Librarians, senior citizens and book lovers have reason to cheer as the much-awaited Odisha Public Library Act, 2001 is going to be implemented soon.
Notably, the Odisha Society of Americans (OSA) and different Library Associations’ constant effort to appeal to the Government of Odisha through their delegation to implement the Odisha Public Library Act in its letter and spirit ultimately paid off with the constitution of the Odisha Public Library Council, the highest policy making body in this respect.
The noble act has taken 14- long years for the Government to frame the rules and took another four years to constitute Odisha Public Library Council. Perhaps, the State Government all these years felt that the establishment of public libraries in the State doesn’t fetch votes for the ruling party, social worker and prolific writer of Gajapati district Raghunath Panigrahi.
However, he said the very formation of the council assuredly reveals the regional imbalances in representation.
"Most of the members belong to costal and western Odisha. People from southern Odisha negligibly represent in the council," Panigrahi alleged. For effective and smooth functioning of the council as well to achieve the very objectives of the crucial public library legislation, Panigrahi demanded for appointment of a professionally qualified Director in the Department of Culture exclusively to deal with public libraries. He also urged upon the Government to form a committee from among the Council members under the chairmanship of the concerned Minister to visit the neighbouring WB and AP to have on-the- spot experience of their public library systems and services.
Among other issues raised by him include establishment of three Central Library Systems in three Revenue Division towns, namely, Cuttack, Brahmapur and Sambalpur; shifting of the existing City Central Library to Old Town, Bhubaneswar with two more branches at Chandrasekharpur and Khandagiri, establishing District Libraries in the remaining 13 districts on priority basis, identification of corporate houses, industries and philanthropists to facilitate infrastructure and joining hands with the Government in the process of public library development, making an appeal to OSA in America to contribute liberally to institute Odisha Public Library Fund as goodwill gesture, constituting a technical and expert committee for public library digitization and recruiting a district librarian in each district library in the rank of DEO.