New Delhi: Government has decided to set up an autonomous National Commission on Libraries. The upcoming Commission aims to reform the Libraries and Information Services (LIS) sector in India. The decision was taken on the basis of the recommendations made by the National Knowledge Commission (NKC). Sam Pitroda, Chairman - NKC, said that the NKC had recognized public libraries as an important element of the foundation of a knowledge economy. Hence, it was recommended to the government to set up a commission and it has agreed.
Mr. Pitroda further mentioned that the commission would be set up as a statutory body, to address information and learning needs of the Indian citizens. It would also oversee the functioning of public and private libraries in the country. A national census of all libraries would also be prepared, by undertaking a nation-wide survey, to know how many public and private libraries exist in India. Collection of census data on libraries would provide baseline data for planning, Mr Pitroda informed at a four-day international conference, organized by Delhi University on academic libraries.
According to S Majumdar, University Librarian and Head of Delhi University Library System (DULS) - DU, has spent 2.2 crores on subscription of electronic resources. Presently, DULS has access to 30 databases of the world, under which students can access around 3,000 journals. Apart from that, it has around 25,000 online resources, in the form of monographs, conference, proceedings and audio-visual material.
