Recently, Vishma Bhattarai submitted the following question to Librarian to Librarian:
“How do you think about the significance/value/importance or anything else of SR Ranganathan’s five laws of library science during these days?”
Brodart’s Scott Piepenburg, who wrote an article about the five laws, responded: “As a cataloger, I still use these principles when I teach. As of late, there have been many efforts to ‘update’ the five laws to say ‘resource’ rather than ‘book’ and reflect other more modern trends, but when it comes to access and the philosophy of collection development, they are still good, solid, valid, relevant rules. They speak to the very basic, important things that we do as librarians; the technology and resources may have changed, but the goals are the same.”
As for whether the pandemic and extended library closures have impacted his view of Ranganathan’s laws, Scott said, “In my opinion, no. In fact, I think the laws have become more relevant and even more notable in the light of the pandemic. The library still strives to get every reader their book and every book their reader, but more important, libraries have had to change their delivery and resource model, highlighting the fact that ‘the library is a growing organism’ so it can adapt and change with the needs of its users.”
Brodart Selector Suzanne Hawley added, “Isn’t it fascinating and remarkable that the five laws were formulated in 1924 — almost 100 years ago — and they are still invaluable for the library of today? I think the creative ways librarians have been able to serve their patrons and care for their resources during the pandemic shows that, indeed, the library has proven to be a growing organism.”
Brodart Selector Stephanie Campbell concurs that while the laws are still valid, changing circumstances, such as demographics and the rise of social media, are forcing libraries to adapt and develop creative strategies to serve patrons. She says:
“Top of mind thoughts for me regarding the first three laws (Books are for use; Every reader his or her book; Every book its reader) revolve around diversity in collections. Yes, books are for use and we hope that people will read them, but materials are often acquired simply because of their value as works of literature or their importance to society. Now more than ever, you can’t let demographics dictate what you select and you can’t take circulation figures at face value. Marginalized populations NEED to be represented. In a more frivolous example, I’ve often heard, ‘nobody here reads science fiction.’ OK, is that because there aren’t any people here who like that genre or because our collection is awful? Sometimes it’s not obvious who the audience will be or if there will be an audience at all, but you need those materials, anyway.
Laws four and five (Save the time of the reader; A library is a growing organism) make me think about how crucial convenience services are now, how much more our mission has transcended physical walls. This is all wonderful, but will create even more marketing challenges as people have gotten out of the habit of spending time in our buildings. We often relied on ‘preaching to the choir,’ with flyers and posters that catered to in-house customers, or we hoped that regular DVD borrowers might someday venture into the book section. Websites and social media presence are going to be more important than ever to maintain existing users and attract new ones.”
Thank you, Vishma, for submitting your question! We’d love to hear from other readers who have additional questions or comments related to libraries or librarianship.
In the summer of 2019, Meghan decided to pursue her MSLS while starting a new professional job at Brodart. Outside of work and school, Meghan has what she describes as a pretty chill life.
L2L: Do you have any perspective on how MSLS curricula have changed over the past few decades?
About 50% of the students already work in the library industry—like me—but some do not. So the teachers have to tailor instruction based on how much each student already knows. At the beginning of my study, I was brand new, but since then, not only have I been studying library science, but I’ve also been working every day in the industry. Some students worked in libraries, found out they really enjoyed it, and then decided to get formal degrees. Other people worked in different industries but volunteered at libraries and, as a result, decided to switch careers.
This is the foundation of what we as librarians do. We believe that books are to be used. For many centuries, books were inaccessible to users. Because of their value, they were frequently chained down, and only select individuals were allowed access to them. Then, when they became more plentiful, they were still kept locked away because it was felt that the average person should not have free access to them. If you wanted a book, you would write down its location derived from a catalog and “call” for the book at the circulation desk (yes, this is where the phrase call number comes from).
This second law expands on the first by taking the assumption that books are for use to the next level. It states that each person has a desire, or need, for a book. It is important to note that not every person will want the same book at the same time; on the contrary, it presumes that people will want different books at different times. Even people who are very similar may want different types of books at any given time. Here we accept that all people want, and have a right to, the book they want when they want it. This concept leads us to our next point.
This is the first law that points to us as librarians. The first three looked at the source of our existence, both items (or “products”) and customers. Now we are looking at what our purpose is. There are many books, articles, and classes devoted to what we do for our users as librarians, both in public and technical services. But this rule states it very simply: our users’ time is valuable, and it is our obligation to save it. They could spend hours poring over catalogs, databases, finding aids, thesauri, etc., or we could intercede and help them—or disambiguate their search, if you will. We have specialized skills and training to help readers find what they are looking for as efficiently as possible. Our goal is to help every reader find their book, and to help the book find someone who desires the information it contains. These two concepts could be summed up as “reference/cataloging” and “reader’s advisor.”
overgrown garden, we weed our collections and remove those items that don’t have as many readers or readers in that specific location to make space for new books and new readers.
Accuracy of data in cataloging records is critical. A misplaced number or value can impact the ability to import a record into your system, or a misspelled word can render a title or subject lost or irretrievable by your system. There are even provisions in the MARC record to document “incorrect” information as well as its “corrected” form. This is common when an author or publisher will intentionally misspell or rearrange words in the title so the book stands out in the marketplace.
This consistency extends to the names of people, organizations, and events. The most notable example in the United States is the Library of Congress Name Authority File (NAF). When catalogers enter the name for the author of a book (or a subject, in the case of biographies), they check the NAF to see if the Library of Congress has defined a name for this person. If so, the library will typically use this name to promote consistency in its catalog, as well as consistency with other libraries using this structure. This also ensures that records created locally will be consistent with those vendors and outside sources that also use this structure.
Librarian to Librarian 