EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

Evaluation of Public remained an important language for technical and professional

disciplines and was well-known by upper-class citizens. The
Libraries in India: the literacy rate in the state as a whole in 1996 was 63.42 percent,
but in Bangalore it was 83.61 percent.4 The challenges facing
case of Karnataka the public library system thus included marked class differ-
ences, a multiplicity of language constituencies, and a pro-
nounced divide between rural and urban areas.
Recommendations of Mysore Prime Minister M. Visveswara-
Despite the importance of public libraries in many
ya led to the establishment in 1914 of the first public libraries
developing countries, there have been few attempts to
in Mysore, the seat of the king, and in Bangalore, already the
evaluate their effectiveness.
state’s main city. The Mysore Library Association was regis-
tered as a society in 1929, and the next year supported Dr. S.R.
Ranganathan’s preparation of a model bill for the establish-
James Heitzman and A.Y. Asundi
ment of state-run public library systems in India. In 1949, the
first state library department came into existence in the
INTRODUCTION neighboring state of Madras (now Tamil Nadu), establishing a
precedent for state direction of public libraries that remains
Public libraries in the so-called developing countries are among
typical in most of India today. The modern history of public
the most extensive publicly-funded information infrastructures
libraries in the state of Mysore began with passage of the 1965
in the world, reaching large numbers of users with sources on
Mysore Public Libraries Act (its name changed to the Karnataka
contemporary events, career improvement, technical instruction
Public Libraries Act in 1973). The law mandated the establish-
and entertainment. There has been little effort to evaluate the
ment of a State Department of Public Libraries, city library
effectiveness of these libraries, to critique the expressed or tacit
authorities in all towns with populations greater than 100,000,
models implemented in planning of their service provision, or
and district library authorities in all district headquarters within
to understand the relationship between patterns of service de-
the state. The city of Bangalore was divided into five zones
livery and the social characteristics of their targeted users. This
(north, east, west, south and center), each containing a main
article is a discussion of the public library system in Karnataka,
zonal library and a number of branch libraries and small serv-
a rather typical state in southern India.1 The purpose of the ar-
ice centers). The public library in Bangalore became the State
ticle is to provide an empirical description of the system’s struc-
Central Library, the coordinating point for inter-library loan
ture and its clientele, to present methodologies implemented to
and technical services, the state library for the blind, and the
evaluate the system in the 1990s, and to discuss the effective-
repository for three copies of each book published in the state
ness of the system in service provision and planning.
including the Karnataka State Gazette. Funding for books and
Until Independence in 1947, most of Karnataka fell under
supplies came from stipulated state taxes and salaries for staff,
the independent princely state of Mysore, an autocratic mon-
who as members of the State Library Service were government
archy that allowed its technocratic bureaucracy considerable
employees, came from a separate personnel budget in the con-
freedom to implement modern, industrial planning models and
solidated fund of the state. The Karnataka State Department
to establish some of India’s earliest electrification and com-
of Public Libraries began to function in November 1966 and
munication infrastructures. In 1956, with the linguistic reor-
registered steady growth for thirty-five years. Between 1983
ganization of Indian states, Mysore expanded its boundaries
and 1999, membership increased by over 400 percent, library
and adopted Kannada as its official language, and in the 1960s
sites by almost 500 percent, and book holdings by almost 400
adopted its current name. One of the most spectacular and
percent (See Table 1).5
well-known features of subsequent economic change was the
explosive growth of the state capital, Bangalore, which became
the sixth largest Indian city (the population of the metropoli- System features 1981 1993–94 1999
tan agglomeration was 4,130,288 in 1991). As the site of exten- Members 135,000 401,989 654,430
sive industrial production in textiles, machinery and electrical
equipment, and as the home of the state administration, Staff 939 1,060 1,235
Bangalore was well positioned to move into software produc- Sites 389 1,332 1,922
tion that gave it the reputation as ‘India’s Silicon Valley’ in the
1990s.2 Here a large middle class of technicians and profession- Journals 9,490 18,162 18,162
als lived alongside a large working class population with jobs Books 2,500,000 7,000,000 8,700,000
in the formal sector, but a majority of the working population
still labored in the informal sector while a growing proportion Table 1. Expansion of the Karnataka State Public Library System.
of the city’s population lived in slums.3 Located in the south-
eastern corner of Karnataka, near the intersection of four south
EVALUATING PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA
Indian states, cosmopolitan Bangalore included substantial lin-
guistic minorities speaking Hindi/Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Until the late 1980s, few structured efforts had evaluated the
Malayalam and Marathi. Despite a powerful pro-Kannada overall performance of the state public library systems in In-
movement that informed official policy in the state, English dia. Analysis consisted of descriptions of the additional num-

