Govt to inter-link 9,000 libraries in three years

NEW DELHI: The government will digitally inter-link 9,000 libraries all over the country in three years and work towards up gradation of infrastructure of reading resources, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here on Wednesday. “A young reader sitting in his village public library should be able to access books and information from across the world,” the Prime Minister said while speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Oxford University Press, India. He said the National Mission for Libraries, anchored in the Ministry of Culture, would focus on improvement of the public library system of the country particularly concentrating on the States where library development is lagging behind. “The National Mission hopes to cover approximately 9,000 libraries in three years. It will conduct a national census on libraries, work towards upgradation of infrastructure of reading resources, and seek to modernise and promote the networking of libraries,” he said. He stressed the need to provide the people, particularly the youth, accessto quality books and said the government must focus on the number of books read.”The challenge for us is to widen the population of readers, not just the market for books,’ he added. The Mission, he said, would not be able to succeed through governmental effort alone and resources available in the community, private sector and non-governmental organisations would have to be roped in. Affordable modern information technology could be deployed to extend the resources of libraries, Dr Singh added.