Librarian, Bidhan Chandra College, Rishra, Hooghly, West Bengal
The article has tried to explore the evolving intersection between local public libraries and heritage tourism, envisioning how these two cultural domains can collaborate to collect, preserve, promote, and represent local history & Heritage innovatively. It tried to examine the role of public libraries as information centres and democratic and dynamic cultural hubs that can contribute effectively and meaningfully to heritage tourism through interactive storytelling, community engagement, digital archives and place-based learning. The present paper has tried to assess the impact of heritage tourism on local public libraries’ collections & services. The study has highlighted how heritage tourism influences the transformation of public library services, especially those located near tourist places. It also tried to frame the various shades of collection & services for tourists that a local public library can offer, using their existing information resources and infrastructure. The current study has also mentioned a few procedural approaches, particularly for organizing tourist services in the local public library arena.
Heritage Tourism, Public Library, Cultural Gateways, Cultural Awareness
