A presentation on types of libraries by Dr. Keshava, Professor, Department of Studies and Research in Library and Information Science, Tumkur University, Karnataka, India.

1. TYPES OF
LIBRARIES

2. Types of Libraries
Broadly there are four types of libraries :
1. Public Library
2. Academic Library : It can be categorized in to
three types
a) School Library
b) College Library
c) University Library
3. Special Library ; and
4. National Library

3. PUBLIC LIBRARY
•Definition/s
•Objectives
•Functions

4. DEFINITIONS
UNESCO Public Library Manifesto 1949 – revised -1972, a
public library is-
• established under the “clear mandate of law”;
• maintained wholly from “public fund”;
• levies no “direct charge” (fees) from its users;
• open “for free and equal “ use by all members of the community.
• Agent for the fostering of peace and spiritual welfare through
the minds of men and women.

5. Dr. S.R.Ranganathan -Public Library is
“a public institution or establishment charged with
the care of collection of books and the duty of
making them accessible to those who require the
use of them. ”
This definition describes two functions of a library:
i) the care of a collection of books means
protection and preservation of collection.
ii) to make them accessible in real sense so that
the right person can get right information at
the right time.

6. In other words, A Public Library is
A social institution established by law, financed by public
fund, open for all without any discrimination, for general
and free diffusion of knowledge and information in the
community.
It is the obligation of government to establish a public
library system throughout the country at national, state
and local levels. Besides this, the rural and suburban areas
should also be covered by branch and mobile libraries.

7. OBJECTIVES
The main objectives are
1. To provide up-to-date and authentic information
2. To provide services free of cost;
3. To provide a harmless and elevating use of leisure;
4. To be responsible for preservation and development of
cultural and antiquarian heritage of the community.

8. FUNCTIONS
A modern public library performs different functions in
the society to achieve its objectives and works as:
A. Information Dissemination Centre
B. Life Long Learning Centre
C. Community’s Intellectual Centre
D. Recreation Centre
E. Community’s Culture Preservation
Centre
F. Instrument of Social Change

9. A) INFORMATION DISSEMINATION CENTRE
For this purpose it collects, processes and then disseminates
up-to-date and authentic information on all subjects according to the
information needs of Information the local community.
For example:
Illiterates AUDIO-VISUAL Aids
Visually-impaired (Blind) AUDIO-VISUAL Aids
and Braille Books
It also provides mobile services to those members of the
community who are incapable to come to the library in urban as well
as in rural areas. For example, patients, old age persons, prisoners
and persons with disabilities etc.

10. B) LIFE LONG LEARNING CENTRE
1) Peoples University
2) Provides a strong base for adult education programmes. To cultivate reading
habits among children at an early age.
3) Acquires documents for all modes of education systems especially for adult
education, non-formal, and self education systems.
4) It provides latest information for competency by self learning.
For example, documents on methods of agricultural operations, poultry, bee-
keeping; marketing the local products etc. so that people engaged in these
occupations would be benefited.

11. C) COMMUNITY’S INTELLECTUAL CENTRE
By organizing seminars, debates, exhibitions, lectures etc. it tries to
involve each and every person of the society in such activities so that
they can exchange their ideas, experiences, suggestions etc. and thus
develop their interest to perform as an active part of the society.
D) RECREATION CENTRE
A public library performs this function also. It provides refreshment for
man’s spirit by the provision of documents like fiction, audio visuals
etc. for relaxation, pleasure and entertainment.

12. E) COMMUNITY’S CULTURE PRESERVATION CENTRE
A public library works as a cultural centre also. It promotes
different cultural activities of that locality by organizing cultural
programmes such as dramas, music concerts, folk dances, puppet
shows etc. in its premises. These programmes provide entertainment
as well as develop communal harmony in the society. It conserves
culture and art and also makes its further transmission.

