Irinaequalliat at 18:49, 25 March 2026

2026-03-25T18:49:59Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}
The '''Madras Public Libraries Act, 1948''', subsequently renamed as the '''Tamil Nadu Public Libraries Act, 1948''', was enacted in [[Madras State]], India, in 1948. The act was the first of its kind to be enacted in India after independence. The [[Connemara Public Library]] became the first library to come under the purview of this act, as a "State central library". Subsequently, nine district libraries were added during the [[Five-Year plans of India#First Five-Year Plan, 1951–1956|Five year plan from 1951]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Panda|first=B. D.|title=Handbook of Public Library System|publisher=Anmol Publications |year=1993|page=115|isbn=9788170417736|oclc=36878321|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPb9vQFKgI4C&q=madras+public+library+act+1948&pg=PA115}}</ref> The act was enacted based on research and activity by [[S. R. Ranganathan]] and the [[Madras Library Association]]. Other [[States and territories of India|states]] have enacted public library acts modelled on the Madras Public Libraries Act.

==Background==
R. K. Bhatt has highlighted how free-to-access public library systems are a necessary adjunct to a developing society, with growing industrialisation and improving rates of literacy, and argues that legislation "is an essential need in any country because it puts the structure, management and finance of library systems on proper legal footing".<ref>{{cite book|last=Bhatt|first=Ramesh Kumar|title=History and Development of Libraries in India|publisher=Mittal Publications |location=New Delhi |year=1995|pages=114–116|isbn=978-81-7099-582-1|oclc=33162755|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jbmdowzuv0QC}}</ref>

Ranganathan recognised this. He had spent time training as a librarian in London around 1923 and was impressed by the system of public library legislation which existed there. Upon returning to India he began to campaign for something similar to exist in his own country. The situation was complicated by the existence of various types of government, including provinces which were administered by the [[British Raj]] and various States under the control of princes. The fruits of his research and consultations were presented at the First All India Educational Conference in 1930. This report included a proposed Model Library Act.<ref name=Sardana2002pp383-387>{{cite book |title=Libraries and information studies in retrospect and prospect: essays in honour of Prof. D. R. Kalia |volume=2 |first=Narasimha |last=Raju |editor-first=J. L. |editor-last=Sardana |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |year=2002 |chapter=Library Legislation in India: an Introspection |pages=383–387 |isbn=978-81-7022-930-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qrw-Y41OXAC |accessdate=2011-08-11}}</ref>

Although some areas, such as [[Baroda]], had established public library systems prior to 1945,<ref name=Malleshappapp389-390>{{cite book |title=Libraries and information studies in retrospect and prospect: essays in honour of Prof. D. R. Kalia |volume=2 |first=T. |last=Malleshappa |editor-first=J. L. |editor-last=Sardana |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |year=2002 |chapter=Impact of Library Legislation on Public Library Services |pages=389–390 |isbn=978-81-7022-930-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qrw-Y41OXAC |accessdate=2011-08-11}}</ref> it was then that the first Act was passed, being the [[Kolhapur]] Public Libraries Act. This was followed in 1948 by the Madras Public Libraries Act, which became the first such Act to be passed in the newly independent republic of India. Acts for other areas, such as [[Kerala]] and [[Haryana]], followed and generally improved on the earlier legislation.<ref name=Sardana2002pp383-387/><ref>{{cite book|last=Bhatt|first=Ramesh Kumar|title=History and Development of Libraries in India|publisher=Mittal Publications |location=New Delhi |year=1995|page=116|isbn=978-81-7099-582-1|oclc=33162755|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jbmdowzuv0QC}}</ref>

Prior to the Act, the principal library of Madras was the Connemara Public Library, which had opened in 1860 and became a public library in 1896. A small refundable deposit was required to use it but it was essentially free. It became the State Central Library in 1948 and, in 1981, a depository library.<ref>{{cite book|last=Patel|first=Jashu|author2=Kumar, Krishan|title=Libraries and Librarianship in India|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|year=2001|pages=80, 97 |isbn=978-0-313-29423-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KXVrsPSzeNAC}}</ref>

