PART I. BACKGROUND MATERIAL

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Part I consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 deals with some terminological issues as well as with the origins, scope and aims of the guidelines and the methodology employed to compile them. Chapter 2 deals with the functions of national libraries and national library services, relating these to the national library and information needs identified by Line. Chapter 3 is concerned with four dimensions of the environment of national library services: political and administrative, legal, technological and that of library and information services. Chapter 4 outlines the main steps in the development and implementation of legislation.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 The need for legislation for national library services

As a cultural institution which is shaped by the society which needs and nurtures it, the library assumes many forms in different countries. In response to the different needs of various client groups, various types of libraries have evolved. Many of them, for example university, school and public libraries, are universally recognisable in spite of different national traditions. This is also true of national libraries. They too occur almost universally (Goodrum 1986). However, while national libraries can be distinguished as a particular type of library, they differ greatly from one another in respect of their origins, functions and status in their respective countries (Tyulina 1976; Line & Line 1979b).

The difficulty in determining the common elements which make a library a national library is reflected in the numerous attempts that have been made to determine and categorise national library functions (Burston 1973; Wilson 1987; Line 1993b). More seriously, in recent times doubts have been expressed concerning the future role of national libraries (Mchombu 1983, Line 1990). Can a country do without a national library? The majority of countries have national libraries and it is quite generally assumed that each country should have one. Unfortunately, in many of the countries which do have a national library, the national library is prevented by a variety of factors (chief among them lack of funds and effective powers) from performing the national functions which are assumed to be its raison d'tre. Many national librarians believe that this situation can be remedied, at least in part, by appropriate legislation.

From the various arguments that have been advanced for national library legislation, one can condense three underlying concerns which motivate those striving for national library legislation:

Resources: The first concern is to clarify the aims and functions of the national library vis--vis the state. A national library is too important an organ for its aims, functions and survival to be dependent on mere administrative decisions. It should be established by the legislature. If this is done, the legislature can hold the management of the national library accountable for the manner in which it pursues its enacted aim and carries out its statutory functions, while the management of the national library has a firm basis on which it can approach the legislature for the funding it needs to carry out its functions. Thus the legislation provides a more stable and dependable basis for the library's relationship with the state, and particularly for an adequate and reliable flow of funding.

Authority: The second concern is to provide a basis for the national library's relationships with other libraries and institutions. To carry out key national functions which entail, for example, cooperation with other institutions, initiating and coordinating national library and information programmes, encouraging standardisation, and carrying out national and international liaison tasks, the national library needs statutory recognition which gives it the necessary authority vis--vis other libraries.

Autonomy: The third concern is to gain a greater degree of autonomy for the national library, with particular emphasis on the competence of its board or council to determine priorities and to allocate resources in a flexible way in response to changes taking place in the library's environment (Lor 1987).

No amount of legislation can make up for a lack of the political will to adequately support and empower a country's national library. However, a sound legislative framework for a country's national library, which gives expression to the legislators' commitment to the institution, would appear to be a prerequisite for the allocation of the resources and powers such an institution needs to carry out national functions in the country's library and information services sector in a consistent, reliable and effective way.

1.2 Origins of the study

Participants in the Seminar concluded that each country should have a law on the national library, in which particular attention should be given to "the legal provision of the role of the national library in preserving the cultural heritage, the function of collecting the stock of national documents and foreign publications about the country, the function of the national bibliographic record, the leading position of the national library amidst the country's libraries, and its role in international cooperation between libraries" (Bagrova 1992:278). This conclusion is reflected in two of the ten resolutions passed at the conclusion of the Seminar:

1. It is desirable that every country should have a national library. Further, all national libraries that have no legislative base for their activities or that have outdated legislation must urge their governments to adopt laws ensuring efficient fulfilment of national library functions.

10. IFLA's Section on [sic] National Libraries, in collaboration with its regional sections, is urged to undertake the preparation of guidelines for establishing and improving a legislative base for national library activities. This work should take into account:

a) the changing information environment;
b) NATIS;
c) the international library and information community; and
d) work already done by UNESCO, IFLA, and international standards organizations.

1.3 Terminology

• the services of national libraries;
• library services (by any institutions) which are national in scope; or
• institutions that in certain countries are designated the "National Library Service".

In several countries an inhibiting degree of ambivalence has occurred in national library legislation as a result of confusion between these meanings. It is therefore important to distinguish between them explicitly.

1.3.1 National libraries

may be national in the sense that they contain the literary production of the nation; or in the sense that they are the nation's main book museum, containing a high concentration of the nation's treasures; or in the sense that they are leaders, perhaps co-ordinators, of the nation's libraries; or in the sense that they offer a national service (to the nation's libraries or population).

Heritage (emphasis on the nation's literary production, treasures). The national library which emphasises this dimension corresponds most closely to the older, "classical" national libraries. Care of collections is the central concern.

Infrastructure (emphasis on coordination, facilitation, leadership, and service to libraries). The national library which emphasises this is a more modern development. Service to libraries is the central concern.

Comprehensive national service (delivery of services to end-users, not merely in a reading room in the capital city, but throughout the country). The national libraries which emphasise this are mainly found in developing countries. Service to the people is the central concern.