142 Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

bers of buildings, books, users and staff added over the period tion, but decentralized their information-gathering sources
of a year or a decade, with the assumption that larger numbers among experienced people, friends and neighbors, government
automatically meant increasing efficiency. A more critical look officials and experts. Both urban and rural users of the library
at the public library system as a whole came from H.A. Khan, system, on the other hand, were more likely to concentrate on
who described the ‘typical growth features’ of the systems since newspapers, followed by friends and neighbors and then tel-
independence as (1) an urban orientation, with less effort ex- evision as primary sources. Access to public libraries corre-
pended on penetration in rural villages; (2) a concentration on lated with a greater tendency among users to focus on specific,
print media; (3) a push toward quantitative growth in the structured information sources than among their non-partici-
number of buildings or size of collections, with little concern pating neighbors. When asked why they visited their libraries,
for the quality or relevance of the holdings; (4) an orientation both urban and rural respondents identified recreation, and then
toward recreational reading rather than the practical research current affairs, as their information goals. The presence in
interests of the client population; (5) a tendency to focus on Chikinagalur of a delivery system weighted with Kannada fic-
housekeeping operations rather than engaging in outreach to tion and periodical literature11 resulted in a user population that
the community; (6) little contact with the social needs of the altered its information-gathering strategies to accord with the
environment. The author pointed out the need for linkage be- holdings and services of the libraries. Less than 2 percent of
tween the library centers and local development processes. In respondents thought the system was very helpful or that the
his earlier work on Karnataka and three other South Indian collections were very good, and in rural areas 55 percent of
states, the author noted that the levels of funding legislated for users felt that the collections were bad, 40 percent feeling that
the public libraries remained inadequate for attaining the mini- the library resources were not helpful. Because most libraries
mum standards recommended by the International Federation were ‘single-persons’ institutions (which meant that if some-
of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), but that the one went on leave, the buildings closed) and the training of
first steps in remedying disjunctions between extant services staff was rudimentary, only 42 percent of users indicated that
and user needs must include surveys of library users and library personnel were good. The author’s analysis of the find-
non-users, in both rural and urban locations.6 ings suggested that, aside from education and light reading, the
A preliminary effort at surveying the performance of public libraries had not responded to expressed needs of their client
libraries took place in Tamil Nadu, where researchers utilized population, and that a total absence of audio-visual technol-
a time series of collection and membership records along with ogy was causing them to miss opportunities to address ‘core
census data to gauge the effectiveness of services.7 Subsequently socio-cultural activities’ common to all surveyed groups.12
there was a preliminary survey of users in the library system in
Bangalore, which investigated membership records in eight sites
in the south zone, including the zonal library, two branches, A SURVEY OF PUBLIC LIBRARY USE IN
and five service centers.8 The demographic profile of users re-
BANGALORE
vealed that the largest group (35 percent) were between 16 and The present authors coordinated a team that conducted the first
25 years of age, and that 58 percent of users had reached an user survey of the public library system in Bangalore in Febru-
education level of SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certifi- ary 1995. In order to capture data from all parts of the city, the
cate, obtained after finishing tenth standard) or below. Students investigators selected the zonal libraries in each of the five zones
comprised 56 percent of users, housewives 12 percent, and gov- of the city – north, south, east, west and central – where col-
ernment employees 8.3 percent. There was an uneven distribu- lections were fairly extensive and there were larger user popu-
tion of books per member, with the zonal library having the lations. (In the east zone the site chosen was a branch library,
largest number of members (7,500) but only 10 books per head.
The investigator believed that the ratio of library members to
total population was unacceptably low.9
In 1994–95, Ramakrishna Gowda conducted a survey of the
Karnataka public library system in Chikinagalur District, a
mostly rural area in the western part of Karnataka.10 The au-
thor identified thirty-two major areas of information needs and
conducted 691 interviews including 421 with actual users of
the libraries and 270 with potential users, in both rural and
urban environments. He found that the three major needs
among urban respondents were education, health, and legal in-
formation, while among rural respondents (not surprisingly)
agriculture joined these fields at the top of the list. The study
took note of alternative information venues including weekly
bazaars (shandi), village gossip centers, and voluntary organi-
zations (youth, women’s, Rotary and Lions Clubs). One of
the most striking findings of this work was that rural, and to a
certain extent urban, non-users of the library system were less Periodicals reading room in the Haines Road Library, east
likely to concentrate on specific channels for relevant informa- zone, Bangalore.

Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000 143

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

Language North East West South Center Totals

English 174 140 143 153 123 733
Kannada 120 94 170 141 136 661
Hindi 17 21 10 5 8 61
Tamil 10 17 5 7 9 48
Telugu 17 16 13 11 16 73
Malayalam 2 4 0 1 6 13
Marathi 5 0 2 0 1 8
TOTALS 311 255 323 299 267 1455
Figure 1. Respondents by gender.
Table 2. Reading language of public library users.

Age North East West South Center Totals

which was almost as large as the zonal library and experienced
more intensive use, while catering to a primarily Tamil- and Below 15 years 4 1 19 1 2 27
Urdu-speaking clientele).13 The survey instrument was a writ-
15–25 115 122 115 122 105 579
ten questionnaire, on two sides of a single sheet of paper, pre-
senting a total of forty-two questions falling into the follow- 26–35 58 42 54 57 60 271
ing categories:
36–50 14 26 28 15 16 99
1. Personal information on the respondents, including gender,
51–60 6 5 8 4 4 26
age, occupation, monthly family income, marital status, and
education level 61 and above 7 2 7 9 6 31
2. The purpose and frequency of visits to the library
TOTALS 204 198 231 208 192 1033
3. Opinions on the library collections and services, including
3.1. the language of books normally accessed
Table 3. Respondents by age.
3.2. areas where the collection was inadequate
3.3. areas where services required improvement
3.4. options for the future of the library important reading language, followed by Hindi (or Urdu) and
3.5. quality of the library staff then Tamil. There was a concentration of these alternative lan-
guages in the north and east zones, conforming to the linguis-
For questionnaire categories 1, 2, and 3.1–3.3, users responded tic geography of the city.
by choosing yes/no or by choosing one or more selections from
a choice of five possible responses. For categories 3.4 and 3.5,
users circled a single number between 1 and 5 to indicate the
Gender Profile of Library Users
extent to which they agreed or disagreed with statements on the In the socio-economic data, there was a striking imbalance in
future or the library or the competence of its staff. Users tended the gender profile of the users accessed by the survey, with only
to add their own commentaries or prose responses to their ques- 121 out of 1042 total respondents (12 percent) identifying them-
tionnaires, providing a wide range of linguistic data as well. selves as female (Figure 1). This confirmed the visual impres-
Ample copies of the questionnaire were available in either sion of a predominantly male client base. The pattern existed
Kannada or English in the five zonal libraries, and respondents in all five buildings, although in the east there were more fe-
were encouraged to choose freely between the two languages. males and the center was decidedly most skewed toward males.
Within the 1042 questionnaires completed by respondents, Data on the age of users (Table 3) showed equally striking con-
there was an almost even split between Kannada and English centrations within a few categories. The absolute majority of
throughout the city, but there were also obvious preferences users, 579 out of 1033 respondents (56 percent), were between
by zone. In the north and the east, where there were larger the ages of 15 and 25 years. If we include users aged up to 35
concentrations of Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu speakers, English years, then 62 percent of users fell within the category of young
was the preferred language; in the south and center, where larger adults. Children, middle-aged persons, and older persons were
concentrations of Kannada speakers lived, respondents pre- thus poorly represented in the user population. These findings
ferred the state language. A large number of the readers were again conformed to visual impressions that predominantly
competent in both English and Kannada, but English emerged young men were present in the buildings at all times.
as the most important reading language overall (Table 2). In
fact, on a number of Kannada forms, the respondents indicated
Occupation and Income
English as the reading language, normal in an environment
where English remained an important language in educational An indication of the commitment of respondents to the sur-
institutions and employment. Telugu emerged as the third most vey was the number of users who were willing to provide in-