==Provisions==
The Madras Public Libraries Act provides for overall governance by a [[State Library Committee]], presided over by the incumbent Education Minister for the State. The committee comprises members from various walks of life, including representatives from universities and from the State Library Association, as well as a Secretary whose primary function is as assistant to the Director of Public Libraries (DPL). The latter role is assumed by the incumbent [[Director of Public Instruction]].<ref name=Bhatt1995pp118-122>{{cite book|last=Bhatt|first=Ramesh Kumar|title=History and Development of Libraries in India|publisher=Mittal Publications |location=New Delhi |year=1995|pages=118–120|isbn=978-81-7099-582-1|oclc=33162755|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jbmdowzuv0QC}}</ref>

Revenue is obtained via a [[cess]], a tax which is collected by local administrative bodies such as the [[Nagar Palika]]s and [[Panchayati raj|Panchayat]]s. Those bodies remit the tax to their [[Local Library Association]] (LLA), which operates as an [[umbrella organisation]] at the mid-tier District administrative level. The rate of taxation is fixed in law but the LLA can request a higher rate if the State government agrees to it. The State government matches the funds generated by the cess. The LLA determines the conditions of entry to the libraries under its control.<ref name=Bhatt1995pp118-122/><ref name=Taher1994p97/>

Cities with a population in excess of 50,000 must have a central library of their own and provisions exist for expansion to include branch libraries and other means of devolved access if demand should require such. In addition to libraries that are administered by the LLA, the Act provides for a register of other libraries. This is maintained by the DPL, who has the power to issue grants from State resources to those institutions listed. With the exception of the city of Madras, these grants cannot be less than the cess collected elsewhere.<ref name=Bhatt1995pp118-122/>

Further resources are obtained by a modification caused by the Act. The Press and Registration of Books Act of 1857 is amended such that a situation somewhat akin to [[copyright library|copyright libraries]] exists. All publishers within the State are required to provide five copies of their output to the State government, which in turn passes on four of those copies to the State Central Library.<ref name=Bhatt1995pp118-122/><ref name=Taher1994p97>{{cite book |title=Librarianship and library science in India: an outline of historical perspectives |series=Concepts in communication informatics & librarianship |volume=60 |first=Mohamed |last=Taher |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |year=1994 |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRLXDBX5KzkC |isbn=978-81-7022-524-9}}</ref>

Until various reorganisations of States, the Act applied to parts of what are now Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.<ref>{{cite book |title=Libraries in India's national developmental perspective: a saga of fifty years since independence |first=Mohamed |last=Taher |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |year=2001 |page=331 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rQk5iINMD2IC |isbn=978-81-7022-842-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Librarianship and library science in India: an outline of historical perspectives |series=Concepts in communication informatics & librarianship |volume=60 |first=Mohamed |last=Taher |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |year=1994 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRLXDBX5KzkC |isbn=978-81-7022-524-9}}</ref>

==Evolution==
Several perceived failings in the Madras Public Libraries Act have been addressed in subsequent Acts elsewhere. For example, the Hyderabad legislation, which later became the Andhra Pradesh Public Libraries Act, states that there should be a completely separate department of government to administer the libraries; that the head of the State Library Committee (in this case called the State Library Council) should be elected rather than defaulting to the portfolio of the current Education Minister; and that all local administrative areas should have their own library authority. Furthermore, the amount and extent of the cess collected was improved by extending the range of taxes upon which the surcharge was levied; and the government, through the State Library Council, has a duty to train the librarians.<ref name=Bhatt1995pp118-122/> A key strategy which was embodied in the Act was the formulation of a hierarchical system whereby the local libraries were connected to the District libraries and they, in turn, were connected to the State Central Library and the National Library. Centralised acquisition and resource sharing was envisaged. This strategy had formed a part of the [[Five-Year plans of India#Second Five-Year Plan.2C 1956.E2.80.931961|Second Five Year Plan]] but it appears not to have been enforced with any haste; Brahmanda Barua wrote in 1992 that throughout India "The network principle has nowhere been applied in organising the libraries."<ref>{{cite book |title=National policy on library and information systems and services for India: perspectives and projections |first=Brahmanda Pratap |last=Barua |publisher=Popular Prakashan |location=Bombay |year=1992 |pages=83, 88 |isbn=978-81-7154-730-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IBB8drHUz7YC |accessdate=2011-08-11}}</ref>

