since no such study has yet been undertaken the investigation can well claim that his investigation contains an essential attribute of an exercise of research investigation of the nature.

Public libraries have always been the door to learning for a great majority of the populations that they serve. They are knowledge centres and contribute to lifelong learning. For India, there are bumps in the road that leads to the goal of having an institution to serve the masses, which is even more imperative in the present information society, in a nation where 40 percent of the population is living below the poverty line. The studies reviewed show that mainly they are focused on library movement in different countries, library services, and public library use and user study. Another fact to be noted that even though many studies on public library services to the disabled people have been conducted abroad, no such studies have been carried out in India. Public libraries can also play a pivotal role for national development programmes and bringing mass affectivity of such programmes. Hence, horizontal diffusion of information literacy can reap the optimum value of envisaged programmes. The public library is the heart of the city or a village. The reading habit in the children, adults and old people is very necessary for the development of any village or city or district or state or country. The developed advanced countries like America, Russia, England and Germany have given more importance to the public libraries. By the use of the public libraries we can increase the percentage of library persons. In India Kerala is the only state, which has the highest percentage literacy 100%, educated people, and this state is also a progressive state. So, education is necessary for the development of any country and this can be possible through public libraries only.

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• Espranza, S. M. (1999). Public Libraries and Academic Libraries. Jaipur: Printwell.

 Ghosh, Maitreyee. (2005). The public library system in India: challenges and opportunities. Library Review, 54(3), 180-191.

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• Mittal (RL). Public Library Low: An International Survey New Delhi Metropolitan, 1971.

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• Sharma (NK). Source Author. Public Libraries in Haryana. In T.S. Raj Gopalan: Years Work in Indian Librarianship, 1987.

 Trikha, Sudha (2001). Rajasthan. In. Library and Information Services in Indian States and Union Territories edited by P.B.Mangla, et.al. New Delhi: Shipra.