A general evaluation regarding public library legislation in Turkey

Abstract

Mentioned as legal regulations in many resources, legislations are documents that are within the scope of legal organization and provide the continuation of social relations within specific rules. Social relations include the works of social organizations. Hence, legal regulations are basic arguments that define social organizations, promulgate their purpose and functions by formalizing them, and determining their limits. Public libraries, which are social organizations that provide knowledge and service to every individual in the society without discrimination, must be based on legal regulations (legislations) that enables them to be continuous and exist in administrative structure. Inclusive legal regulations have a huge importance for public libraries to conduct their purpose and functions sturdily. For in order to maintain their functions and requested service level, Public libraries are required to be supported by legal regulations. Legal regulations mean proof of their existence for public libraries. Legal regulations regarding public libraries may differ based on the administrative and legal structure of every country. In addition, the legislation regarding the public libraries must clearly specify which state line managements shall be responsible for supporting public libraries in finance, personnel, collecting, building, strategy, standards, legal structure, monitoring, new service areas, etc., and how this support shall be provided. Also, public library legislation must completely include all libraries within the country or the region. This study, which approaches the current status and historical development of the legal legislation regarding public libraries, aims to present the duties, responsibilities, and rights regarding state power, public libraries, executives of the public libraries, employees, shareholders, and users. In this study, in which survey method was used, firstly, the attention will be drawn to intersection points of pubic libraries and legislation by addressing the concepts of legislation and public library. Then, the historical development of the legal regulations regarding public libraries will be addressed, and the Public Library Regulation, which came into effect in 2012, will be evaluated in terms of public libraries, their employees, executives, shareholders, and users. In the conclusion, a point of view regarding the public library legislation in Turley will be put forward.