The Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954: A Curtailed Act

Introduction

The Delivery of Books Act in Public Libraries was established in 1954, and it was established in all states of India except Jammu and Kashmir.[1] According to the Act, each publisher of a book, newspaper, or serial must deliver a copy of the item to the National Library of India in Kolkata, and also a single copy to each of the three public libraries established by the government at the centre. The publisher must deliver the item within thirty days of the published date, as well as incur the cost of delivery. Further, in 1956, Act No. 27 (i.e. the amendment act) from the previous year of 1954, was brought, and it became the Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Amendment Act, No. 99 in 1956,[2] and the original act had become “The Delivery of Books “and Newspapers’ (Public Libraries) Act, 1954.” The amendment’s insertion of “and Newspapers” embraced serials as well.

The public libraries have been in bad shape due to neglect from the government in their functioning, this act on a preliminary level tries to ensure intellectual interests in the public libraries through its provisions, however, the scope of the act is limited owing to it conferring more delegated powers rather than substantive powers through itself. So, the limited features of the act must be acknowledged along with the object and purpose behind the act to gather where there has been a significant improvement in the functioning and conditions of libraries within the country, at the same time a nuanced view of the authors recommendation must also be seen through the act.

Features of the Act

All books and newspapers printed in the field that were included in the Act were to be delivered to the librarians of the three designated public libraries under the Book Delivery Act. The publishers were required to bear the expense of delivery, which had to be completed before to the publication of the book or newspaper. The delivery must be completed successfully using registered mail or by hand via a reputable courier. Further, according to the Act’s provisions, particularly Section 3A,[3] the publications must be delivered to the four public libraries (which were to be notified by the Central government) that must get a copy: Connemara Public Library, Chennai, Delhi Public Library, and The Central Library, Mumbai. And, the copy for the National Library in Kolkata should be in pristine quality and form.

Applicability over government publications

This requirement of delivery was equally made applicable to books and newspaper published under the authority of the government, excepting the books for office use, e.g. service manuals etc. This was provided under Section 7 of the Amended act, 1956.[4]

Acknowledgement of delivery

Additionally, the legislation provides Acknowledgement of Delivered Books and states that the librarian who gets the copy of the books supplied to the libraries must submit appropriate signed hand-written receipt by registered post after receiving the copies. That receipt is proof and must be kept in the records; if the librarian is not present to accept, a person authorised by the librarian receives such copy.[5]

Penalty

Further the act provides for penalty and as a penalty, if a publisher fails to follow any of the provisions or rules of this Act, the publisher would be fined for up to fifty rupees, and if the offence is related to a book, the publisher will be fined the total value of the book as a penalty, which will have to be paid to the library against whom the default is made by the publisher.

Cognizance of the offence

Furthermore, the amended act of 1956 under Section 6 provides for cognizance of the offence under the act, where (a) No court shall take cognizance of any crime punishable under this Act unless a complaint is filed by an official authorised in this capacity by the Central Government. And, (b) The offences under the act would be tried by a presidency magistrate or a magistrate of the first class, and not any court inferior to it.[6]

Skeleton Legislation: Delegation To Central Government

The nature of the act is such that it operates as a skeleton legislation and thus merely incudes definitional clauses and the outer limits of what are the requirements which are to be fulfilled by the publishers in development of the public libraries in India, by sending their publication to four major libraries, and the consequences of the default. Under Section 7[7] the act provides for the delegated legislation powers in favour of the Central government, it provides for rule making by the central government, and the rules made by the government are to be presented before both the houses of the parliament where these house could make necessary amendment to the rules and may pass it into such an effect.

Object & Purpose of The Act

The object and purpose of the act is that in order to develop public libraries in India and foster scholarships, it is thought important to set up good libraries, and for this purpose it is necessary to acquire no more than four copies of books and periodicals in India. 

At the same time the act aims to promote the upcoming publishers and give recognition to their work. The publisher gets his work published into best libraries and learning institutions placed in different parts of the world while gaining enlistment into the Indian National Bibliography, which enlists the works of such authors in 14 languages. The publishers get international recognition and the opportunity to publicise his work in many regions of the world. The expense of delivering books to libraries for publication is negligible as compared to the rise in economic value for the publisher following incorporation into the INB. The publishers will not be able to offer their work such wide exposure on their own.