144 Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

Occupation North East West South Center Totals

Business 12 8 7 9 14 50
Teaching 1 8 5 6 4 24
Government
service 14 19 16 10 9 68
Professional 17 24 17 20 21 99
Industry 14 14 13 13 19 73
Self-employed 17 14 19 19 21 431
Student 91 77 83 97 65 413
Figure 2. Respondents by marital status.
Housewife 61 7 3 2 3 76
Unemployed 13 8 23 14 21 79 (USD 32 in 1995) and INR 3000 (USD 96), accounting for 51
percent of respondents. Only 112, or 14 percent of respond-
Other 9 11 10 8 10 48 ents, claimed income over INR 5000 (USD 156) per month,
TOTALS 249 190 196 198 187 1020 while only 102, or 13 percent, claimed income less than INR
1000 per month. The responses were similar throughout the
Table 4. Respondents by occupation. city. These data allow us to create a rough economic profile of
the user populations in these five libraries. The majority of us-
ers come from working class or lower middle class families,
Income North East West South Center Totals with an admixture of some retired persons on pensions and
some managers or professionals with higher incomes. Ex-
Less than
Rs. 1000 20 28 22 7 25 102 tremely poor people did not constitute a large percentage of
patrons at the zonal libraries.
Rs. 1000–2000 38 48 46 54 50 236
Rs. 2001–3000 38 30 32 37 39 176 Marital Status
Rs. 3001–4000 22 20 20 23 19 104 Information on the marital status of the users (Figure 2) reveals
a very large percentage of respondents (72 percent) claiming to
Rs. 4001–5000 21 20 13 15 14 83
be unmarried. This conforms to the age and occupational pro-
Rs. 5001 and files discussed above, refining the picture of the average user as
above 25 28 29 15 15 112 an unmarried, male student. In keeping with this picture, it is
not surprising that only 174 respondents claimed that they had
TOTALS 164 174 162 151 162 813
any children, and even among that group, the number of chil-
dren was typically two or less (Table 6). This means that either
Table 5. Respondents by monthly income.
a number of young married people had not had time to build
larger families, or were deliberately keeping the number of chil-
formation on their occupational background (Table 4) and their dren low.16
monthly household income (Table 5). Forty percent of users
identified themselves as students, far larger than any other oc- Children North East West South Center Totals
cupational category.14 The next highest response was profes-
One 14 11 15 13 17 70
sional occupations (10 percent); it is tempting to see in this
category a large user population of lawyers, doctors or engi- Two 5 17 11 10 12 55
neers, but it is more likely that users from a range of skilled
trades or office environments identified themselves as profes- Three 5 11 5 2 6 29
sionals. Out of 121 respondents identifying themselves as fe- Four 14 1 15
male, 76 (63 percent, or 8 percent of total respondents) were
housewives.15 A combination of business and self-employed More than four 3 1 1 5
persons, which we may term the ‘private sector’, totals 140 or TOTALS 24 56 32 27 35 174
14 percent of respondents. Teaching and government service
together, the ‘public sector’, amount to 92 or nine percent. The Table 6. Respondents by number of children.
‘other’ category, according to a number of text comments on
the questionnaires, was primarily retired persons, and its low
Educational Profile
number corresponds with the small percentage of persons over
50 years old in the user population. The monthly household The educational profile of respondents (Table 7) displays a con-
income of the users displays a concentration between INR 1000 centration (34 percent) of college graduates, many of whom

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 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

Education Purpose North East West South Center Totals

level North East West South Center Totals
Book borrowing 2 13 4 3 10 32
Below SSLC 2 13 4 3 10 32
To return a book 20 39 49 25 49 182
SSLC 20 39 49 25 49 182
To read
Diploma 26 31 25 21 28 131 newspapers 26 31 25 21 28 131
Graduate 78 66 74 67 53 338 To read magazines 78 66 74 67 53 338
Post-graduate 22 13 15 21 7 78 Any other work 22 13 15 21 7 78
Professional Preparation for
degree 48 29 42 61 39 219 competitive exams 48 29 42 61 39 219
TOTALS 196 191 209 198 186 980 TOTALS 196 191 209 198 186 980
Note: The response ‘Preparation for competitive exams’ existed only on
Table 7. Education level of respondents. Kannada forms.

must have been continuing as students along with holders of Table 9. Reasons for users’ visits to the public library.
SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) and diploma.
Users indicated that on the day they filled out the ques-
There was a very low presence (3 percent ) of persons below
tionnaire only 24 percent of them had come for book bor-
the SSLC level, coinciding with the poor representation of chil-
rowing or book returning, while 60 percent had come to read
dren and also persons with very low income who might pre-
newspapers and magazines (Table 9). Preparation for com-
sumably have low education. The reason for the large percent-
petitive examinations offered by the state government moti-
age of persons with professional degrees (22 percent) may lie
vated 8 percent of these visitors. If users were interested in
in a tendency to inflate professional qualifications or to equate
research and reference, they may appear in the category of
training in a variety of technical areas with professionalism. It
‘other work’ which accounts for only 8 percent of the visi-
indicates, however, along with the high incidence of graduates,
tors. The prose responses from this part of the questionnaire
the presence of a relatively well-educated clientele in these li-
support the findings that periodical literature was the main
braries. Their personal educational qualifications did not cor-
goal for most readers. There were only fifty-two statements
respond with high incomes or distinguished employment, and
(two in Kannada) indicating that books were the target, but
many of these users were in the process of upgrading their skill
ninety-two statements (forty in Kannada) indicating that
levels, apparently in the pursuit of career upgrades.
newspapers and magazines were the target. When asked what
physical section of the library they ordinarily used, 35 per-
Patterns of Library Use cent of the respondents indicated (Table 10) that the section
A remarkably large number of the respondents (39 percent) for reading periodicals was the most important, followed by
claimed that they visited the library every day, while an addi- the sections for novels (21 percent), textbooks (16 percent),
tional 29 percent claimed that they visited the library at least and competitive examinations (13 percent).17 In addition,
every week (Table 8). This indicates that a number of regular among a total of 332 prose responses that provided explicit
patrons, for whom the institution was an important feature in statements on the types of literature users were accessing,
their lives, regularly filled the libraries. The more ‘traditional’
pattern of library use, with patrons dropping in at regular or Section North East West South Center Totals
irregular intervals to engage the book collection, differs from
the dominant pattern observed in the Bangalore zonal libraries. Newspapers 42 39 60 69 89 299
Text books 35 20 17 45 22 139
Novels 20 86 30 24 21 181
Frequency North East West South Center Totals
Children’s section 8 6 4 7 2 27
Every day 92 41 85 84 92 394
Reading section 20 8 8 33 7 76
Weekly 59 83 60 44 44 290
Book section for
Fortnightly 6 48 13 16 5 88
competitive exams 29 8 23 38 17 115
Monthly 2 4 1 6 5 18
Other 2 6 3 8 6 25
Occasionally 39 21 58 58 50 226
TOTALS 156 173 145 224 164 862
TOTALS 198 197 217 208 196 1016
Note: This question appeared only on Kannada questionnaires.

Table 8. Frequency of visits to the library. Table 10. Sections of public libraries frequented by users.

