Which oriental library in Patna was declared an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament in 1969?

Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

Assertion (A): An Indian organisation serving print-disabled readers may make an accessible-format copy of a book without the publisher's permission. Reason (R): The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted in 2016. Choose the correct option.

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Village knowledge centres, an early model of community information systems in India, were pioneered from 1998 by:

The National Informatics Centre

The Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation

The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, is best known for:

The critical edition of the Mahabharata

The Indian National Bibliography

The critical edition of the Mahabharata

Library and Information Systems II: Corporate, Agricultural and Engineering Systems; Archives, Museums and Oriental Libraries; Community Information Systems; and Services for Persons with Disability, Children and Women

The last chapter of the course covers Unit X's items 5 to 10: corporate library and information systems, agricultural and engineering and technological systems, archives, museums and oriental libraries, community information systems, and information services and systems for persons with disability, children and women. The last item carries the second of Ranganathan's laws, every reader his or her book, to the users libraries have most often failed, and it is taught with the laws that now govern access: the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, the Marrakesh Treaty and the 2012 amendment to the Copyright Act.

1. The corporate library and information system

A corporate library or information centre serves a business firm: its managers, researchers, engineers, marketing and legal staff. Its aim is to give the company a competitive advantage by supplying timely, accurate, often confidential information for decisions. Services include business and competitive intelligence (monitoring competitors, markets, technologies and regulations), market and industry research, company and financial information, patent and standards searches, news monitoring and alerts, due diligence for mergers, support for research and development, and knowledge management of the company's own reports, lessons learned and expertise. Sources are commercial databases of company, financial and market data, patent databases, standards, trade literature and news services, often licensed at high cost. Corporate information professionals must show return on investment and increasingly work as embedded analysts or knowledge managers rather than in a separate library.

2. Agricultural, and engineering and technological, library and information systems

Element	Agricultural system	Engineering and technological system
Institutions	ICAR institutes, state agricultural universities (the first, at Pantnagar, 1960), Krishi Vigyan Kendras (the first in 1974), with the library of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, among the largest agricultural libraries in Asia	IITs, NITs, IIITs, engineering colleges and industrial research laboratories
Collections	Research reports, theses, extension literature in regional languages, statistics, maps, seed and soil data	Standards, patents, technical reports, conference proceedings, handbooks, trade literature and e-journals
Databases and tools	AGRIS (FAO), AGRICOLA (US National Agricultural Library), CAB Abstracts, the AGROVOC thesaurus; ICAR's Krishikosh repository	Compendex (from the Engineering Index, begun in 1884), INSPEC, IEEE Xplore, standards and patent databases
Consortia and networks	CeRA (2007) for ICAR institutes and agricultural universities	INDEST-AICTE (2003), now within e-ShodhSindhu; NPTEL course materials
Reaching end users	Extension through KVKs, Kisan Call Centres (from 2004), mobile advisories and community radio, in local languages	Technical enquiry services, patent and standards searches for industry, current awareness for R&D

🎯 Why agricultural information must travel to the farm

The end users of agricultural research are farmers who may not read English or visit a library. So the agricultural information system extends beyond libraries into extension: research is repackaged into simple advice in local languages and delivered through extension workers, call centres, SMS and radio. That repackaging is an information service in its own right.

3. Archives, museums and oriental libraries

Archives preserve records, documents created in the course of activity by governments, organisations and people, that are kept for their enduring value as evidence and information. Two principles govern archival arrangement: provenance (respect des fonds), keeping records of one creator together and not mixing them with others, and original order, keeping them in the order the creator used. Archivists appraise records to decide what to keep, arrange and describe them in finding aids (encoded today in EAD), preserve them and make them accessible. The National Archives of India began as the Imperial Record Department in Calcutta in 1891 and later moved to New Delhi; the Public Records Act 1993 governs the management of central government records. The International Council on Archives (1948) is the profession's international body. Museums collect, conserve, research and exhibit objects; the International Council of Museums adopted its current definition in 2022, describing a museum as a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Museum libraries and documentation units catalogue objects, support curators and increasingly digitise collections for online access.

