HYDERABAD : Minister for School Education N. Rajyalakshmi said the Government planned to deduct the money earmarked for libraries in the local bodies' funds and directly release the same to the libraries.

The Minister, who was speaking at the inauguration of the workshop on "Implementation and Use of Library Application Software in all the Public and Government Libraries of the State", said the intention was to provide corporate facilities even in village libraries as they would benefit the rural students.

NIC wins praise

Praising the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for providing the `e-grandhalaya' software package developed by it free of cost to the State, she requested them to connect all the public libraries across the State and make them available online for the common man.

She said the Government had already set aside Rs. one crore for computerising the libraries. Admitting that there was a manpower shortage, she said the vacancies would be filled up wherever necessary despite the computerisation.

She said the Competitive Entrance and Reference Units (CERU) would be extended to branch libraries and ten branch libraries in each district would be equipped with textbooks and preparation material for students preparing for competitive examinations.

Training for staff

Director of Public Libraries S. Ravi Kumar said that six library facilities at regional and district level would be connected first followed by district libraries and 1,449 branch libraries in phases.

"All the libraries are being provided with computers and training will be imparted to the staff," he said.

The facility would make available the index of different libraries at the click of a mouse.

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