Library and Society-Notes

The Five Laws of Library Science were enunciated in 1928 by the late Dr. S. R.
Ranganathan, the Librarian of the University of Madras.

Five Laws of Library Science are:

Books are for use
Every reader his/her book("Books for All".)
Every book its reader
Save the time of the reader
The library is a growing organism

Implications 

First Law "Books are for use "

--Location
--Library Hours
--Library Building and Furniture
--Staff

Second Law "Every reader his/her book"

--Obligation of the State
--Obligation of the Library Authority--(Choice of Books--Choice of Staff)
--Obligations of the Staff
--Obligations of the Reader
--Resource Sharing

Third Law “Every Book Its Reader”

--- Open Access
- - Services---Book Exhibition, Display of New Books,Lists of New Additions
- - The Library Catalogue

Fourth Law “Save the Time of the Reader”

- - Open Access
- - Classification and Cataloguing
- - Charging System

Fifth Law "Library is a Growing Organism"

- - Book Stock
- - Readers
- - Staff
- - Classification and the Catalogue
- - Modernisation
- - Provision for the Future
-- Weeding out of Books

The three landmarks indicating the progress of libraries in India in the post-independence period are:

i) the growth and development of the-National Library at Calcutta;
ii) public library legislation in six states of India leading to the development of public library systems in these states;
iii) the increase in the number of university and college libraries.

The Calcutta Public Library was established in the first half of the 19th century and the Imperial Library in 1903.

In 1948, the Imperial Library, Calcutta was renamed as the National Library.

National Science Library of INSDOC and the National Medical Library of the Directorate General of Health Services are located in Delhi.

The main aims of the National Policy on Library and Information System are:

i) to foster, promote, and sustain the organisation, availability and use of information, in all sectors of national activity;
ii) to take steps for mobilising and upgrading the existing library and information systems and services;
iii) to encourage and initiate, programmes for the library and information personnel;
iv) to set up adequate monitoring mechanisms for ensuring a rapid development of library and information facilities and services;
v) to encourage individual initiatives for the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge and for the discovery of new knowledge in an atmosphere of intellectual freedom;
vi) to secure for the people of the country all the benefits that can accrue from the acquisition and application of knowledge; and
vii) to preserve and make known the nation's cultural heritage in its multiple forms.

National Policy-on Library and Information System (NAPLIS) 

The Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, appointed in October 1985 a committee of senior library scientists and other specialists, with Prof. D.P. Chattopadhyaya as chairman
To prepare a draft document on the National Policy on Library and Information System.
The Committee completed its assignment and submitted a draft document to the Government on May 31, 1986.
The National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT), which is the focal point in India for the UNISIST/LJNESCO programme.
The national sectoral policies which have a bearing on the library development are:
i) Education Policy;
ii) Book Policy;
iii) Scientific Policy Resolution;
iv) Technology Policy;
v) Information (Communication) Policy

The National Book Policy, which was also prepared in 1986
The Scientific Policy Resolution adopted by the Government of India in 1958.
The Technology Policy statement announced by the Prime Minister in March 1983

The areas of recommendation of the Report of the Library Advisory Committee are:

i) structure of library system (for public libraries)
ii) library cooperation
iii) compilation of union catalogues
iv) library personnel, status, powers, duties and responsibilities
v) training for librarianship
vi) auxiliary services, like book bureaux, development of library association, formation of Mitra Mandals.
vii) library Finance
viii) interaction between libraries and social education programme.

Secondary Education Commission Report (Chairman Dr. A.L: Mudaliar)

i) establishment of good libraries in schools and provision of
intelligent and effective library service;
ii) emphasis on the habit of general reading by children;
iii) in smaller places, school libraries could function as public libraries also.

University Education Commission Report (Chairman Dr. S. Radhakrishna)

i) central position of the library in the academic system;
ii) preferred self study and library work by way of supplementing class instructions;
iii) higher branches of learning is mainly a question of learning how to use tools and techniques.

Education Commission (Chairman, Dr. D.S. Kothari)

i) discussed role of libraries in higher education
ii) highlighted the skill to use independently books and documents by
the students in the learning process;
iii) offered eleven useful and important suggestions for the
improvement of university and college libraries.