Oriental library	Location and date	Notes
Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library	Patna; opened to the public in 1891	Arabic and Persian manuscripts; declared an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament in 1969
Rampur Raza Library	Rampur	Indo-Islamic manuscripts and miniature paintings; an institution of national importance under an Act of 1975
Saraswathi Mahal Library	Thanjavur	Built up under the Nayak and Maratha rulers; manuscripts in Sanskrit, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu
Government Oriental Manuscripts Library	Chennai, 1869	South Indian and Sanskrit manuscripts
Oriental Research Institute and Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute	Mysuru (1891) and Pune (1917)	Sanskrit manuscripts and Indological research; BORI produced the critical edition of the Mahabharata

⚠️ Libraries, archives and museums differ in what they hold

Libraries hold mostly published, multiple-copy material arranged by subject; archives hold unique records arranged by provenance and original order, never reclassified by subject; museums hold objects. Oriental libraries sit between library and archive: their manuscripts are unique, so they need archival care and descriptive catalogues. Today all three meet in digital cultural heritage portals.

4. The community information system

A community information system organises information for the everyday needs of a local community, on health, agriculture, employment, education, government schemes and entitlements, legal rights, transport and local events, and delivers it through a network of access points, often with referral to the agencies that provide the services. In India it has taken several forms beyond public libraries: village knowledge centres, pioneered by the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Puducherry from 1998; community information centres set up in the blocks of the north-eastern states in the early 2000s; and common service centres, approved under the National e-Governance Plan in 2006, which deliver government and business services digitally at village level. Community radio, panchayat notice boards and self-help group networks carry the same information. The principles are local relevance, local languages, participation of the community in deciding content, and linkage between information and action.

5. Information services and systems for persons with disability, children and women

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, which replaced the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995, recognises 21 specified disabilities and requires accessibility in buildings, transport, information and communication technology and services, which binds libraries run or funded by the state. The 2012 amendment to the Copyright Act (section 52(1)(zb)) lets any person or organisation working for persons with disabilities make and distribute accessible-format copies without the publisher's permission, and the Marrakesh Treaty (2013), which India was the first to ratify (2014), allows such copies to cross borders. Services for persons with disability include accessible buildings (ramps, lifts, tactile paths, accessible toilets and signage); accessible formats (Braille, large print, audio books, DAISY digital talking books and accessible EPUB 3); assistive technology (screen readers such as the free NVDA, screen magnifiers, refreshable Braille displays, text-to-speech and reading machines with OCR); accessible websites and catalogues meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 of 2018, and WCAG 2.2 of 2023); staff trained in disability awareness; and national services such as Sugamya Pustakalaya (2016), an online library of accessible books for print-disabled readers.

Group	Services and systems
Children	Children's sections with age-appropriate books and furniture, story hours, reading clubs and summer reading programmes, toy libraries, homework help, school library links; IFLA's Guidelines for Library Services to Children aged 0-18 (2018); publishers and promoters such as the National Book Trust and the Children's Book Trust (both 1957); NEP 2020's emphasis on reading and libraries for foundational literacy
Women	Information on health, legal rights, livelihoods, credit, safety and government schemes; women's studies documentation centres; digital literacy programmes; outreach through self-help groups and anganwadis; libraries as safe, welcoming spaces with flexible hours; gender-sensitive collections and services

Group

Services and systems

Children

Children's sections with age-appropriate books and furniture, story hours, reading clubs and summer reading programmes, toy libraries, homework help, school library links; IFLA's Guidelines for Library Services to Children aged 0-18 (2018); publishers and promoters such as the National Book Trust and the Children's Book Trust (both 1957); NEP 2020's emphasis on reading and libraries for foundational literacy

Women

Information on health, legal rights, livelihoods, credit, safety and government schemes; women's studies documentation centres; digital literacy programmes; outreach through self-help groups and anganwadis; libraries as safe, welcoming spaces with flexible hours; gender-sensitive collections and services

🧠 Three legal anchors for accessible library service

RPwD Act 2016 (21 disabilities; accessibility duties), Copyright Act section 52(1)(zb) from 2012 (accessible copies without permission), Marrakesh Treaty 2013 (cross-border exchange; India first to ratify, 2014). WCAG sets the technical standard for accessible websites.

Key takeaways

Corporate information centres give competitive intelligence, market, patent and financial information and knowledge management, and must show return on investment.
Agricultural systems link ICAR, agricultural universities (Pantnagar, 1960) and KVKs (1974) with AGRIS, AGRICOLA, CAB Abstracts, AGROVOC, Krishikosh, CeRA (2007) and extension; engineering systems rely on standards, patents, Compendex (Engineering Index, 1884), INSPEC and INDEST-AICTE (2003).
Archives follow provenance and original order; the National Archives of India began in 1891 and the Public Records Act dates from 1993; ICOM's museum definition dates from 2022; oriental libraries include Khuda Bakhsh (1891; national importance 1969), Rampur Raza (1975), Saraswathi Mahal, GOML Chennai (1869), ORI Mysuru (1891) and BORI Pune (1917).
Community information systems deliver local, everyday information through public libraries, village knowledge centres (MSSRF, 1998), community information centres and common service centres (NeGP, 2006).
Inclusive services rest on the RPwD Act 2016 (21 disabilities), Copyright Act section 52(1)(zb) (2012) and the Marrakesh Treaty (2013); they use Braille, DAISY, accessible EPUB, screen readers, WCAG and Sugamya Pustakalaya (2016), with children's services (IFLA guidelines, 2018) and women's information services.

