Sibal moots neighbourhood libraries
By IANSSaturday, October 16, 2010
NEW DELHI - Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Saturday mooted a neighbourhood book policy, with libraries and reading rooms across the country.
The aim should be that in the manner of neighbourhood schools, there should be neighbourhood libraries and reading rooms, Sibal said speaking at the conclusion of a round table on the new draft national book promotion policy.
The HRD minister asked the task force to rework on the draft accordingly and also asked it to hold meetings with students and parents who are also the stake-holders.
He also suggested to the task force to look at preparing a pricing policy for books, which would be advisory and not mandatory and would be consistent with international norms.
Publishing e-books, translating books in various languages and making available electronic manuscripts of books to Braille book publishers were some other suggestions given by Sibal.
Underlining the need for a policy framework to reach out to potential authors, Sibal suggested setting up of a national-level website providing authors easy access to publishers.
The round table was attended by publishers, authors, academicians and representatives from the ministries of information and broadcasting and culture.
