A National Library is an institution which is responsible for collecting, bibliographically recording, preserving and making available the nation’s cultural heritage. It provides information on practically all branches of knowledge and functions as a centre of coordination, planning and stimulation of the country’s library system.

The National Library of Mauritius:

The National Library was officially inaugurated on 8 December 1999. It is a Body Corporate, falling under the aegis of the Ministry of Arts and Culture, and governed by the National Library Board. The Minister appoints the Chairman, who must be a person of academic distinction. The Board consists mainly of professional librarians from a range of libraries across the country and representatives of various ministries.

LEGAL ENTITY

The National Library was established by the Government under the National Library Act, 1996 (Act No. 32) as a body corporate, under the Ministry of Arts and Culture. It was officially opened to the public in January 2000. VISION The National Library of the Republic of Mauritius aims to be a top class library in the provision of information services to the nation, thus contributing to its development.

The statutory responsibilities of the National Library are:

1. To promote and encourage the use of library materials;
2. To acquire library materials generally and in particular, a comprehensive collection of library materials relating to Mauritius;
3. To collect, receive and preserve all library materials required to be deposited in the library;
4.To acquire, process, preserve and disseminate information relating to Mauritius;
5. To lend library materials to the public through other libraries;
6. To make library materials available to the public for reference;
7. To participate in planning library services in Mauritius, promote research in library fields and provide assistance in information handling techniques;
8. To act as the national bibliographic centre and maintain the national bibliography and other bibliographies;
9. To act as an organising agency for national and international lending and exchange of library materials; and
10. To initiate and promote cooperation between the library and other libraries, both local and overseas.

NATIONAL LIBRARY COLLECTIONS

Under the terms of the National Library Act of 1996, the Library acquired the Mauritiana section of the Mauritius Institute Library and of the Archives Department. It is also the legal repository for any library materials printed or produced in Mauritius, as well as the repository for United Nations, UNESCO, World Bank and International Monetary Fund documents.

The National Library collection has some 230,000 items, consisting of books, periodicals, newspapers, video and audiotapes, records, maps, manuscripts and CDs. The main role of the National Library of Mauritius is to build the most comprehensive collection of our national heritage by collecting, receiving and preserving all publications and productions printed and produced in Mauritius for present and future generations. Such a huge stock of information related to Mauritius is often referred to technically as 'Mauritiana'. The principal source of acquisitions is the legal deposit system that stipulates that every printer in Mauritius is required to deposit free of charge with the Director of the National Library six copies of each publication, be it a book, periodical, report, newspaper or any other printed document. The same rule applies to all the producers in Mauritius who have to deposit six copies of any non-print materials produced within thirty days of the date on which such material was publicly performed or offered for sale.

To ensure that the Mauritiana collection is comprehensive, the National Library has also to acquire all print and non-print materials published and printed abroad, whose subject matter relates to Mauritius. The Library has also started building a collection of foreign reference material on subjects of interest to Mauritius. Meanwhile, conservation is of critical importance and ways and means are being worked out to preserve and conserve documents for generations to come. The National Library aims to become the premier library in Mauritius in the dissemination of both retrospective and current information, utilising modern techniques and technological advances. The National Library is at the service of the Mauritian people, for the purpose of their research, scholarship and creativity.

Vision and Mission of the National Library

Our Vision is

"To develop the National Library as the nation's leading documentary resource pertaining to the Republic of Mauritius and as the apex library, serving the needs of the Mauritian people at large in research, scholarship and creativity."

The mission of the National Library is to support the provision of, and access to, information for the nation. The National Library is committed to collect and preserve the collective memory of the country to best serve the nation, and to provide access to global information resources.

The National Library supports an educated, informed citizenry and the defence of intellectual freedom and equal access to information are hallmarks of our National Library. Our organisation is playing an integral role in connecting Mauritians to networks and new media.

SERVICES

National Library publications include a directory of libraries in Mauritius and Rodrigues. Most importantly, it publishes the National Bibliography of Mauritius on a regular basis. The second National Bibliography 2001-2003 has just been published.

Activities such as essay competitions, exhibitions, radio programmes, educational guided tours for students and teachers, press releases and updating of websites are organised in order to focus public interest on the Library's facilities and services. It provides a broad range of services to individuals, libraries and printers, with such facilities as scanning, electronic searches on the Internet, audio-visual materials and reprography of books, periodicals and other documents.

The National Library acts as the national agency for the allocation of ISSN numbers to publishers of newspapers and magazines. This bar-coded serial numbering, which is unique and internationally recognised, enhances the prestige of a publication and facilitates its ordering and retrieval.

The National Library has introduced Cataloguing-In-Publication (CIP). This free service involves the preparation of a catalogue entry for a book before it is printed or published. Such abbreviated catalogue entries are derived from information on forthcoming publications supplied in advance to the National Library by printers, publishers or authors.

One of the main goals of a national library is to fulfil the nation's part of the common international goals of universal bibliographic control, by ensuring the bibliographic control of books or book-like documents, making reference to or published in that particular country. At the National Library, this goal is achieved through the means of legal deposit laws or by the cataloguing in publication service.

With the acquisition of the Unicorn Library Management System in 2004, the catalogue of the National Library is now available online. This online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) allows researchers and the public at large to view textual information about any available library material, including authors' names, titles, subjects and abstracts.

AWARDS RECEIVED BY THE NATIONAL LIBRARY

Excellent Customer Service Award in the Public Service 2004

The National Library participated in the 2004 Excellent Customer Service Award Scheme in the Public Service and was the winner under the criterion "Quality".

MS ISO 9001:2000 CERTIFICATION

Since October 2004, the National Library has implemented a quality management system based on ISO 9001:2000 as part of its endeavour to promote a quality culture and to increase efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.

The ISO principles help to revisit and re-engineer existing practices and procedures. The system guarantees transparency in all our transactions, develops a professional approach in the performance of our activities, and enhances team spirit. It also aims at demonstrating our ability to provide a consistent service that meets customer requirements.

The National Library was awarded MS ISO9001:2000 Certification from the Mauritius Standards Bureau on 20 January 2005 and the certificate of registration is valid for a period of three years. The National Library is among the first libraries in the world to be ISO certified, a hallmark in the history of our young organisation.

A RENEWED AND STRENGTHENED ROLE FOR THE NATIONAL LIBRARY

Current resources are insufficient for the Library to carry out its full mandate. Substantial investment in the provision of an appropriate building and technical infrastructure is needed for the Library to move forward. It is not just a repository but is intended to ensure access to information and to coordinate access to national and international library collections. The National Library also believes that services need to be restored and strengthened in rural areas.

The National Library is fully aware of the challenges ahead and has already come up with an Action Plan to fulfil its mandate in an environment where methods and media are rapidly changing. Measures, such as ISO Certification, enable the National Library be a model of excellence in the provision of accurate information to all Mauritians and to serve as a regional reference for librarianship excellence in the Indian Ocean and on the international scene.

The National Library is located on the 1st & 2nd floors of the Fon Sing Building, at 12, Edith Cavell Street in Port Louis.