A Study of Information Literacy Development of Public Libraries

India has experienced growing population of literate and educated citizens due to various efforts in universalisation of elementary education through programmes like, SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (SSA), District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), and National Literacy Mission and so on. On the other hand, for the facilitating educated citizens with the adequate documentary and knowledge resources, government and other agencies have established public libraries. The community information centres and village knowledge centres are the recent additions to this effort that would transform India into an information society, where information and knowledge resources are considered as critical ingredient for development. But problem is with the effective and efficient use, consumption and evaluation of information resources, so that informed citizen can take right decisions. Here information literacy can play a vital role in educating the users of libraries on various information and documentary resources, where to start searching of information, and compare retrieved information, how to communicate their information or findings to the general masses and experts, and so on. In addition to borrow books for entertainment and leisure, public libraries can also disseminate information on community development, best practices, literature, culture, trade, education, etc. which may be further elaborated when needs arise. Information seekers may want consolidated or exhaustive information. To provide right information to the users, public librarians need to be trained to develop information literacy competency and should able to educate the user that will make user information literate.