An Appeal to the Honourable Prime Minister of India

Sub: Relocation of the GOI Libraries to the New Secretariat Complex, Central Vista 

Sir,

We understand that the Government of India is planning to construct a new secretariat complex to house the various ministries that are presently scattered in different buildings like Krishi Bhawan, Udyog Bhawan, Nirman Bhawan, Shastri Bhavan etc. All these building as well as the National Archives Annexe, IGNCA and National Museum host libraries and cultural artefacts

We, the members of the Library and Information Service (LIS) profession and Indian Heritage lovers, are immensely concerned about the relocation, reorganisation and conservation/preservation of the cultural heritage and books housed in libraries of these buildings. For instance, the Central Secretariat Library (CSL) in Shastri Bhawan is the second largest government library with more than one million volumes. The National Archives (Annexe) has the largest collection of old government records. IGNCA has more than 200,000 manuscripts collected under the National Mission for Manuscripts initiated by the earlier NDA government.

We earnestly appeal to you to take appropriate measures for proper relocation and upkeep of our precious heritage material. This will need suitable and accessible space for reorganising these cultural heritage for posterity. There will be a need for adoption of international standards for conservation/preservation of these materials; creation of appropriate climate controlled space for the artefacts and rare books. It is essential to have trained manpower to maintain and to provide service to the prospective users.

We suggest that a task force may be constituted by the government comprising academicians, library professionals, archivists, museum curators/conservationists and Indian heritage lovers for meticulous planning and execution as we have to reckon with a task of enormous magnitude. We all hope that necessary steps will be taken by the Government of India so that we do not lose even a minuscule of our rich heritage.

Please poll your opinion at the URL

http://bit.ly/lisprofessional

Yours Sincerely,
Library Science Professionals &
Indian heritage lovers