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THE NATURE OF A NATIONAL LIBRARY
BADARU AYOTUNDE SEUN APRIL 2013
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I am sure from the word
“national” you will have an educated guess of what this type of library is and
probably what it entails. This idea you
posses will definitely help you to understand other important aspects of this
topic.
Any national library is
a reflection of a nation’s level of development in creativity, education,
literacy among others, it is therefore important that individuals have
knowledge of this important aspect of the nation’s development. Therefore, knowledge about the nature of a
national library is vital to every individual in a country.
This paper will focus
on the national library using the formation, funding, functions or services as
parameters to determine its nature and its entire makeup.
A National Library
A national library is a
library established by the government of a country and is backed up by law;
this law guides its operations, functions and services, being a library
established by the government, it seen as the apex library in any country; it
is the library with the highest authority in any country.
A national library
therefore being the apex library in a country is expected to oversee all other
libraries in that country either public, academic or special. In addition to this, a national library in
terms of structure is usually known for having a large physical structure
mainly because of its possession of information materials published in the
entire country and beyond, this is evident in most national libraries around
the world. Speaking of possessing
information materials, a national library acquires its materials mainly through
legal deposit; this will be explained later in this paper.
In terms of funds, a
national library is funded by the government through its budget allocations,
international grants, public funds and taxes levied. Funds allotted to the national library are
usually used for purchase of information materials, event planning and other
logistics.
Acquisition of
information materials from every part of the country automatically translates
to the fact that a national library can serve anybody in the country regardless
of status or field of study. From the
president who is the first citizen to the prisoner, the national library is
obligated by law to embrace individuals from all works of life; this brings us
to an important question.
Can a National Library be categorized as a Public Library?
A national library can
be seen as a public library in the sense that a national library is meant to
serve individuals from every aspect of the country and even beyond, this is the
same as the public library. A national
library although larger, powerful and highly recognized is a public library literarily,
because it isn’t restricted to certain users.
The variety of information materials in a national library also makes it
a public library; information materials acquired cut across every aspect of
human endeavor in a country, this therefore makes the national library public.
In terms of hierarchy
and recognition, a national library in a country is obviously higher than a
public library in a state or community, making the national library more
glorified than the conventional public library.
A public library is also one that is available at the grassroots and
sometimes remote areas of a country, this gives it better closeness to the
people within its catchment area unlike a national library which is usually
located at the capital city of a country making it open in most cases to only
elites.
Formation
A national library is
formed with a legal backing which can be an act (the National Library of
Nigeria was formed with the enactment of the National Library Act of
1964). Although in some cases, the
establishment of a national library is a product of a person’s idea and
observation which will then be taken up by the government and a law is setup to
suit the establishment (the National Library of Greece was formed from the idea
of one man which was later taken up by the government). In any case, a national library is formed and
empowered to perform its functions with the backing of the law and violation of
any aspect of the law will definitely attract penalties.
Functions
-Satisfying information needs: This
is perhaps the first and major function of a national library. A national library is primarily established
to satisfy the needs of individuals in a country irrespective of status. A national library therefore, will put in
place operational plan to ensure that these needs are satisfied and that every
individual gets the information they need.
A national library also goes beyond its country with this function by
spreading its tentacles to other national libraries and corporate bodies in
need of information.
-Legal
deposit: A national library is tasked with the function of
accepting legal deposits from authors, publishers, and libraries alike. Legal deposit is a function of a national
library that obligates anyone that writes a book in a country, or about a
country or about persons in a country to deposit a number of copies depending
on the country. This function is the
major reason for the library’s extensive collection of books in any country.
-Issuance of ISBN/ISSN: A national library also performs the
function of issuing International Standard Book Number for books published and
International Standard Serials Number for serials published. These numbers are uniquely different one from
another and are mark of quality and approval for book or serial published.
-Library or last resort: A
national library just like a Central Bank is also performs the function of last
resort. This function a national library
performs is directed to any other type of library in the country. All libraries in cases of emergency or need
refer back to the national library for assistance in terms of intellectual
property, research, corporate loans and other resources beyond their reach.
-Resource sharing and corporate loans: A national library also
performs the function of resource sharing i.e. the national library through its
vast resource can come to the aid for other libraries to share resources. Corporate loans are also a function that is
similar to resource sharing, corporate loans is usually done for a stipulated
time.
-Compilation of National Bibliography: A national bibliography is a
systematic listing and description of books (in terms of author, title, year or
production and so on) that are present in a library’s holdings. A
national library owns virtually all the publications in a country, thereby
making it possible for it to perform the function of compiling the national
bibliography of that country. In most
cases, the library catalogue of most national libraries can serve as national
bibliography because it is very similar and performs almost the same function.
-Research
Support: A
national library also provides research support to researchers, experts,
professionals and corporate bodies through its possession of vast and extensive
books. The national library also houses
historical information materials such as speeches of important country men,
national calendar, national conference proceedings and so on which are useful
to research papers around the world.
Conclusion
A national library is a
symbol of a country’s intellectual capacity and a repository of knowledge for
any individual irrespective of nationality or status. A national library therefore, through its
resources promotes cultural, educational and recreational activities in a
country. It is therefore important that
a national library is equipped to perform its functions effectively and proper
awareness is provided to ensure that individuals are not ignorant of the
immense benefits of a national library for research and intellectual support.
Resource sharing,
consortium and inter library loan is also a major channels that national
libraries can connect for better service delivery and eventually spread ideas
of development and innovation from developed countries to the developing ones.
