The A -Z Guide of Public Library and Information System.

Public Library is a free informational and recreational institution. Its mission is to provide all reading material to all people without any fee. In short,a public library is a free library for the public, by the people and of the public.

A public library provides free service irrespective of status, age, religion, colour or creed and sex. These libraries provide service to the general public and make at least some of their books available for borrowing, so that readers may use them at home over a period of days or weeks. Typically these libraries issue library cards to community members wishing to borrow books.

Definition of Public Library: 

         A library that is open to the general public and that provides general library services without charge to all residents of a given community, district or region and is supported wholly or in part by public funds is the public library.

        According to Dr.S.R. Ranganathan, the public library is established out of the public fund, it serves the general public of its locality and it is essentially a service library.

       

      According to the UNESCO  Public Library Manifesto 1994(Revised), "The public library acts as a living force for education, culture and information and as an essential agent for the fostering of peace and spiritual welfare through the minds of men and women ".

Objectives of Public Library: 

        The UNESCO Public Library Manifesto first issued in 1949 and revised in 1972 by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions on the occasion of International Book Year is a broad charter of public library goals. The purposes and objectives of the public library are described in relation to three basic concerns :

1. The needs of people who use the libraries.
2. The need to ensure that the library is located in suitable site.
3. The need to provide for effective means of operating it and developing its services.

Collections of Public Library: 

Public library should try to procure books on most of the main subject areas. In promoting the culture of the community the public libraries should include works of disinterested pursuit of truth, beauty or goodness, even though it is always mixed up with other motivations such as search for social importance, or for status and acceptance, or for comfort of a dream world, for the individual self-realisation. Its contents should be a living demonstration of the evolution of knowledge and culture, constantly reviewed, kept up-to-date and attractively presented. It should also include works on literature, art, philosophy, history, biography and topology. In facilitating non-formal education or self-education, public library should provide educational materials which include introductions or standard works on a subject. Most users of the public library read for recreation at one time or another and the provision of this kind of reading is essential. Public libraries not only collect books and Periodicals but also procure other graphic, holistic and acoustic material such as books and journals, maps and charts, microfilm and the like all designed for use.
         Today, public libraries have a wide array of other media including CDs, software, video tapes and DVDs as well as facilities to access the internet.

Services of Public Library:

         The public library is planned so as to become the hub of social life,a real community centre around which the daily life and habits of the people are geared:

• The main function of public libraries is to serve the public's information needs generally. The public library must offer adults and children the opportunity to keep in touch with their times, to educate them-selves continuously and keep abreast of progress in the sciences and arts. It should also help people to form their own opinions and develop their creative and critical capacities and powers of appreciation.
• Public libraries also provide materials for children, including books, videos and other materials (both fiction and nonfiction), often housed in a special section.
• Public libraries may also provides services for other particular groups, such as large print or Braille materials, young/adult literature and other materials for teenagers, or materials in other than the national language.
• Librarians at most public libraries provide reference and research help to the general public, usually at a reference desk.
• A living force for education, culture and information and essential agent for the fostering of peace and spiritual welfare through the minds of men and women.
• Public libraries also provide accessible for all, regardless of age, sex, religion, nationality, language or social status.
• Public libraries may also provide other services, such as community meeting rooms, children's story time or after-school programme and space for homework help programmes or other community services.

     

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