LIBRARY SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Defines "Scientific methodW and ·Sci~nce· in terms of it.Shows the emergence of Library Science. Describes thenew library techniques evolved during the last twenty fiveyears - including the production of new types of readingmaterials, the emergence of documentation, and depth c Ia s,s if ic at io n , and chain procedure, use of machinery for im-personal library tasks. new imports of the Fifth Law, andLib r arnet r y,

o WHAT IS A SCIENCE?

"Is there a library science? R is a questionraised quite often. Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyarraised it in the Foreward to the Five laws oflibrary science (1931). A reviewer of thePreface to library science, containing the in-augural lectures to the Department of Libra:ryScience formed by the University of Delhi in1947, challenged the term Library Science,in the pages of Nature. Sri C. Rajagopalachariraised the question again in his speech from thechair at the Silver Jubilee Celebration of theMadras Library Association in April 1953.In reality, the answer to this question turn onthe answer to another question - "What is ascience?" The note of scepticism in regardto Library Science is often traceable to somerestricted definition of the term Science. Twosuch restrictions are common; and they can beshown to be false restrictions.

01 Subject of Study

One restriction assumed in the definition 01

a science relates to the subject of study. The

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S. R. RAN G A N A T H A N

course of studies and the nomenclature in voguein universities at first restricted science tocover only the study of the physical world andits phenomena. In course of time, it has beenextended to cover also the study of the world ofliving bodies and its phenomena. But there is agrowing support to another view of science. Inthis view, the subject of study is not relevant.n determining the claim of a domain in therrriver se of knowledge to be deemed a science.Karl Pearson had stated this view as follows:"The material of science is unlimited - everygroup of natural phenomena, every phase ofsocial life, every stage of past or presentdevelopment is material (for science). .. Thematerial of science is co-extensive with thewhole life." The two following dictionary defi-nitions of the term Science reflect this gene-ralised view of its subject of study: (1) Asystem based or purporting to be based uponscientific principles: a method of arrangement,functioning, etc. reconciling practical or utili-tarian ends with scientific laws: e.g. DomesticScience; Animal Husbandry. (2) Accumulatedand accepted knowledge which has been sy st e>matised and formulated with reference to thegeneral truths and made available in work, life,or the search of truth. Again, the epigram ofJevons, "Science arises from the discovery of[dentity amidst Diversity", severely ignoresthe subject of study, The following dictionarydefinition also does so: . A Science is "A branchof study which is concerned either with a con-

19

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nected body of demonstrated truths or withobserved facts systematically classified andmore or less collected by being brought undergeneral laws and which includes trustworthymethods fur the discovery of new truth withinits own domain ". The essential characteristicof a science is then not what it treats about, butwhat it achieve s in re spect of what it treatsabout - what Omar Khayyam. longed to achieve:

Ah Love! Could you and I with Him conspireTo grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,Would not we shatter it to bits - and thenRe-mould it nearer to the Heart's desire!

02 Method of Study

A second restriction often assumed in thedefinition of a science relates to the methodof study. Birckbeck introduced, at the begin-ning of the ninteenth century, experimentaldemonstration in teaching the pure sciences.Since then, in due course, the nomenclature invogue in universities tended to restrict scienceto cover only a domain of knowledge admitting ofexperimental study and needing a Iabo r at.or y.It was easily seen to be an over-restriction,as it would exclude, from the right to be calleda science, an ancient science like Astronomy;for, it uses observation only and not experimen-tation. To escape this danger, Jeans makes adifferent approach: "A science teaches us toknow and an art to do; and all the more perfectsciences lead to the creation of correspondinguseful arts. Astronomy is the foundation ofnavigation". Genung's illustration is more tothe point: "Rhetoric, here called an art, issometimes defined as a science. Both desig-nations are true. Science is systematisedknowledge; if the laws and principles of dis-course are exhibited in an ordered and inter-related system they appear in the character ofa science. Art is knowledge made efficient byskill; if the rhetorical laws and principles a r eapplied in the actual construction of discourse,they become the working rules of art", This viewpermits observation also as a basis for theformulation of laws in a science. On the ana-logy of Genung's illustration, there can be anArt of Librarianship as well as a Library Sci-ence.