13. F) INSTRUMENT OF SOCIAL CHANGE
It works as an effective instrument to create awareness in the
society. By organizing seminars, debates, workshops, exhibitions etc.
it creates awareness regarding contemporary political and social
issues and stigmas in the society.

14. G) REPRESENTATIVE OF DEMOCRACY
A public library represents the real meaning of democracy.
By providing equal access to all community members without any
bias it enhances equality and social justice, promotes intellectual
freedom and advancement of knowledge, generates in the young
generation a sense of purposefulness dedication and confidence in
themselves and faith in democracy’s future.

15. ACADEMIC LIBRARY

16. An Academic Library has been defined as:
“a library which is associated or attached with any
educational institution to support its educational
programmes”.
Academic library is an integral part of formal education
system which provides time bound education from primary
school level to university level.
Three categories-
1. School Library
2. College Library
3.University Library.

17. SCHOOL LIBRARY
• Definition
• Objectives
• Functions

19. DEFINITION
A library associated or connected with a school
and used by the students, teachers and staff of
that school is called a SCHOOL LIBRARY.

20. OBJECTIVES
A school library has the following objectives-
1. It supports all educational programmes of the
school;
2. It cultivates reading habits in school children;
3. It develops interest to use the library for
their overall development;
4. It inculcates the habit of seeking help of
additional sources other than text books;
5. It develops self-learning skills of students;
Contd…

21. Contd…
• It nurtures good moral values and principles in the
children;
• It cultivates a feeling of respect and love for
nation andIt helps teachers to improve their
teaching
expertise;
its culture in the students;
• • It keeps the teachers and management informed
with the latest updates in education sector.

22. FUNCTIONS
To achieve the above said objectives a school
library performs the following functions-
1) It provides suitable documents
2) It makes available text books and other
additional reading material
3) It procures handy documents, illustrated picture
books with bold and large fonts to create the
interest of children in reading.
Contd..

23. Cont…
4. It procures latest teaching learning material -
CD, audio-visuals etc. to improve the teaching
skills of teachers.
5. It keeps reference books, dictionaries, year
books, directories, encyclopaedias, travel books.

24. Cont…
7) It makes available biographies, autobiographies of
freedom fighters and other national and international
personalities to develop respect and love for nation and
humanity.
8) It procures magazines like India Today, Readers Digest
etc., different newspapers, and other light reading material
like fiction books, general knowledge books, poetry books.
9) It provides books of simple and meaningful stories of
classics, panchtantra, animals and birds to give moral
values and ethics to children.

25. COLLEGE LIBRARY
• Definitions
• Objectives
• Functions

26. DEFINITION
A library attached or associated with a college and used
by teachers, students and staff of the college is known as
COLLEGE LIBRARY.
For example:
DAV College Library, Ramjas College Library,
Shyamlal College Library; Delhi College of Engineering
Library etc.

27. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of a college library are as follows:
• It helps in all educational and instructional programmes of
the college;
• It develops a habit of deep and advanced studies of subjects
beyond the text books of subjects, in students;
• It informs the teachers with latest up-dates in their respective
subject area;

28. FUNCTIONS
To achieve its objectives a college library performs
the following functions:
1.Develops collection by acquiring different
documents like textbooks, audio-visuals etc.
related to various courses offered by the college ;
2. Procures advanced books other than text books
develop a habit of advanced studies among
college students.

29. 3. Acquires reference books
4. Competitive exam books etc. are provided by the
library;
5. Procures newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines

30. 6.Subscribes useful journals, research bulletins on
different subjects as per the recommendations of
faculty (teachers).
7.Practice inter-library loan on demand of its users.
8. Provides light reading material like fiction,
biographies, magazines, travel book guides,
audio-visuals etc. to give healthy leisure time to
its users;

31. 9.Procures general reference books such as
dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias,
yearbooks as well as some subject specific
reference books.
10.Proper classification, cataloguing, shelf
arrangement, display of new arrivals.
11.Provides orientation training to its new users to
use the library and disseminate information time
to time regarding new library services and latest
books.

32. UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
• Definitions
• Objectives
• Functions

33. A library attached or associated with a university
It is also known as the heart of university.
Krishan Kumar “a university library is a part of a university set up.
Therefore, it exists to serve the objectives of its parent organization.
In other words, a university library should aim to advance the
functions of its university. It should reflect character of the
university”.

34. OBJECTIVES
• To provide facilities for all teaching, learning, educational
and research programmes of the university;
• To cater to the information needs of teachers, students,
researchers associated with the university;
• It provides facilities to its users for intellectual
development which is a power of acquiring ideas through
individual efforts;
• Providing latest knowledge to teachers in their field for
effective teaching it makes transmission of knowledge
possible.

35. FUNCTIONS
The universally recognized basic functions performed by a
University Library are:
1. By procuring comprehensive range of documents including books,
manuscripts, journals, magazines, newspapers etc. on varied
subjects, it conserves knowledge and ideas.
2. By processing the procured documents with the help of
classification, cataloguing, proper shelf arrangements it gives easy
and open access to knowledge to its users;
3. In order to organize huge collection of documents it keeps them in
different sections on the basis of their categorization like text book
section, reference section, journal section, thèses section etc.;
4. It provides facility of inter-library loan to its users if document
desired by user is not available in the library;

36. 5. Modern university library interacts with different information
networks.
6. It also provides entertainment and healthy leisure to users by
providing different newspapers, magazines, short story books,
fiction, internet facility etc.
7. It gives the user orientation training to new enrolled users to make
them feel at home and to acquaint them with the library system so
that they could make maximum use of library services;
8. It provides reference service through reference section to establish
a contact between the right reader and the right document in a
personal way to attract more users;

37. SPECIAL LIBRARY
•Definition
•Objectives
•Functions

38. In 20th century with the development of industrial,
technological and scientific advances the concept of special
libraries came in to existence. The growing need for specialized
information for further development and research came to play a
vital role in the expansion of special libraries.
DEFINITION
American Library Association (ALA ) glossary of library and
information science-SPECIAL LIBRARY is “a library
established, supported and administered by a business firm,
private corporation, association, government agency, or other
special interest group or agency to meet the information needs
of its members or staff in pursuing the goals of the
organisation. Scope of collections and services is limited to the
subject interest of the host or parent organization”.

39. ON SOME SPECIAL SUBJECT/ FIELD- For example, National
Science Library, National Library of Medicine, libraries of
government and non-government organizations like Parliament
Library, library of Ministry of Law.
OF SPECIAL KIND OF DOCUMENTS - For example, National
Library for Blind, Dehradun keeps special collection of Braille and
audio books for persons with visual impairment, Library of Indian
Standards Institute (ISI) mainly keeps collection of patents.
FOR SOME SPECIAL USER GROUP like patients, children etc.
For example Children’s Section in Delhi Public Library.

40. Examples of Special Library
For example :
National Library for the Blind, it deals with special kind of
documents i.e. Braille and audio books and also with special user
group i.e. persons with visual impairment or blind.
Library of Supreme Court of India, which keeps major
collection of court cases and decisions which are mainly used by
lawyers and judges, thus the user group is also of a special kind.
Library of Indian Standards Institute (ISI) mainly keeps
patents which are special type of document and used by some special
user group and related to some specific field or area.

41. OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of a special library are as follows:
1. It serves the information needs of its parent body;
2. It disseminates updated and significant information in the
concerned field;
3. It gives pinpointed information promptly;
4. It provides desired information to its users on demand
and mostly in anticipation;
5. The users also get new ideas and inspiration to initiate
new projects.

42. FUNCTIONS
Functions
1.It selects and procures documents and other
sources of relevant information;
2.It processes the procured information or
documents with the help of classification,
cataloguing, shelf arrangements etc. to make them
easily available for the users;
3.It subscribes to a good number of journals related
to its area;
Contd..