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 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

Newspapers and magazines 92 (4)* erature, and one respondent honestly revealed that he was look-
ing for ‘novels that are prescribed for my income’. Many re-
Literature (including novels) 52 (2) sponses, however, showed that access to literature – primarily
Study/textbooks 44 novels and other fiction – was a priority only alongside access
to other kinds of resources, including periodicals. In addition,
Reference 25 many users were utilizing the periodicals to perform research,
Business/economics 19 (2) particularly in job searches or in skill enhancement. It seems
clear, in the final analysis, that reading for most of the users of
Books 13 (1) the public libraries meant reading of periodical literature, and
Computers/electronics 12 (5) that the book collections, while important, were a secondary
goal or perhaps not a goal for a large percentage of library
Science/technology 10 (1) patrons. Neither the clientele interested in the literature hold-
Engineering 10 (1) ings, nor the clientele interested in research or reference books
or study guides, were a plurality of the daily visitors.
Medicine/pharmacology 7 (2)
Politics 7 (1) Opinions on Library Collections
History 6 (1) We examine now the user responses to the collections. When
asked directly about their opinion of the library collections,
Mathematics 5 (2)
users’ opinions were rather negative, with 64 percent of respond-
Philosophy/religion 5 (1) ents rating the collections as either old or obsolete (Figure 3).
Education 4
Chemistry 3 (1)
Law 3 (1)
Writing 3
Sports 3
Biology 2
Psychology 2
Art 1
Leisure 1
Photography 1 Figure 3. Respondents’ opinion of public library collections.
*Numbers in parentheses indicate Kannada responses.

Table 11. Literature accessed by users of Bangalore public It is possible that even those rating the collection as new were
libraries. referring to periodical literature rather than the book collec-
tion. A number of completed forms included responses for
newspapers and magazines again topped the list, followed by new and old together, suggesting that for some users there was
literature such as novels (Table 11). These statements showed a division between new periodicals and some new books on
a marked preference for business, technical and scientific writ- one hand, and an older collection on the other. The library in
ings that could enhance career prospects. the central zone, which was a new building with presumably
Among the prose statements, one writer described his ac- newer books, displayed a marked reversal of the pattern, with
tivities as ‘reference study’, and another claimed to be ‘refer- most users rating the collection as new. This response indi-
ring subject books’. Perhaps the most illuminating glimpse into cates that the branches were financially incapable of updating
the motivations of the predominantly student population was materials, including encyclopedias or other reference sources,
this: ‘My intention of coming to the library for reference pur- once they were on the shelves. When asked if they thought the
pose and research and prepare and don’t have anything in my collections were appropriate, however, the majority of users
mind’. Some of the students were bringing their school text (68 percent) answered affirmatively (Table 12). This may mean
books to the library and performing their studies in a neutral that most users coming to read periodicals were content with
or fairly quiet environment. The respondents regularly com- the newspapers and magazines available on a daily basis. Dis-
bined notions of research, reference, study, and preparation for satisfied users amounted to 32 percent, who may represent the
examinations, since indeed they were typically in the process body of patrons who accessed the reference and book collec-
of performing all of these activities in order to ‘study for change’. tions. Corroboration for these hypotheses comes from user
Some users indicated that they came primarily for popular lit- suggestions on the type of collection needing strengthening.

Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000 147

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

Is the library collection appropriate to your needs or choice? Is the library service compatible to your needs?

North East West South Center Totals North East West South Center Totals
Yes 68 90 69 76 80 383 Yes 103 117 90 101 97 508
No 37 33 36 49 27 182 No 19 21 28 39 12 119
TOTALS 105 123 105 125 107 565 TOTALS 122 138 118 140 109 627

If no, what type of collection needs to be strengthened? If no, what is lacking?

Collection North East West South Center Totals North East West South Center Totals
Books 28 66 36 35 24 189 Collection 53 57 53 50 30 243
Magazines 34 24 37 25 25 145 Approach 11 14 15 16 10 66
Newspapers 27 5 47 35 43 157 Timeliness 13 16 25 16 27 97
Reference books 52 52 41 42 26 213 Public relations/
communications 21 21 28 19 24 113
Text books 65 43 45 57 43 253
TOTALS 98 108 121 101 91 519
Books on
competitive exams 37 28 36 42 18 161
Table 13. Compatibility of library service to users’ needs.
TOTALS 243 218 242 236 179 1118
tion evaluation (Table 12). There was good news here, since 81
Table 12. Appropriateness of library collections to users. percent of respondents thought the services of the libraries, or
at least their staffs, to be adequate. This left a substantial mi-
Fifty-six percent of respondents indicated that the reference nority of users who found services inadequate. The reason for
collection as a whole, including text books and books on com- inadequacy, however, was again the collection for 48 percent
petitive examinations, required improvement. This is a very of users, although public relations and timeliness – issues ad-
high rate of response when compared to the percentage of us- dressed at the human resource level – were major concerns as
ers who stated that they used these resources (Table 9); the well for 40 percent of respondents. The overall approach of
reason that more patrons did not use them perhaps lay in the the libraries was not a negative feature for many users.
poor public opinion of their quality. Newspapers and maga-
zines, which typically attracted most patrons, still accounted Recommendations for Change
for 27 percent of responses indicating need for improvement,
Users made clear recommendations for changes in the librar-
which indicates that some upgrading even here was necessary.
ies, summarized in Table 14. Topping the list of recommenda-
Interestingly, the book collection required improvement for
tions, not surprisingly, was availability of documents, with 31
only 17 percent of respondents, which suggests either that it
percent of responses calling for additional investment in the
was already adequate for most users or that much of the user
collection. Out of 298 appended prose comments, 120 described
population did not care about it. However, among the 105 prose
the areas of the holdings that needed upgrade: forty-two advo-
responses to this section of the questionnaire that directly in-
dicated what areas needed improvement, fifty-nine (56 per-
cent) advocated an increase in the book collection. Sixteen com-
Changes North East West South Center Totals
mentators (15 percent) wanted additional text books,
twenty-seven (25 percent) wanted better newspaper holdings, Opening hours 36 27 51 38 62 214
and only seven advocated changes in the reference collection.
Timeliness of
These comments suggest again that the book collection (in-
service 41 20 42 40 20 163
cluding textbooks) was inadequate for a substantial propor-
tion of the user population. It seems likely that the users who Staff assistance 42 35 46 41 25 189
wanted to access books were particularly unhappy with the
Lending system 41 35 33 27 25 161
selections and were willing to express their frustration, while
those who did not access books were either disenchanted with Availability of
the collections from the beginning or always had a primary documents 96 67 64 86 55 368
interest in periodical literature.
Staff behavior 22 10 28 31 11 102
Table 13 presents overall responses to library services. Ac-
cording to text comments, users interpreted the query to mean TOTALS 278 194 264 263 198 1197
the services provided by the library staff, so for many people
this query elicited a personnel evaluation in contrast to collec- Table 14. Changes in library services suggested by users.

