Five Laws of LIbrary Science & Their Implications

An understanding of the fundamentals of Library and Information Science starts with Dr. S.R. Ranganathan’s Five Laws.

Dr. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan formulated the five laws of Library Science in 1928 and a detailed account of these laws and their implications were published in the form a book in 1931.

The laws of Library Science are as follows:

First Law: Books are for use

Implications of the First Law:

1. Open Access - Open access to books enhance their use. In this system, every reader is allowed to go to the shelves and choose the book of his interest. In case he does not find the desired book of his interest, he can choose some other from the shelves.

2. Location - Location of the library should be the one which is conveniently accessible to the community to be served. A library should be situated near the central place.

3. Library Building and Furniture - The library building should be functional as well as aesthetic at the same time. The library building should have pleasant, natural, and electrical light, soothing interior, good looking furniture, comfortable chairs, etc.

4. Library Hours - The first law demands that a library should be kept open for long hours, and during the hours which suits to its patrons most.

5. Library Staff - In order to maximize the use of the library, it is essential that library staff should be qualified and efficient. They should be approachable, courteous, helpful and willing to appreciate the point of views of others, amiable manners and professional competence are the essential qualities of the library staff. It will not only carry out the mandate of the first law but also enhance the library's use.

6. Book Selection Policy - The books should be selected and acquired keeping in view the present and potential requirements of the user.

6. Shelf Arrangement - The books should be classified, catalogued and arranged according to a helpful sequence.

8. Reference Service - Reference service aims to establish the right contact between the right reader and the right book at the right time. A collection of library resources would not be used fully unless the reference librarian makes an effort to help the users to exploit the resources of the library. This personal service will lead to greater use of books.

Second Law: Every reader his/her book

Implications of the Second Law:

1. Obligations of the State - When we say "Every Reader His / Her Book" or "Books for All", the state or government automatically comes in picture. The state has a certain obligation to its citizens and one of these is to provide equal opportunity to read. Ranganathan has discussed the obligations of the state under three head.

(i) Finance--providing finance by giving grants and by levying library cess,

(ii) Legislation--enacting library legislation, and

(iii) Coordination--of activities to ensure "Books for All".

2. Obligations of the Library Authority - The second law is for the library authority with respect to the selection of books and staff of the library. A library has limited finance. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the library authority to ensure the proper selection and acquisition policy in order to build up a balanced collection in the library for each category of its users. Similarly, library authority should select an adequate and competent team of staff for their library.

3. Obligations of Library Staff - Library staff should be cooperative and service-minded. Library staff should form a bridge between readers and books, only then every reader will have his/her book. When a reader enters a library, the library staff should approach him/her with a helping hand. Second Law strongly advocates open access system, proper maintenance of books, reference services and user education programmes in libraries as an effective means of ensuring that the reader gains access to all the documents of his interest that are held by the library.

4. Obligations of the Reader - The Second Law expects the readers also to discharge some responsibilities. Readers should be disciplined and follow the rules and regulations of the library. Readers should restrain from tearing pages from books, keeping books beyond the due date, stealing books, etc. All such acts amount to keeping other readers away from their books.

Third Law: Every book its reader (i.e. every book in the library must find its reader)

Implications of the Third Law:

1. Open Access - It is one of the most effective ways to ensure that the maximum number of books are seen by the readers. In the open-access system books are arranged in shelves in the classified order and the readers have the freedom to access them. It also happens sometimes that the reader browses through the shelves in search of a book and in this process of search, selects many more other books as well.

2. Book Selection - Best attention should be paid to book selection so that the chances of books remaining unused are reduced.

3. Cataloguing - Proper cataloguing of books is very important as even though there may be well planned and arranged books on the shelves but they are incapable merely by itself. Subject cataloguing, series entries and cross-reference entries are highly useful in drawing the attention of the readers.

4. Shelf Arrangement - If the books are arranged so that the subjects get arranged according to the degree of mutual relationship, then each book would have a higher probability of getting its readers.

5. Reference Service - There must be the provision for personal assistance to each reader when they feel they need it. The reference librarian should act as a canvassing agent for each book.

6. Publicity and Extension Service - Internally, within the premises of the library, the staff should provide shelf guide, bay guides, etc. which will guide the reader to appropriate places in the library. Externally, the reference staff should go to make the use of mass media like press, radio, television, exhibitions, library tours, brochure leaflets or by communicating the readers through e-newsletters or broadcasting information about them through the Facebook or Twitter handle, etc. for publicizing the library.

Fourth Law: Save the time of the reader (i.e. a user is supposed to be a busy person. So his/her time must be saved)

Corollary: Save the time of the staff.

Implications of the Fourth Law:

1. Location - The location of the library is of great importance. It must be centrally located so that it is conveniently accessible to the community served. For an institutional library, it should be in the center of the institution, for a public library it should be in the center of the city. Centrally located library saves the times of the users in visiting it.

2. Open Access - In a closed access system of books time is wasted unnecessarily. In open access, the time of the readers is saved. If open access is not there then the reader has to make the choice of the books through the searching of the library catalogue. Then the reader requests the library staff the book which he has searched in the catalogue. The staff searches the required book and if the staff is not able to trace the book, then the reader again needs to search the catalogue. These problems can be avoided if open access is provided where the readers can themselves go to the shelves to search their book.

3. Shelf Arrangement, Classification, and Cataloguing - Proper classification schemes should be used in the library. Books should be arranged on shelves according to the classification number. Regular shelf rectification is also essential. In order to save the time of the readers, the library catalogue should aim to provide different approaches to the users. It should include analytical entries for composite books.

4. Signage System - Stack room guides, bay guides, tier guides, gangway guides should be provided to save the time of the reader.

5. Reference Service - The fourth law advocates the need of reference services for saving the time of the reader.

6. Charging System - The issue and return method or charging and discharging of books should be done as quickly as possible thereby saving the time of the reader.

7. Centralized Cataloguing - Cataloguing in press, cataloguing in publication, cataloguing with the aid of OCLC database greatly reduces the time factor.

8. Information Technology (IT) - The use of IT in libraries invariably speeds up many activities. So to fulfil the fourth law IT should be introduced.

Fifth Law: The library is a growing organism

A library always grows in terms of documents, users and staff.

Implications of the Fifth Law:

1. Library Building - The library building should be modular and should have the provision of future growth.

2. Choice of Classification and Cataloguing Code - The classification and cataloguing scheme chosen should have the provision to keep pace with the development in the universe of the subject.

3. Weeding out of the Old (Obsolete) and Preserving Valuable Books - Weed out old, obsolete, and unused books in order to provide space for new additions. However, librarians should take necessary steps to preserve valuable materials.

4. Modernization and Computerization - Libraries that grows fast both in terms of size and services may have to go for the computerization of various house-keeping operations (i.e. acquisition, circulation, cataloguing, etc.). In order to take care of the growing collection, the documents should be digitized or microfilmed; the new procurement should be made in the form of electronic journals, e-books, etc.