Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
In a democratic country like India, free access to information without any form of discrimination is very essential to establish an equitable society. India, with a low literacy rate it is crucial to use public libraries as a tool to improve the quality of both formal and informal education and thereby improve the overall literacy. This paper is an attempt to trace the history of growth and development of public libraries in India through an account of all the conditions and circumstances - social, economic, and political that existed during post-independent. The paper examines the role of the government as well as non-governmental organizations to further develop the public libraries system in India. Various initiatives such as framing policies, plans, appointing committees, and setting up the separate autonomous body for public libraries are some of the steps takes up by the government in post-independent India. Further, public libraries in each state are examined to understand the impact of library legislation and also find ways to address the existing inadequacies and potential challenges in establishing new libraries.