Public libraries are considered more as institutions for light reading or watching TV and the collection predominantly in book form caused the absence of any concrete mechanisms for either automating or networking them. Some estimate of the number of public libraries is made and also tried to list few constraints in modernizing public libraries in the country. There are many digital initiatives happening in the country to improve the social status of citizens and the traditional mindset of public libraries need to be changed to take advantage of the new technologies. The paper explores the possibility of considering IT as a valuable cost-effective tool for spreading, improving and enlarging public library system and services for disseminating community, health and educational information in the backdrop of various digital initiatives in different fields by private and government institutions.