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03 Mode of Development

The approach to the definition of Sciencethrough the subject of study or the method ofstudy has given only negative results. A posi-tive help can be got by an examination of themode of deve lopment of a domain of knowledge.In this approach, Science is the name givento a domain in the univer se of knowledge,whose development is characterised by a methodcalled Scientific Method , We should thereforebegin with a description of scientific method.

f SCIENTIFIC METHOD

ff Assumed Terms

In the description of scientific method, weshall use the following as assumed terms:

Know, Knower, Knowee, Knowledge;Senses, Sensation or Perception, Observa-

tion, Experimentation;Intellect, Association, Reasoning, Logic,

Inductive Logic, Deductive LogicMemory, Remembering, Recalling;Emotion, Feeling;Intuition or trans-intellectual, trans-sensory,

trans-emotional, and trans-memory modeof directly knowing anything-in-itself. Inthe Ramayana, the seer Bharadvaja usesthe term Tapas to denote the means ofde veloping it.

Jf2 Emergence of Knowledge

When knower and knowee are brought intorelation, the knower knows the knowee; andknowledge emerges. Knowl edge is expressedin language; and expressed knowledge is storedin memory to make recall and communicationpos sible. The simple st mode of knowing is forthe knower to perceive the knowee with the aidof one or other of the primary senses. Thisaction may be called primary perception. Lit-tle is kn-own about primary perception; perhapsit is ordinarily experienced only by the new-born baby. Soon after birth, as sociation of theresults of two or more simultaneous primaryperceptions would take place. Each new per-ception will also be instantaneously, sponta-neously, and inexorably associated with what isalready stored in memory. In due course, the

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LlBRAR Y SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD

mode of knowing goes beyond perception andassociation; it includes reasoning; and reason-ing progressively gets more involved. Increas-ingly sharper an1. tl)Ore powerful logic is usedin the reasoning.\..:1n course of time, two class-es of knowee come to be recognised - one out-side the memory of the knower, and the otherinside it. An external knowee may be called aConcrete Knowee or an Object. An internalknowee may be called an Abstract Knowee ora Concept. The former adds to concrete know-ledge; and the latter to abstract knowledge.Further, a concept, with an object as an exter-nal correlate may be called a Concrete Concept;and one without it an Abstract Concept) Conc-rete and Abstract are only relative terms;they have a meaning only when used togethereither explicitly or implicitly. We can think ofa Scale of Abstraction or of the reverse of it,viz a Scale of Concreteness.

13 Universe of Knowledge

(Language, record, and other means of com-munication across space and through time makeit possible for mankin!to cumulate one an-other's knowledge and add to it CO -operativelyeither in a systematic or in a casual way.Universe of Knowledge is the sum-total, at themoment, of such c urnu l a te d knowledge. It isbeing continuously developed and added to.Different domains of the universe of knowledgeare developed by different methods. Scientific

'method is one of the recognised methods of'.development~j

../ 14 Spiral of ScientificMethod

Scientific method is characterised by a never-ending spiral movement. It is schematicallyrepresented in the diagram on the next page.The cycle implied in the spiral will be followedin the clock-wise direction. For convenience ofreference, the four cardinal points of the cycleare denoted by the terms Nadir, Ascendent,Zenith, and Descendent. The nadir marks theaccumulation of facts, obtained by ··ohs~~'"vation,experimentation, and other Siln-ii.3.~"'£orms ofexperience. The ascendent marks the accumu-lation of inducted O'·r'empirical la~s got out ofthe facts ac c urr ul a te d at the nadir, by inducti.ve--Mar 1957 V 4 N 1

logic including normal equations and other aidsrrDm statistical calculus. The zenith marksthe fundamental laws formulated with 'th-e· 'aidof intuition of some degree or other so as tocOiYrprehen'd-iilllhe inducted or empirical laws,accumulated at the ascendent, as compellingimplications. The descendent marks theaccumulation of the deduc"";;';rTaws"got from thefundamental laws at the zeffttlf;"·with aid of de-ductive logic including general semantic'S andall ki~oT~a:thematical calculuses.

