Culture ministry to hold ‘festival of libraries’ on August 5-6; will launch ranking framework for libraries

NEW DELHI: The libraries division of the ministry of culture will hold a two-day ‘festival of libraries’ on August 5 and August 6. The festival will be open to all and is set to be held in Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. The culture ministry’s ‘festival of libraries’, a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) celebration, is in line with prime minister Narendra Modi's vision for development and digitization of libraries and for encouraging a culture of reading in lndia.

The two-day festival will also see the launch of the National Ranking Framework for national, state, district and local level libraries and institutional and individually owned libraries. The survey will be used for ranking and felicitation of the libraries and individuals’ involvement in management of libraries, across the country. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the universities and colleges to fill a form to rank libraries under state government purview on a benchmark of standards devised for the libraries.

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The festival, as per an official statement, seeks to highlight iconic libraries from across the world and initiate a conversation on the modernization and digitization of libraries, and for action-oriented policy for the development of model libraries in lndia down to the village and community levels.

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The festival of libraries, as per the statement, will host a diverse audience of over 1,000 library professionals, academics, scholars and students. The event aims to bring together

stakeholders across the board, from librarians and academics to district collectors of the 100

aspirational districts and directors of model libraries to develop a roadmap for encouraging libraries to become the drawing room of the community and for the readers to emerge as

future Leaders, in consonance with the spirit of a country that reads, is a country that leads, it added.