Library Reform: Demanding the People’s National Library Policy

Public libraries matter.

A large majority of Indians are not truly included in the world’s largest democracy. Amid political polarisation, communal divisions and glaring inequality – social, economic and historic – our constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights of freedom and equality are still denied. However, these ideals can move from abstract to real guarantees, with unhindered access to information and knowledge and with informed residents exercising democratic rights thus actively shaping their societies.

A robust public library infrastructure can go a long way in creating this mass of aware and active societies. Libraries provide access to information, knowledge, voices from the past and imaginations of the future. Libraries are spaces for communities to come together, think and shape our society together. Public libraries act as cultural centers which keep our histories alive. Critically, they can also connect residents, citizens and communities to the State and vice versa.

This is why we need policy and legislation that is committed to creating an active, inclusive, and free public library infrastructure. We need our governments, policies and laws to :-

Recognize free & excellent library services for the people as a matter of right and access
Drive implementation of free & excellent public libraries in all states, districts, villages.
Provide a committed statutory source of funding for public library infrastructure
Promote accountability by providing clear data and information on public libraries – where they are, how many there are, resources they house, information on libraries community outreach programs etc.

Free Libraries Network-FLN is drafting a People’s National Library Policy (PNLP-2024) – a rubric to invigorate and make public libraries relevant to India’s billion-plus population, with a focus on reaching those who have been excluded throughout history & in the current age. The PNLP-2024 imagines a free, autonomous, accessible and excellent public library system that becomes a foundational pillar of India’s education & information ecosystems.

Read the draft People’s National Library Policy (PNLP) 2024 document here. Please note that this is work-in-progress, requiring collaborative inputs from different domain experts. If referring to or reproducing this on any other platform, please request consent from FLN by emailing us at freelibrariesnetworkfln@gmail.com.

Read the Press Release here.

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