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 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

cated more books (split between fiction and the sciences), mation needs), basic infrastructure (continuous power supply
thirty-two wanted better periodicals, twenty-five more text- and toilet facilities), and overall supervision of the buildings.18
books, and twenty-one urged better reference sections. The The survey revealed, however, important problems connected
second most important change was opening hours, mentioned to the user population and to the quality of services that re-
by 18 percent of the statistical responses and by twenty-five (8 quired policy decisions.
percent) of the prose comments as well. These users wanted Most of the users of the zonal libraries were young men who
the libraries to eliminate Monday as a day off and to open ear- came to the buildings in an attempt to get out of their houses
lier in the day, so that they might read the newspapers before and read free newspapers and magazines that they could not
heading to work. One comment expressed the needs of the large afford to purchase personally.19 The public library system was
proportion of student users: ‘Change is required because poor performing a valuable service for this population, who were
students have no facility to read at home. Library should be relatively well educated but who were unemployed or under-
kept open for 24 hours.’ Next in importance was staff assist- employed and used the library to aid their transition to lower-
ance, which stood in contrast to opinions on staff behavior (see or mid-level careers. It is clear, however, that the library sys-
below). According to many comments, the library staff received tem as originally envisaged was not targeted to this population
high marks as people and professionals (One user wrote, ‘The to such an extent. Other target populations – women, the eld-
library staff are like god’ but there were problems in their abil- erly, and children – were under-represented. To some extent,
ity to help users. Part of the difficulty was the absence of a the very success of the libraries in attracting young men, com-
catalogue system, mentioned in seventeen prose comments as bined with the spatial organization of the buildings, contrib-
a needed improvement. We should note that eighty-eight prose uted to limitations on women’s presence. During much of the
comments (31 percent) explicitly stated that the library sys- day, the male readers monopolized the majority of seats in the
tem was either good, satisfactory or not bad. buildings, creating a formidable mass that could put off poten-
tial female patrons or children. This left women with space in
Opinions of Facilities and Staff and around the stacks, where they could browse for (mostly
fictional) literature, chat at the circulation desk, and then head
The final category of responses captured by the questionnaires out the door, mostly in the evenings. The cultural patterning
included twenty questions eliciting user opinions on facilities of space and time contributed to a highly gendered environ-
and staff service, on a scale from one (strongly agree) to five ment mirrored in the survey statistics. Paradoxically, the
(strongly disagree). Many respondents treated these as yes/no gendering of the libraries may have limited the very popula-
questions, choosing either one or five, thus creating bi-modal tions who could be interested in the more extensive collections
data sets. Users left many questions blank, but responded most of literature (including Kannada novels) that ate up a consider-
often to 1 (‘Maintain present status’), 7 (‘Strengthen the collec- able percentage of the budget. Thus, one of the main issues
tion’) and 8 (‘Staff are helpful’). The responses indicated that facing the library system was not attracting more clients, but
users were generally disposed to keep the current situation, with diversifying the client base.
the strongest scores from the newest building in the central The survey indicated a consensus among users that the li-
zone. Strengthening the collection received the highest prior- brary collections needed improvement. One general comment
ity in all libraries, with low standard deviations. Staff also re- in English, a backhanded compliment, perhaps summarizes user
ceived very high marks, and one user wrote, ‘Present staff mem- reactions to the collection: ‘Very good material to study avail-
bers are really good! Especially the librarians.’ In more practical able sometimes’. Another response in English encapsulated the
questions on facilities improvement, respondents viewed com- critiques of the holdings:
puterization as the most important change. Questions with
Mostly required:
negative connotations for staff received decidedly negative re-
1) educational-technical -reference books
sponses, providing support for the staff as people and as pro-
2) books to enlighten career & professional paths
fessionals. On the other hand, question 19 (‘They need better
3) proper maintenance, easy availability
training’) received considerable support. These findings in com-
4) strict vigilance to secure good, costly books
bination with those from Table 13 suggest areas where improve-
5) English contemporary novels
ment of staff performance was possible. One user had a final
6) Kannada top.
piece of advice: ‘very one from the library should be courteous
and the library should strive for the upliftment of Kannada’. Students who made use of preparatory materials for competi-
tive examinations or for self-improvement in technical fields
seemed particularly unhappy with the resources available in
ANALYSIS OF SURVEY RESULTS
the libraries. One respondent in English suggested, ‘There are
The data presented here indicate that, although a substantial not so many books on electronics. Though we find a few, they
minority was greatly dissatisfied, most users of the Bangalore are not for reference, so please arrange for these books so that
public libraries were satisfied with the general direction of the we can refer it at home leisurely.’ This raises the question of
five zonal facilities. The data suggest some areas within all li- whether the public library system should have shouldered more
braries and, in some cases, within particular buildings, where responsibility for supporting examinations monitored or regu-
improvement of the current systems was possible in relation to lated by the government, or for investing limited funds in tech-
quantifiable goals (e.g. response time to certain types of infor- nical literature to support the educational system or post-degree

Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000 149

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

Questionnaire sections 3.5 and 3.5 What are your impressions about the library staff?
8. Helpful
What are your options for the future of this library?
9. Not courteous
1. Maintain present status
10. They are knowledgeable about library work
2. Go with AV material
11. They lack skills to serve
3. Go for automation (computer)
12. They approach any problems analytically
4. Changes in service
13. They could not understand my problem
5. Card catalogue
14. They have no solution to our problems
6. Lending system
15. They take optimum time to serve
7. Strengthen the collection
16. Delay is deliberate
17. Problems in higher levels
18. Lower level staff helpful
19. They need better training
20. The qualifications they possess are inadequate