Bhatt believes that the Karnataka Public Libraries Act is the most adequate and best functioning in the evolution of such Acts, and notes that the lack of provision for a cess in the later Acts for Maharashtra and West Bengal are a significant failing. In the case of Karnataka, there is a State Library Authority which is presided over by the Minister for Education, and also a fully-fledged Department of Public Libraries and local administrative bodies. The cess applies to a wide range of taxes, including those on property and vehicles, and there is further funding in non-city areas as a consequence of the stipulation that the State government must give to the local bodies 3% of all revenues received from land taxes in their area. The financing of the State Library Authority is determined by the lower authorities and private libraries can request grants but are not automatically entitled to them.<ref name=Bhatt1995pp118-122/>

==Recent situation nationally==
By 2002 there had been a total of 12 public library acts in place, although two of those - for [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]] and Kolhapur - had been superseded due to changes in the administrative structure of those areas,<ref name=Sardana2002pp383-387/> and two others had not been enforced.<ref name=Malleshappapp389-390/> Narasimha Raju considered that these Acts had proved to be "by and large ineffective", due to a combination of poor financing, poor administrative structure and, in some States, the "lethargy and negative attitude" of their governments. Raju also identified problems with the rapidly changing face of technology and noted that most of the libraries were unable to adapt to developments in television, radio and video recording. The [[Indian Library Association]] had taken on the campaign to improve matters, principally by promoting new legislation to replace that which already existed and Raju noted that many believed legislation should exist for the entire country rather than being a piecemeal system.<ref name=Sardana2002pp383-387/>

Despite only eight Acts being in force, all twenty-five States and seven [[Union Territory|Union Territories]] had a central library and 75% of the Districts, which are the next tier of administration, had a similar facility. While legislated areas such as [[Maharashtra]] (1967) relied on volunteers and development of free libraries from the core of an existing [[subscription library]] system, Tamil Nadu, [[Karnataka]] (1965) and [[Andhra Pradesh]] (1960) were thought by T. Malleshappa to be the most developed when quantified by density of libraries and percentage of the population who had free access.<ref name=Malleshappapp389-390/> D. B. Eswara Reddy, writing in the same publication, bemoaned the poor provision below District level, with 90% of the rural population not having access even to a reading room or [[circulating library]], let alone modern multimedia and computing technology. Despite legislation and theoretical targets, library facilities remained the preserve of the urban elite and, for example, in Andhra Pradesh most children in rural areas were first-generation literates.<ref>{{cite book |title=Libraries and information studies in retrospect and prospect: essays in honour of Prof. D. R. Kalia |volume=2 |first=D. B. Eswara |last=Reddy |editor-first=J. L. |editor-last=Sardana |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |year=2002 |chapter=Integrated Rural Library Development |pages=348–350 |isbn=978-81-7022-930-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qrw-Y41OXAC |accessdate=2011-08-11}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[States Reorganisation Act]]
*[[Tamil Nadu Government Laws & Rules]]
*[[List of libraries in India]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Library law]]
[[Category:Tamil Nadu state legislation]]
[[Category:Libraries in Tamil Nadu]]

Madras Public Libraries Act, 1948 - Revision history

Irinaequalliat at 18:49, 25 March 2026