Practice questions (10)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

How many specified disabilities does the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 recognise? Type the number.
Numerical answer — type the value.
Show answer
Answer: 21
The RPwD Act 2016 recognises 21 specified disabilities, up from 7 under the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 that it replaced, and imposes accessibility duties that apply to public libraries.
The archival principle that records of one creator should be kept together and not mixed with those of others is:
1. Sought heading
2. Literary warrant
3. Bradford's law
4. Provenance (respect des fonds)
Show answer
Answer: D — Provenance (respect des fonds)
Provenance keeps each creator's records together; with original order it is the foundation of archival arrangement. Literary warrant is a classification principle, sought heading a cataloguing canon, and Bradford's law a bibliometric law.
Which oriental library in Patna was declared an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament in 1969?
1. Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library
2. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
3. Saraswathi Mahal Library
4. Rampur Raza Library
Show answer
Answer: A — Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library
Khuda Bakhsh, opened in Patna in 1891, became an institution of national importance in 1969. Rampur Raza received that status by an Act of 1975, Saraswathi Mahal is in Thanjavur and BORI is in Pune.
Which of the following are agricultural information databases or tools? Select all that apply.
1. AGRIS
2. AGRICOLA
3. Compendex
4. AGROVOC
Show answer
Answer: A — AGRIS; B — AGRICOLA; D — AGROVOC
AGRIS (FAO), the AGROVOC thesaurus (FAO) and AGRICOLA (US National Agricultural Library) serve agriculture. Compendex, from the Engineering Index, is an engineering database.
Assertion (A): An Indian organisation serving print-disabled readers may make an accessible-format copy of a book without the publisher's permission. Reason (R): The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted in 2016. Choose the correct option.
1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
3. A is true, but R is false
4. A is false, but R is true
Show answer
Answer: C — A is true, but R is false
A is true and R is false. Section 52(1)(zb) of the Copyright Act, added in 2012, permits accessible copies without permission; the Marrakesh Treaty was adopted in 2013, and India ratified it first, in 2014.
Village knowledge centres, an early model of community information systems in India, were pioneered from 1998 by:
1. The Indian Library Association
2. The M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
3. The National Informatics Centre
4. The Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation
Show answer
Answer: B — The M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
The M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation began village knowledge centres in Puducherry in 1998. NIC runs government networks, the RRRLF supports public libraries, and the ILA is a professional association.
Which of the following are accessible formats or technologies for print-disabled library users? Select all that apply.
1. Refreshable Braille displays
2. Screen readers such as NVDA
3. DAISY digital talking books
4. Microfiche
Show answer
Answer: A — Refreshable Braille displays; B — Screen readers such as NVDA; C — DAISY digital talking books
DAISY books, screen readers and refreshable Braille displays make text accessible to print-disabled readers. Microfiche is a reduced-size photographic format that is harder, not easier, for them to use.
A library runs a disability survey of 2,400 members and finds that 96 are print-disabled. What percentage of members are print-disabled? Type the number.
Numerical answer — type the value.
Show answer
Answer: 4
96 ÷ 2,400 × 100 = 4 per cent. A figure like this helps a library plan how many accessible-format titles and assistive workstations it needs, though surveys often undercount users who have stopped coming because services were inaccessible.
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, is best known for:
1. The Colon Classification
2. The Kriti Sampada database
3. The Indian National Bibliography
4. The critical edition of the Mahabharata
Show answer
Answer: D — The critical edition of the Mahabharata
BORI, founded in 1917, prepared the critical edition of the Mahabharata from manuscripts across India. The INB is compiled by the Central Reference Library, the Colon Classification is Ranganathan's, and Kriti Sampada is the National Mission for Manuscripts' database.
A corporate information centre that monitors competitors, markets and technologies for a company's managers is providing:
1. Story hours
2. Stock verification
3. Competitive intelligence
4. Legal deposit
Show answer
Answer: C — Competitive intelligence
Monitoring the business environment for decision-makers is competitive (business) intelligence, a core corporate information service. Legal deposit belongs to national libraries, story hours to children's services, and stock verification to collection maintenance.