Responses to questionnaire sections 3.5 and 3.6

North East West South Center All libraries

Response No. Mean S.D. No. Mean S.D. No. Mean S.D. No. Mean S.D. No. Mean S.D. No. Mean S.D.
1 122 2.10 1.58 133 2.59 1.65 125 2.34 1.67 129 2.51 1.67 117 1.70 1.29 626 2.26 1.61
2 94 2.39 1.59 86 2.51 1.57 95 2.57 1.65 101 2.54 1.62 85 2.13 1.49 461 2.44 1.59
3 122 1.89 1.46 104 2.01 1.50 101 2.23 1.57 125 1.86 1.48 94 2.03 1.58 546 1.99 1.52
4 112 2.71 1.69 96 2.79 1.57 108 2.35 1.58 118 2.40 1.60 77 3.05 1.67 511 2.63 1.64
5 110 2.14 1.49 84 1.99 1.61 99 2.14 1.49 102 2.21 1.60 68 2.07 1.47 463 2.12 1.54
6 68 2.13 1.44 86 2.20 1.47 73 2.15 1.47 61 2.23 1.55 50 1.94 1.33 338 2.14 1.46
7 153 1.65 1.39 132 1.67 1.33 141 1.67 1.34 125 1.57 1.29 106 1.70 1.40 657 1.65 1.35
8 160 1.48 0.96 156 1.66 1.15 164 1.89 1.44 152 1.93 1.46 149 1.50 1.12 781 1.70 1.26
9 71 2.63 1.48 90 3.42 1.63 104 3.38 1.67 108 3.20 1.66 83 3.47 1.75 456 3.25 1.67
10 120 1.97 1.29 117 2.55 1.61 112 2.26 1.47 111 2.75 1.65 112 1.86 1.33 572 2.27 1.51
11 89 2.60 1.55 101 3.01 1.67 98 3.43 1.57 103 3.12 1.66 83 3.35 1.72 474 3.10 1.66
12 110 2.28 1.48 100 3.08 1.65 111 2.76 1.65 101 2.94 1.72 94 2.38 1.64 516 2.59 1.65
13 108 3.49 1.66 96 3.46 1.54 105 3.30 1.67 99 3.26 1.70 89 3.97 1.52 497 3.48 1.64
14 106 3.56 1.63 91 3.25 1.49 99 3.11 1.68 103 2.97 1.80 79 3.61 1.69 478 3.29 1.68
15 114 2.32 1.60 105 2.51 1.57 107 2.48 1.58 102 2.77 1.63 103 2.07 1.48 531 2.43 1.59
16 97 3.42 1.63 91 3.92 1.41 98 3.44 1.65 102 3.02 1.77 72 3.78 1.62 460 3.49 1.65
17 105 2.90 1.69 86 3.41 1.65 98 3.03 1.62 95 3.13 1.69 72 3.29 1.76 456 3.13 1.69
18 107 2.04 1.37 93 2.65 1.66 95 2.46 1.53 100 2.54 1.66 75 2.33 1.66 470 2.40 1.58
19 120 2.23 1.60 100 2.31 1.64 111 2.19 1.58 112 2.00 1.51 88 2.88 1.78 531 2.30 1.64
20 106 2.95 1.67 93 3.32 1.65 95 3.09 1.65 106 2.83 1.70 75 3.57 1.64 475 3.12 1.69

Table 15. Users’ suggestions for public library improvement.

technical training. Increased budgetary allocations for exami- port, who would? A larger issue of collection development
nation materials would undoubtedly increase the population was the general weakness in research materials. Because many
of users frequenting the library buildings solely for the pur- of the patrons had already finished their formal education and
pose of studying these materials, which might not contribute no longer had access to whatever collections existed in their
to an increased diversity of the user population. On the other schools, they depended on the public libraries to provide gen-
hand, if the library system did not provide this kind of sup- eral reference books and basic collections in specific disciplines.

150 Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

The libraries were not doing enough to satisfy these research braries open in the evenings. The collections initially included
needs of users. a few books, but more important were subscriptions to news-
The users were generally positive about staff behavior and papers. The purpose of this initiative was to encourage the ac-
the desire of the library personnel to respond to their informa- tivity of reading and to provide a platform that would allow
tion needs, indicating that staff recruitment and morale re- rural literates to keep up their skills. For urban libraries, the
mained nonproblematic. The big issue for both staff and users main goal was computerization. In 1997, the Department made
lay in budgetary allocations for training and for equipment, as a firm commitment to mount an online catalogue at the State
suggested by one general comment in English: ‘This library is Central Library in Bangalore. They bought new hardware and
functioning in an excellent manner and the authorities must the software TechLib (using a Foxbase+ database application)
encourage the staff/readers by providing necessary amenities.’ marketed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), and en-
A solution supported by users: computerize the catalogues of gaged a private firm to oversee data entry and validation along
the entire system and set up an inter-library loan network. with systems support. By the middle of 1999, the approximately
The kinds of services offered by the public library system in 250,000 records of the library holdings were entered and avail-
Bangalore differed in scale, but not in kind, from those of- able for searching on an experimental basis. For the general
fered by the system in rural Chikinagalur. The holdings in both catalogue, there were separate indexes for English-language
areas were print-based, primarily newspapers and Kannada materials accessible through English commands, and Kannada-
literature. The response to these holdings was more negative language materials accessible through Kannada commands.
in the countryside because these source materials, emanating Separate indexes were available for materials in the copyright
primarily from urban scenes, had much less relevance for the collection. The goal was to provide four terminals for users,
predominantly agricultural population, while the services pos- with hard copy instructions on how to use the system in both
sible in the mostly single-person libraries were more rudimen- languages, plus terminals for the librarian and for technical sup-
tary and intermittent. The zonal libraries in Bangalore, despite port as well as a link provided by NIC to a terminal in the
their limitations, offered more pleasant surroundings and a departmental headquarters about one kilometer away. The next
depth of information services that were simply not provided stage involved a web site as well as a union catalogue with a
in rural and underprivileged neighborhoods. The public library single zonal library in Bangalore, before moving toward a wide
thus embedded a hierarchy its services, with an urban bias in area network.20
the quality of its limited resource deployment. In conversations following up the surveys in 1995, the direc-
While the entertainment or recreational aspect of library ser- tor and other administrators of the public library system indi-
vices remained important, a substantial body of opinion among cated that the main priorities remained in the rural areas. There
the clientele wanted the public library to become a component would be little change in the official strategy of increasing the
within a multi-institutional educational matrix that provided number of village sites where the most basic of services would
information for job training, whether it was agricultural become available, most notably, providing daily newspapers
outreach in rural areas or a variety of scientific and technology and Kannada literature. In a state where millions of villagers
disciplines in the city. The public library system could thus still earned less than USD 300 per year, and given the constraints
more self-consciously view itself as an institutional partner with of resources on the library system, this goal alone remained
high schools, colleges, and technology training institutes. The quite ambitious. The evaluations described in this article indi-
impressive body of dedicated library users who were hungry cate, however, that a strategy of churning out bigger numbers
for a broadening of the library system’s mission represented, required a concomitant sensitivity to information sophistica-
however, a relatively narrow socio-economic stratum. Although tion among targeted users. The literate clientele in rural areas
service provision even for this group was stretching budgets, was becoming more restive, looking for the technical and man-
materials and space to their limits, a continued concentration agement information needed in a liberalizing, agrarian market
on serving only the current clientele isolated the libraries from economy. In urban areas, the drive toward career improvement
women, children, and both the very poor who really needed was pushing a relatively young clientele toward up-to-date tech-
help and the well-to-do who could help the system. It was a nical and professional literature. Some of these problems could
problem of expanding services to a more varied consumer base. be solved in part by cataloguing and inter-library loan proc-
esses, which were coming into effect very slowly. Added at-
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM’S RESPONSE tention was necessary to avoid obsolescence of crucial refer-
ence holdings, which alienated a large proportion of the current
Between 1995 and 2000, the public library system pursued a clientele. The library system thus had to continually upgrade
two-front strategy to improve its services. On the rural front, the quality of its delivery mechanisms and delivered documents
there was a more intensive concentration on the expansion of within specific locales, in addition to simply increasing the
services to more places, especially in the poorer, northern dis- volume of very basic services. The evaluations also revealed
tricts of the state (the home of the department’s director). In what everybody knew but nobody wanted to admit – that the
1998–99, the system opened 500 libraries in villages where lo- public library system was spending most of its resources meet-
cal assemblies (panchayats) had their seats. Each location re- ing the information needs of a relatively narrow social stra-
ceived an infusion of INR 30,000 at the beginning, and an an- tum, failing to attract the very young, the very old, and a large
nual budget of INR 20,000 that included monthly salary of proportion of the female population. Augmented sensitivity
about INR 750 to support personnel who would keep the li- to the limitations inherent in the very success of its planning

Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000 151

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

model would be necessary in order to alter the age and gender Ravindra, B.K. Chandrashekar, V. Govindraj and P.S.S.
characteristics of the user population. Thomas, The Committee on Urban Management of
Bangalore City: A Report Submitted to the Government of
Notes Karnataka, Bangalore: Government of Karnataka (1997) pp.
92–158; Citizens’ Voluntary Initiative for the City (CIVIC
1. Among the 15 major Indian states, Karnataka in the early Bangalore), City Profile of Bangalore, Bangalore: CIVIC
1990s was seventh in literacy and sixth in per capita net Bangalore (1999).
domestic product, sixth in life expectancy, infant mortality 4. Human Development in Karnataka (1999) p. 263.
and maternal mortality rates. The average per capita income 5. After 1965, the Department of Public Libraries functioned
in Indian states was INR 6249 (USD 200); Karnataka’s was as a division under the Karnataka State Ministry for Adult
in tenth place, at INR 6313. The United Nations human Education, Vocational Education, Public Libraries and Sta-
development index, when applied to India, yielded a figure tionery. The Mysore Public Libraries Act, 1965 and The
of 0.439, giving the nation a rank of 134 among 174 coun- Rules and Notifications thereunder, Mysore Act No. 10 of
tries in the world. If applied only to the state of Karnataka, 1965, Bangalore: Government of Mysore Department of
the index yielded a figure of 0.472, only slightly above the Law and Parliamentary Affairs (1967); P.K. Patil, Public Li-
national norm. The composite human development index braries in Karnataka: Their Scope and Development,
(HDI), developed by the United Nations Development Bangalore: Department of Public Libraries, Government
Program (UNDP) for its first Human Development Re- of Karnataka (1982); T. Malleshappa, ‘Public libraries in
port in 1990, covered three indicators: longevity, educa- Karnataka’, In: T. Malleshappa (ed.), Indian Library Asso-
tional attainment, and standard of living measured by real ciation Diamond Jubilee Celebration and XXYLY All In-
gross domestic product per capita (Human Development dia Library Conference, Bangalore 7–10 January, 1994,
in Karnataka 1999. Bangalore: Planning Department, Gov- Bangalore: Department of Public Libraries, Government
ernment of Karnataka (1999) pp. 5–7, 13). of Karnataka (1994) pp. 23–27; Sarvajanika granthalaya
2. For a representative example of literature on Bangalore as ilakhe: pragati nota [The Department of Public Libraries:
Silicon Valley, see Arvind Singhal, India’s Information A Look at Progress], Bangalore: State Central Library
Revolution, New Delhi and Newbury Park, CA: Sage Pub- (1994) pp. 10, 15–24. Statistics for 1999 come from the dis-
lications (1989); Edward Yourdon, Decline & Fall of the play mounted at the offices of the Karnataka State Depart-
American Programmer, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Yourdon ment of Public Libraries, and from an interview with T.
Press (1992) pp. 279–312; Shirin Madon, ‘Information-based Mallesappa, Director, on 16 August 1999.
global economy and socioeconomic development: the case 6. H.A. Khan, ‘Public libraries and the contemporary Indian
of Bangalore’, The Information Society, 13 (1997) pp. 227– society’, In: H.A. Khan and S.R. Ijari (ed.), Current Prob-
43; Yasmin Mahmood, ‘India’s silicon city’, Aramco World, lems and Trends in Library and Information Services,
(November/December 1997) pp. 37–42; ‘Hartetest im Varanasi: Indian Bibliographic Centre (1990) pp. 166–72;
Paradies’, [Hard test in paradise], Der Spiegel, 40 (29 Sep- ‘Problems and prospects of public libraries in the four li-
tember 1997) pp. 129–38; William Wolman and Anne brary law states in India’, Ph.D. dissertation, Dharwad:
Colamosca, The Judas Economy: The Triumph of Capital Karnataka University (1985) pp. 457–67.
and the Betrayal of Work, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley 7. P. Sankaralingam and K.S. Raghavan, ‘Public library serv-
(1997) pp. 83–106; Bob Davis and David Wessel, Prosper- ice in Tamil Nadu: a situation report’, Seminar on Public
ity: The Coming Twenty-year Boom and What it Means to Library Services and Information Networks: Papers and
You, New York: Random House (1998) pp. 218–37; James Proceedings, Madras: Madras Library Association (1988)
Heitzinan, ‘Corporate strategy and planning in the science pp. 41–72.
city: Bangalore as “Silicon Valley”,’ Economic and Politi- 8. M. Krishna Murthy. ‘Survey of branches and service cen-
cal Weekly 34: 5 (January 30–February 5, 1999), pp. PW2– tres under City Central Library, Jayanagar, Banagalore: a
PE11; ‘Technologieregion Bangalore: Neues Modell fur sample study of collection and users’, M.S. dissertation,
Innovationsorientierte Regionalentwicklung?’ [Technol- Bangalore: Department of Library and Information Science,
ogy region Bangalore: new model for innovation-oriented Bangalore University (1989).
regional development?], Geographische Runschau 51 9. P. Sankaralingam and K.S. Raghavan, ‘Public library serv-
(1999) pp. 96–102. ice in Tamil Nadu: a situation report’, p. 65.
3. P. Thippaiah, ‘Informal Sector and the Urban Poor in a Met- 10. In Chikmagalur District, 70 percent of males and 50 per-
ropolitan Area: A Case Study of Bangalore’, Ph.D. disser- cent of females were literate, 80 percent of workers were
tation, Bangalore: University of Bangalore (1993); M.J. employed in agriculture or related activities. Here the first
deWit, Geographical Information Systems, Remote Sens- public library was established only in 1971, and although
ing and Slums in Indian Cities: The Case of Bangalore, progress was rapid thereafter (by 1995 there were also ten
IDPAD 1992–8, Amsterdam: Indo Dutch Programme on branch libraries, seven book delivery stations and thirty-
Alternatives in Development (1992) pp. 17–18, 43, 59–60; nine village assembly libraries), 96 percent of the district’s
Bangalore Development Authority, Comprehensive Devel- villages had no library provision and there were 17,635
opment Plan (Revised) Bangalore – Report, Bangalore: members out of a population of 1,017,283 (1.7 percent).
Bangalore Development Authority (1995) pp. 25–27; A. See K.C. Ramakrishna Gowda, ‘Nature of public library

