The main objective of the “Central Selection of Books Scheme” is to support the State Central Libraries, District Libraries and such other public libraries as may be decided by the Foundation from time to time with suitable reading materials in English and Hindi that are not ordinarily procured by such libraries. The Scheme will aim to get the best books selected out of the large number of books published in the country, keeping the objectives of the Foundation in mind, and most importantly the requirements of Indian public libraries and of the Indian public library users. It is also important to keep the reformist ideals of Raja Rammohun Roy in mind at every stage in the book selection cycle.

For selecting books under the Scheme, the Foundation will constitute a Book Selection Committee comprising nine members of the Foundation, nominated by the Chairman of the Foundation. The final responsibility for selecting books will rest with this Committee.

The Chairman of the Foundation or his/her nominee will chair the Book Selection Committee.

The Foundation will also constitute two Sub-Committees, one for books in English and the other for books in Hindi, for making preliminary selection of books. Each of these Sub-Committees will have a maximum of five members nominated by the Chairman of the Book Selection Committee, and will include reputed authors, librarians, social workers, educators, subject experts etc.

A member of the Foundation, nominated by the Chairman, will chair each of these two Sub-Committees.

The Sub-Committees will meet once in two months. In addition to such meetings, the members may visit the Foundation periodically to shortlist books.

Book Selection Committee will meet once in three months.

To get a book selected, it is mandatory to obtain approval from a minimum of 3 members of the Book Selection Committee.

Selection will normally be restricted to books published within the past two years, ie in the year 2012 books published prior to 2011 will not be considered. However, in case of classics or books of exceptional merit this may be relaxed. In such cases it is mandatory to obtain approval from 4 members of the Book Selection Committee.

Normally selection will be restricted to books published in India. However, exceptions to this could be made in the case of award-winning or exceptionally reviewed books written by Indian authors and published outside India. In such cases it is mandatory to obtain approval from 4 members of the Book Selection Committee.

In the case of general books, books costing Rs 1,000, after allowing the graded discount, or less only will be selected. In case of reference books the ceiling will be Rs 1,500, after allowing the graded discount. Exceptions to this will be made only if 4 members of the Book selection Committee approve such an exception.

Multi-volume reference books, consisting of more than two volumes, will be selected in exceptional cases only, that too with the approval of the Chairman of the Book Selection Committee on the recommendation of 4 members of the Book Selection Committee. Such sets of books will be supplied to State Central Libraries and other libraries of repute approved by the Foundation.

Books written, edited or published by the members or officials connected with the Foundation will not be selected during their tenure. However, exceptions to this can be made if the book in question is the product of an event or activity in which the Foundation was substantially associated or if the book in question is published by a not-for-profit-organisation or a government organization (central or state), where a member of the Foundation is associated with the publication.

Under no circumstances a member of the Book Selection of Committee shall participate in the discussion while considering a book in which he/she is associated with the publication.

To facilitate selection of good books and to ensure such books are not missed out, the Foundation will request publishers enlisted in the Foundation’s database, to submit their latest catalogues. In addition, the Foundation will also through its website invite publishers to submit their catalogues.

In addition to using the books submitted by various publishers, the Sub-Committees will also use the publishers’ catalogues to shortlist suitable books, and the Foundation will request publishers to submit specimen copies of those books for consideration of the Book Selection Committee. However, books will be received for consideration round the year.

Every book submitted by every publisher voluntarily or on request by the Foundation will be considered for selection by the Book Selection Sub-Committees/Book Selection Committee. However, the Book Selection Committee reserves the right to select or to reject any book without assigning any reason therefor, and also to ban a publisher from participating in the Scheme for violating any of the set norms or for indulging in dubious means.

Books will normally be selected from among the specimen copies submitted by the publishers. However, members of the Foundation and members of the Book Selection Committee are encouraged to recommend books for consideration by the Book Selection Committee, by providing as much details as possible about the book, such as: (a) title (b) author (c) name and address of publisher (d) ISBN, (e) year of publication and (f) price. Such recommendations can be submitted to the Foundation throughout the year. The Foundation will make effort to obtain specimen copies of such books from the respective publishers for consideration of the Book Selection Committee.

Publishers will be encouraged to enter the details of the books submitted for the consideration of the Book Selection Committee, on the Foundation website.

The Foundation will encourage the members of the Foundation to visit book exhibitions held in their respective states or regions and recommend books for the consideration of the Book Selection Committee.

Ordinarily not more than 25 books of a private publisher, 30 books of Trusts / N.G.O.s and 50 books of Government/Semi Government publisher shall be accepted at any time for consideration in one meeting.

In case the price of a book submitted for consideration is not printed on the book or the price of the book printed on the book is tampered with/chipped off/handwritten/changed by pasting of label or super-imposition of papers or by changing page/cover/jacket, the respective publisher will be asked to provide copy of the printed catalogue in which the book is listed, as proof of the price.

Normally a book not selected in one Book Selection Committee meeting will not be considered in any of its subsequent meetings. However, exceptions can be made if such exceptions are approved by a minimum of 4 members of the Book Selection Committee.

Reprints of books will not be considered normally. However, exceptions will be made in the case classics and heavily used books. In such cases it shall be necessary to obtain approval from 4 members of the Book Selection Committee.

Specimen copies of the selected books will be retained and kept for future reference by the Foundation. Publishers can collect the non-selected books from the Foundation within 30 days from the publication of the final selected list.

The Foundation may donate the non-selected books, if not claimed back by the publisher, to suitable and needy public libraries or any other libraries.

While most of the books selected under the Scheme will fall under one or the other of the following subject categories, books belonging to subject categories not listed below too will be selected if found suitable:

While purchasing books under the Scheme, the Foundation will follow the graded discount structure given below. Such rates will be communicated to the publishers while seeking specimen copies:

The Foundation will develop and maintain comprehensive databases of publishers of books in English and Hindi, with all necessary and up to date details, including contact details. Copies of these lists will be made available to members of the Book Selection Committee, if anyone wishes to refer to these.

Publishers’ catalogues will be arranged alphabetically by the names of publishers and made available to the members of the Book Selection Committee.

Specimen copies of books received by the Foundation will be arranged subject-wise broadly to facilitate easy and helpful access to the members of the Sub-Committees as well as the Book Selection Committee.

The Foundation officials will scrutinise all the selected books to ensure that the selections are as per the Guidelines. In case they find any discrepancy, such books will be kept aside for the members of the Book Selection Committee to review during the next meeting.

If the total cost of the books selected by the Book Selection Committee goes beyond the total budget available with the Foundation, a special meeting of the Book Selection Committee will be convened to undertake the pruning of the list and to bring the total cost within the limits.

The Foundation will make every effort to place orders for books twice in a financial year.

Lists of the books finally selected will be prepared, separately for books in English and in Hindi, arranged publisher-wise, with details such as author, title, year, price, number of copies recommended for ordering. This list will be circulated among the members of the Book Selection Committee.

At the time of submission of Books Publishers should submit an undertaking to the effect that the Title(s) is/ are not a Reprinted , Pirated and having genuine ISBN no.

The Foundation will engage the services of contractual staff to undertake the additional workload such as data entry operation and cataloguing, as a result of the new processes and procedures outlined in the new Guidelines.