The areas of recommendation of the UGC Library Committee are:

i) provided a framework and important guidelines to implement its grant-in-aid programmes
ii) library finance
iii) personnel, status, salary etc:
vi) staff strength
v) a blueprint for the systematic development of university libraries in the country.

A NATIONAL LIBRARY

We, find libraries of:
• Clay tablets as in Assyria and Babylonia;
• Papyrus as in Egypt;
• Vellum./Parchment and wooden boards in Medieval Europe;
• Hand made paper in China and India;
• Palm leaves, birch barks, silk cloth, copper plates etc., in India; and
• Bone and paper in China:

Edition 6 of Harrods’s Librarians' Glossary and Reference Book (1987) defines
a National Library as:
i) a library maintained ~out of government funds;
ii) serving the nation as a whole;
iii) books in such libraries being for reference only;
iv) libraries are usually copyright libraries;
v) the function of such a library is to collect and preserve for posterity, the
books, periodicals, newspapers and other downbeats published in the
country; This is best done by a law requiring publishers to deposit copies of all
publications issued by them; and
vi). being-purchased books published in other countries.
The ALA Glossary of Library Terms, simply defines, the National Library As "a library maintained by a Nation"

Defenition by UNESCO, at its 16th Session of the General Conference held in 1970
"Libraries which, irrespective of the titles, are responsible for acquiring and conserving
copies of all significant:
i) publications published in the country and functioning as a
ii) deposit library either by law or under other arrangements.
They will also normally perform some of the following functions :
iii) produce a national bibliography ,
iv) hold and keep up-to-date a. large representative collection or foreign literature,
including books about the country;
v) act as a national bibliographical information centre;
vi) Compile union catalogues
vii) publish retrospective bibliographies..:."


Lord Curzon declared open the new Imperial Library of India on 30th
January 1903 in the Metcalf Hall. John Macfarlane of the British Museum was invited to look after the new Imperial Library, as its first librarian.

The Indian National Bibliography published by the Central Reference 'Library (National Library Campus, Calcutta), and the British National Bibliography, brought out by the British Library.In 1928, the Government of India appointed a Committee under the Chairmanship of  Mr.J.A. Richey, to suggest measures for reorganising the administration of the Library. This Committee, recommended among other things, that the Imperial Library should be declared as a copyright depository Library. This recommendation was followed up by the successive librarians, Mr. Chapman and Khan Bahadur K.M. Asadullah; to secure for the Imperial Library, the privilege of copyright deposit. But their efforts were not realised until the enactment of the Delivery of Books .(Public Libraries) Act, 1954. While the Calcutta Public Library  had Peary Chanda Mitra and Bipin Chandra Pal as librarians, the Imperial Library also had a galaxy of great librarians as for example,
Harinath De, a scholar and linguist, John Alexander Chapman, K.M. Asadullah, a goodorganiser and administrator, who had the credit of starting library training courses in 1935 in the Imperial Library, Calcutta.

1.Information Systems and Programmes in Science and Technology

1 National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT)
2 National Informatics Centre (NIC)
3 Biotechnology Information System (BTIS)
4 Environmental Information System (ENVIS)
5 INFLIBNET: Information and Library Network
6 National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR)
7 INDEST Consortium

2. Information Systems and Programmes in Social Sciences

1 Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)
2 UGC-Inter University Centre for International Studies
3 UGC-Inter University Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences (IUCHSS)

3. Information Systems and Programmes in Humanities

1 Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA)
2 National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)
3 Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)
4 Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)
5 Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR)
6 National Museum, New Delhi
7 National Archives of India (NAI)
8 Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL)
9 Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL)

NISSAT programme was launched by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR)

The NISSAT programme was formally implemented in September 1977 with the following objectives:
• Development of national information services;
• Promotion of existing information systems and services;
• Introduction of modern information handling tools and techniques;
• Promotion of international cooperation in information;
• Development of indigenous products and services;
• Organisation of skill development programmes; and
• Promotion of R&D in information science and technology.

The National Focal Point (NFP) of NISSAT was located in DSIR, New Delhi.
NISSAT supported 13 national information and data centres in different areas (discipline, product or mission).
Value Added Patent Information Systems (VAPIS)
NISSAT established VAPIS in two areas viz. chemistry and chemical technology (at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune) and in engineering (at Central Manufacturing Technology Institute, Bangalore).

This is an extract from IGNOU Material