Staff Formula by UGC Library Committee

The University Grants Commission (India), appointed in 1957 a committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. S.R. Ranganathan to advice the UGC about development of university and college libraries and their organisation. The Library Committee laid down the strength of the staff for different sections in university and college libraries to be determined roughly on the following basis:

Book Section : One person for every 6000 volumes added in a year. Periodical Publications Section: One person for every 500 current periodicals taken.

Periodical Publications Section: One person for every 500 current periodicals taken

Documentation Section : One person for every 1000 entries prepared in a year

Technical Section: One person for every 2000 volumes added in a year. 

Maintenance Section: One person for every 6000 volumes added in a year, one person for every 500 volumes to be replaced in a day, and one person for every 1,00,000 volumes in the library

Administrative Section: Minimum of one library accountant, one steno-typist and one correspondence clerk. 

Reference Section: One person for every 50 readers (other than the users of the text book collection) in a day. 

Circulation Section: One person for every 1500 hours for which one gate of the library has to be kept open in a year

Supervisory Section: One Librarian and one Assistant or Deputy Librarian. 

Unskilled Staff: One Cleaner for every 30,000 volumes in the library, one Attendant each for every 6,000 volumes added in a year, for every 500 current periodicals taken, and for each of the shifts in the Circulation Section, besides unskilled and semi-skilled workers normal to any institution.

Later on, S.R. Ranganathan suggested certain changes in the above mentioned norms as given below: 

Periodical Publications Section: 1,500 periodicals subscribed. 

Documentation Section: (to supplement the work done by the INSDOC (now NISCAIR) and the international abstracting services): 30 research workers (in the university). 

Maintenance Section: 1,500 volumes newly added, 50,000 volumes to be looked after by one person