152 Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

services in relation to users and their needs: a study of pub- where questionnaires were distributed in the libraries. In
lic libraries in Chikinagalur District (Karnataka)’, Ph.D. the east zone, the questionnaires stayed at the check-out
dissertation, Department of Studies in Library and Infor- desk in the back room next to the novels section, and here
mation Systems, University of Mysore (1995) pp. 86, 103, the majority of users (59 percent) indicated that novels were
110, 138. the most important section. In the central zone, the ques-
11. Approximately 65 percent of the total book resources in tionnaires rested at a desk near the front of the building
the Chikinagalur library system were Kannada literature, next to the periodicals reading section, and here responses
although there was not a single Kannada subject journal indicated that periodicals were the most important goal (67
(Ibid., p. 225). percent).
12. These included art and book exhibitions, discussions or 18. Among the general English responses were the following:
lectures on topics of local interest, educational and award- ‘Better supervision to prevent tear off from magazine pages
winning films, programs on ‘national integration’, and ex- earnestly requested. And culprits indulging in such activi-
hibitions on science and technology (Ibid., pp. 200–13, 224, ties punished, promptly’; ‘They need control and supervi-
256). sion over the readers. Newspapers & magazines should not
13. Because the profile of the user population could change be removed from the stand by readers. . . . Pilferage must
during the course of the day or during the week, adminis- be detected and avoided. Silence must be maintained. No
tration of questionnaires occurred on a regular basis dur- loud talking. Discipline must be maintained.’
ing five time blocks daily and on each day of the week. The 19. The monthly subscription rate for a single periodical in 1995
result of these efforts was a roughly equivalent number of was in the range of INR 100–150 (USD 3–5), while the ma-
responses from each time block and from each day of the jority of readers at the libraries had monthly household
week. The survey occurred when there were no major reli- incomes of less than INR 3000 (less than USD 100).
gious festivals or public holidays that affected patronage of 20. Many thanks to the Director of the State Department of
the facilities. The authors were personally involved in pres- Public Libraries, T. Mallesappa, and to the staff of the State
entation of questionnaires to users in the west zone and Central Library, who gave access to the system and dis-
part-time in the east zone. Most of the time, after prelimi- cussed its features with Heitzman on 17 August 1999.
nary briefings, staff working at the libraries solicited the par-
ticipation of patrons and administering the questionnaires. Abstract
14. The zone recording the highest percentage of students (50
percent) was the south, where the 1989 study (see above) This article describes the development of the public library
found that 56 percent of its members were students. It is system in the state of Karnataka, India, several exercises in its
possible that students gravitated to this library because, as evaluation during the mid-1990s, and the current direction
the former center of the city library system, its research of its planning. After outlining the system in the rural dis-
collection was more extensive than those of the other zonal trict of Chickmagalur, it concentrates on the system in the
libraries. Its collection of materials for preparatory exami- city of Bangalore, the state capital and India’s ‘Silicon Valley’.
nations was also the largest among the zonal libraries. Quantitative and qualitative survey data portray the
15. We may contrast the relatively small percentage of house- demographics of library clientele, their information needs,
wife respondents with the study of the south zone (see their rating of library materials, facilities and personnel, and
above) that revealed 12 percent of registered members as the relationship between their evaluations and the prelimi-
housewives. It appears that the large number of walk-in nary stages of automation. Analysis focuses on issues of age,
clients during the course of the day, with a different gender gender, trajectories of career development, and the rural–ur-
profile, statistically swamps the registered membership. ban divide in determining the future planning of the system.
16. Peculiarities of the response pattern to the questionnaire
challenge the validity of these data on family size. The Eng-
lish form was worded only to capture children going to James Heitzman is an Associate Professor in the College of
school, so infants might not appear. But even on the Arts and Sciences, Georgia State University, PO Box 4117,
Kannada form, which included separate lines for number Atlanta, GA 30302-4117, USA. Tel: +1-(404)-651-2250; Fax:
of children and number of school-age children, the vast ma- +1-(404)-651-1745; Email: [email protected]
jority of even married persons left this section empty. Que-
ries in this direction seemed to strike users as too personal
or too distant from the purposes of the survey, and they A.Y. Asundi is a Professor in the Department of Library and
were apparently reluctant to volunteer such information. Information Science, Bangalore University, Bangalore 560056,
17. A locational bias may exist in these data, based on the places India. Email: [email protected]

Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000 153

 EVALUATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN INDIA

MORE ON LIBRARIES IN KARNATAKA

Neglect of structural comforts in libraries.
L. Aswath. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 4 (1) Jul 1999, pp. 95–101. tbls. refs.
Examines the planning and utilization of space for different functions in three University Grants Commission (UGC) fi-
nanced university libraries, located in Karnataka State, India: Bangalore University, Karnatak University and Mysore Univer-
sity. Analyses the planning aspects on the basis of recommendations made by the UGC and standards provided by the Indian
Standards Institution (ISI). Findings indicate that the planners have not given due thought to the application of ISI standards
and UGC recommendations made for different types of buildings resulting in wastage of space.

Rural libraries in Karnataka.

B.S. Biradar. Library Science with a Slant to Documentation and Information Studies, 36 (1) Mar 1999, pp. 35–41. tbls. refs.
Describes the library situation in some rural parts of Karnataka, India. Describes the collection sizes, services, staff, buildings
and furniture. Suggests remedies for improvement, notably in holdings of agriculture related materials.

The public library service in Bangalore.

A.Y. Asundi, J. Heitzman. Library Science with a Slant to Documentation and Information Studies, 36 (2) Jun 1999, pp .83–
102. tbls. refs.
Discusses the condition of public libraries in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, during the 1990s and their position within the
larger context of the city’s urbanization. Describes the client population reached by the services and assesses the ability of the
library system to provide relevant sources and services. The methodology, based on user evaluation, directly addresses the
problem of client involvement in library system development. The findings suggest directions for the management of change
in the Bangalore library and information systems.

(From Library and Information Science Abstracts)

154 Information Development, vol. 16, no. 3, September 2000