In an digitized world, old binded books has no relevance, Indian Government in an aim to bring universal access to this wealth of knowledge resources has launched the National Mission on Libraries (NML). An Initiative of the India Government’s Ministry of Culture to modernise and digitally link public libraries across India.
“Digital libraries open up the possibility of far more flexible and coherent multimedia collections that are both fully searchable and browsable in multiple dimensions. As each generation becomes more in tune with the Internet, their desire to retrieve information as quickly and easily as possible has increased. Finding information by simply searching the Internet is considered much easier and faster than reading an entire book. He said, he is confident that this initiative of National Mission on Libraries will largely facilitate the internet savvy people in making maximum use of library resources. ” said President Shri Pranab Mukherjee during the inauguration speech.
India Government has allocated an amount of Rs 400 crore to be used in the next 3 years. The main objectives of NML are to create a world-class library system, foster reading habits, facilitate research work and provide information to people in a timely and convenient manner which is also universal and equitable.
Under the NML, there are four core areas, Creation of a National Virtual Library of India, Setting up of National Mission on Libraries Model Libraries, Quantitative & Qualitative Survey of Libraries and Capacity Building for revamping the Public Library System & Services.
The National Virtual Library of India would provide digital resources by digitizing the relevant reading material in different languages, which would be shared at all levels. They will also have subscription based E-Journals/E-Book services through Web VPN Services developed by National Informatics Centre.
Under the project, six libraries under the Culture Ministry, 35 Central Libraries in states and 35 District Libraries will be developed as model libraries. Emphasis will on developing these libraries in economically backward districts. Further, 629 district libraries across the states would be provided network connectivity.
Approved by the government in November last year, NML was set up in pursuance of a report of the National Knowledge Commission, which recommended a total revamp of the Library and Information Service sector to serve the changing needs and expectations of the users and give a fillip to the library movement in the country.
Source – National Mission on Libraries