The act enables the libraries to provides free library services to the residents of the place where they are situated. Circulation of books is one of the major activities of the library. The library offers services to children and also organizes cultural activities such as lectures, debates, exhibitions etc. Some of the outstanding features of the library activities are services to Blind, Prisoners and offers Mobile Library service also.[8]

Recommendations in lieu of the Act

Because the National Library is now under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture, Govt of India, the rules and regulations of the National Library Act, 1948[9], should be more flexible in issues of administration and policy. A National Library Board should be established with the authority to carry out the tasks, as well as an independent executive board for decision-making It will be easier to continue publishing the Indian National Bibliography if publications are registered with the National Library (started in 1958).[10] This could be stimulated since publishers do not adhere to the rule of law, which requires copies to be placed in any of the four national deposit libraries. Moreover, incorporating the Library Act, updated as the Delivery of Publications Act, into the ICT 1957 with the legal deposit provision may ensure that the whole nation’s published output is gathered and maintained for the future. The national library system must explore expanding the Library Act, which requires publishers to deposit a free copy of their book in one of four regional public libraries, to universities via strategic funding and supervision in order to preserve the writings and archives. The Legal deposit has a major impact on digital preservation and attempts to ensure that access to a nation’s published cultural content in libraries and archives is protected. As a result, the National Library should plan for digital preservation and establish rules for long-term access.[11] The deposit of books newspapers and electronic publication in libraries bill, 2013 is pending in the parliament, however, it has not yet been enacted.

Furthermore, as India celebrates two hundred years of publishing printouts, the govt and the Federation of Publishers’ along with Booksellers’ Association should collaborate to establish standards for the publishing industry, which will benefit both the book companies and library advancement. It should also help with the unveiling of the Cataloguing-in-Publication programme, which will make cataloguing easier. With the rise in online content publishing, the govt, in partnership with industry, must set standards for publishing houses, library resources, and software developers to establish information quality standards, similar to the National Information Standards Organization (USA), which will standardise and greatly benefit GLAM communities.[12]

Conclusion

The Library act is one of the most important governing laws for the functioning of libraries in India, the functioning of libraries apart from the act is being governed by the rules made by the administration, however, to ensure greater standards for the functioning of libraries it has become pertinent that more regulations be made under the act, and not leaving its scope curtailed to compulsion of sending books and publications to these major libraries. Measure such as to enhancement of the quality of the libraries shelves. (1) enlarge the collection of books in the libraries, making them more qualitative (2) acquisition of non-conventional books with critical appraisal must also be there (3) cultural events should also be within the scope of library activities to ensure their promotion.

Finally, the objective is that each linguist must have a larger opportunity to choose from languages they like and there must be greater accessibility of the book, and preserving the libraries being the central idea. As also,  blessing for up and coming and writers, allowing them to be present to readers across the country,  However, only 30% of books written every year make it to the library, which needs stringent application of the act and raising the penalty from Rs. 50 to more suitable amount in the current times.

---

References

[1] THE DELIVERY OF BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS (PUBLIC LIBRARIES) ACT, 1954. §1.

[2] The Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Amendment Act, 1956.

[3] Supra note 1.

[4] The Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Amendment Act, 1956. §7

[5] Supra note 1. §3A.

[6] The Delivery of Books (Public Libraries) Amendment Act, 1956. §6

[7] Supra note 1. §7.

[8] Sunil Tyagi, Use of Information Resources and Services at Delhi Public Library (DPL): A Survey, Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) 634 (2011).

[9] The National Library Act, 1948.

[10] S.C. Biswas, India’s national library: proposals to make it compatible with 21st century national library systems and services, 57 IASLIC Bulletin 10-12 (2012).

[11] I. Verheul, Networking for digital preservation: current practice in 15 national libraries, 1 K.G. Saur, München (2006).

[12] B Preedip Balaji, M S Vinay, J S Mohan Raju, A Policy Review of Public Libraries in India, 1 IIHS Working Paper Series (2018).