43. 4.It provides indexing and abstracting services to the
users to save their time;
5.It provides reference services to the users by
telephone, by post or by e-mail;
6.It gives current awareness service (CAS) regarding
new arrivals and latest services to the users;
7.It provides Selective Dissemination of Information
(SDI) service to the users as per their subject
interest and requirement;
8.It also gives document delivery service (DDS) to
its users at their doorstep;
Contd..

44. Contd.
9. It brings out library bulletins weekly/fortnightly/monthly to
keep the users up to date with latest information;
10. It gives translation services to provide the desired information
to the users in their convenient language.;
11. It also provides intranet as well as internet facility to the users
in order to access the library collection and catalogues at their
desktop;
12. It responds to the reference queries and make retrospective
search of literature as per the users’ demand;
13. It compiles bibliographies, union catalogues, documentation
lists, newspaper- clippings, accession lists etc. to save the time
of its users;
14. It provides inter library loan (ILL) facility to the users;
15. It gives user orientation training through personal interaction
with users and by library brochure and pamphlets to make the
users familiar with the library collection and services.

45. NATIONAL LIBRARY
• Definition
• Objectives
• Functions

46. DEFINITION
A NATIONAL LIBRARY keeps all documents
of and about a nation under some legal provision
and thus represents publications of and about the
whole nation.
For example:
National Library of India-Kolkata,
British Library-London,
Library of Congress- Washington,
The Russian State Library-Moscow,
The Bibliotheque Nationale-Paris.

47. The UNESCO defines
Libraries which, irrespective of their title, are responsible for-
1. Acquiring and conserving copies of all significant publications
published in the country;
2. Functioning as a 'depository' library, whether by law or under
other arrangements.
And performs the following functions also:
1. producing a national bibliography;
2. holding and keeping up to date a large and representative
collection of foreign literature, including books about the country;
3. Acting as a national bibliographical information centre;
4. compiling union catalogues;
5. publishing the retrospective national bibliography.

48. objectives:
1. It procures nation’s all literary output under legal
provision as well the foreign literature about that nation;
2. It works as a depository house.
3. It disseminates information about the stored and procured
literary wealth through different publications and
services;
4. It works as a national referral and bibliographic exchange
centre;
5. It coordinates with the other libraries in a country to
develop a national library system.

49. Functions
1. It works as a national depository library for all literary
work published in the country;
2. It freely collects copies of all published material in the
country under legal provision or by law;
3. It also procures foreign publications about the country;
and by the authors of Indian origin living abroad;
4. It compiles national bibliographies to disseminate
information about literary output of the country;
5. It works as an apex body of the national library system
and coordinates with other libraries in the country;
6. It develops and maintains different bibliographic data
bases and works as a national bibliographic centre;

50. Contd…
7. It also exchanges data and documents at national and
international level;
8. It produces national union catalogues, current, retrospective
and subject bibliographies;
9. It makes provision for practical training of library
professionals ;
10.It procures and preserves manuscripts;
11.It works as a national referral centre of authentic
information for all literary work of the country and responds
to all national and international queries from individuals as
well as from private and government organizations.

51. Sl. No. Type of Library Example
1 Public Library a) Delhi Public Library,
b) Trivenrum Public Library
c) Government Maulana Azad Central
Library
d) Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library
(Patna)
2 Academic Library:
School Library
College Library
University Library
a) Delhi Public School Library
b) Ramjas College Library (Delhi),
c) Jawahar Lal Nehru University Library
(Kurukshetra University).
3 Special Library a) Parliament Library (Delhi)
b) National Dairy Research Institute’s Library,
c) HRD Ministry’s Library (Delhi),
d) National Institute of Visually handicapped
Library (Dehradun).
4 National Library a) National Library, Calcutta (India),
b) British Library (U.K.),
c) Library of Congress (USA)