Ci après, des morceaux choisis d'un discours effectué par le professeur Wiswa Waranapala, ministre de l'enseignement supérieur lors de la troisième conférence annuelle de l'association des bibliothécaires universitaires sri Lankais, le 08 juin dernier :

In my view, the University Librarian has to perform an unique role in the production and dissemination of knowledge, and this is of fundamental importance because the Library, as a knowledge institution, has undergone a tremendous change due to the impact of modern technology.

Modern Library is primarily technology-oriented and it is no more a collection of books and catalogues. (...)

It has to provide facilities for both the undergraduates and lecturers, and it is in this connection that one can say that the University Library is not a collection of text books. It is a working library which provides for teaching, reading and research.

In this respect, the University Library has a special role to play in promoting reading among students and research among the academic staff; in order to achieve this objective, the University Library has to collect material relevant for research and this task, as I understand, should fall on the shoulders of the Librarian, who, apart from his professionalism, needs to be an intellectual. (...)

In other words, policies in the fields of Higher Education have to be formulated to achieve such objectives as access, quality and relevance. It is in relation to the enhancement of quality that Library, with its new techniques and resources, could play a new role, for which the Universities system and Libraries should transform them into developmental-oriented institutions engaged in the production and dissemination of knowledge.