The Unesco definition of a national library, which is still widely cited, places the primary emphasis on functions related to heritage, with a secondary emphasis on functions related to infrastructure:

Libraries which, irrespective of their title, are responsible for acquiring and conserving copies of all significant publications published in the country and functioning as a 'deposit' library, whether by law or under other arrangements. They will also normally perform some of the following functions: produce a national bibliography; hold and keep up to date a large and representative collection of foreign literature, including books about the country; act as a national bibliographical information centre; compile union catalogues; publish the retrospective national bibliography. Libraries which may be called 'national' but whose functions do not correspond to the above definitions should not be placed in the 'national libraries' category (Schick, 1971:8-9).

According to this definition what essentially distinguishes a national library are the responsibilities for acquiring and preserving the country's publications and the legal deposit function. The emphasis is on functions related to the national library's role as custodian of part of the national heritage. However, publication of the national bibliography, service as a "national bibliographic information centre" and the compilation of a union catalogue are examples of infrastructural tasks typical of a national library emphasising service to the country's libraries. Other infrastructural tasks are the administration of the national interlending system, the coordination of international agreements for the exchange of publications, and the development and promotion of national standards for bibliographic control.

For the purposes of the present guidelines the term "national library" is used to refer to a library which, regardless of its designation or legal status, is recognised as an outstanding national institution on account of

• the general pre-eminence of its collections, services and expertise;
• its comprehensive collections of the nation's recorded heritage (patriotica, including works published in the country, about the country, and by authors born in or associated with the country);
• its role in collecting, organising, preserving and making available the nation's heritage and in delivering information services based on this material;
• the provision of infrastructure for the effective functioning of the nation's libraries (for example by coordinating national bibliographic control and managing resource sharing systems); and/or
• its role in coordinating and providing leadership to the nation's libraries.

In effect, this covers national libraries emphasising heritage or infrastructure, or both. However, national libraries emphasising a nation-wide service to the people, are dealt with separately below.

1.3.2 National library services

The provision of a national service to the nation's population is somewhat further removed from traditional conceptions of national library functions. In these cases, the national library, then often called the "national library service" takes on for the country the role that a metropolitan, county, provincial or state library service plays for its city, county, province or federal state. This could involve the erection, equipping, stocking, servicing and staffing of branch or affiliated libraries serving communities throughout the country, including one or more of the following: public, school, hospital and prison libraries, and the special libraries serving the legislature and government departments and agencies.

The term "branch libraries" (also called "constituent libraries") implies that these are fully funded and controlled by the national library service. The term "affiliated libraries" implies that these may be operated in partnership with other authorities. For example, public or community libraries might be operated in partnership with local authorities or community structures, school libraries in partnership with the Ministry of Education, and government department libraries in partnership with the relevant ministries. In its fully developed form, the national library service would, alone or in partnership with other bodies, fund and control most of the libraries in the country, leaving only a few, such as university libraries and special libraries of parastatals, nongovernmental organisations and private companies, outside its sphere of direct influence. In such cases, the national library itself is regarded as a constituent part (for example, a division) of the national library service.

A "national library service" can therefore be defined as an organisation, primarily funded by the state, which is responsible for providing library services of one or more kinds to communities of defined types throughout the country through a network of branch (constituent) or affiliated libraries and service points. A national library service can include a national library (as defined in par. 1.3.1) as one of its constituent libraries or divisions.

In this document the term "national library/national library service" (abbreviated as NL/NLS) is used as a generic term to refer to the entities discussed in this and the previous paragraph. Where the terms "national library" is used by itself, it refers mainly to those national libraries emphasising heritage and/or infrastructure as described in par. 1.3.1. Where the term "national library service" is used by itself, it refers mainly to those national libraries emphasising nation-wide service to the people.

1.3.3 National services

1.4 Scope and emphasis

Firstly, the Pre-Session Seminar that gave rise to this project was targeted at national librarians of developing countries. Although the Pre-Session Seminar was not limited to this, there was a clear emphasis on national libraries in the developing countries. The project arose from one of the resolutions giving expression to the needs of national libraries in developing countries. This is illustrated by resolution 2 of the above-mentioned Seminar:

2. Although the importance of traditional national library functions is recognized in developing countries, it is recommended that emphasis should be placed on the following:

a) services to other libraries;
b) leadership in developing, coordinating, and maintaining an integrated national information system;
c) legal depository and national bibliographic centre roles; and
d) responsibility for the promotion of training and continuing education programmes.

Secondly, there is already an extensive literature on traditional national libraries and, as the IFLA Section of National Libraries pointed out in 1992, various fairly recent guidelines are already in existence for national libraries (Sylvestre 1987; Line 1989a; Cornish 1991).

1.5 Aims and objectives of the project

1.6 Methodology

• identify earlier reports, monographs and reviews of the literature and supplement these sources with more recent literature;
• identify existing legislation that is suitable as a model of good practice, with emphasis on more recent and innovative legislation. Use would be made of the legislation collected by the Russian State Library; and
• distil essential contents elements from the identified literature and legislation. The literature study was supplemented by interviews and correspondence with colleagues in selected national libraries of various types. During June and July 1995 interviews were conducted by the author with national librarians and other interested parties in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, the aim being to determine
• the current status of national library legislation in each of these countries;
• deficiencies that have become apparent since the legislation was implemented;
• the impact of such deficiencies on the functioning of the national library service;
• current plans for amending or replacing present legislation;
• factors influencing the nature and content of the legislation; and
• constraints on the development of legislation that may be inherent in the professional and political environment or in the legislative process.

Information collected in this way was supplemented by the author's own experience as a member of the team which drafted the South African National Libraries Act in 1983-1985, and as a participant in several recent national policy development exercises aimed at the reconstruction and development of library and information services for post-apartheid South Africa.