The four cardinal points give rise to fourquadrantsT~ij:;;·~yc1e implied in the spi r al ,-F'o r convenience of r e Ie r enc e , the quadrantswill be numbered 1 to 4 respectively, asfollows: Quadrant 1 is the one between descen-dent and nadir; Quadrant 2 is the one betweennadir emu ascendent; Quadrant 3 is the onebetween ascendent and zenith;' and Quadrant 4i C; the one between zenith and descendent. Thefoliowing statement is taken to be intelligiblein the light of what has been said a l r e a.dy ,

141 Quadrant 1

Quadrant 1 cor responds to the stage in thedevelopment of a domain of the universe ofknowledge, conforming to scientific method, inwhich:

1 prim.l:::_L.s."'!1s",~s are used either in theirn at iv e s t a te or with the aid of instruments ofva r iou s degrees of powerfulness;

2 observations are made of knowees, eitherwith or without experimental interference andconditioning;

3 there is progression towards pa r t icu la r i-C"ltion and regression f~om general,~sa,~ion; ,

4 there is progression towards concretenessand regre s s iori from ao-sTractness; and --,-..~.-.~....,.....

5 facts are found and recorded.

147. Quadrant 2

Ouadr ant 2 corresponds to the stage in which

1 inte~.!.is used either by itself or aidedby machinery constructed to spe'ed up the wClrkof the intellect and to give relief to it in s o rn emeasure;

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RANGANATHAN

IIIZENITH

FUNDAMENTALLAWS

') O~ II\t~ 'I

'0'0~ Q(\~'\ f'C';-

I- 0..J0 tT1

Z <C( VIL.tl u'" ,m nQ -~ . - - ~- _.- - - - - - - - - . >0 tT1= Z ~<C(

- _. --- - -- -- .-.----. ~c z <L.tl o....J von 0U m tr1Vl ~ 0 z< W

'"'I

II\tJ:Q( S<vS.? f'('J' S<v~ '\

NADIR

SPIRAL OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD

2 reasoning is made with the aid of in~uctivelogic incitiaing nc r rna.Le.quat'ion s and other -sta-tistical and other calculuses to boil down thenumerous facts, accumulated at the nadir, toa small number of inducted or empirical laws -e.g. Kepler's Law of ~U:al Ai·eain the motionof planets, boiled down from the facts recordedby Tycho Brahe - more easy to hold in memorythan the multitude of the-facts themselves;

3 there is r egr essi on from pa r t icu la r i sat ionand progression to~ards generaiisation;

4 there is regres sion f r om concreteness andprogression towards abstractness; and

5 induct edo r e rrrpir ical laws are formula-ted and recorded.

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143 Quadrant 3

Quadrant 3 corresponds to the stage in which

1 intuition of some intensity or other isused unmed'iateCI by the primary senses or theintellect;

2 the inducted or empirical laws stand boileddown to a very 'sinai! number of fundamental---la\';':'-s- e. g. Newton's Laws of motion to whichmany empirical laws such as the Kepla r t s Lawstand reduced at one stroke - mor~. easy tohold in memory than the more numerous empiri-cal o·~inducted laws;

3 there is regression from particularisationand progression to';:uds ultimate ge~ralisa-

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LIBRAR Y SCIENCE AND SCIENTLFlC METHOD

t ion ;

4 there is reg,ession from concretenessand progression towards ultimate ffitractness;

and - -

5 the fundamental1a,:".s are seized andrecorded. -,."--~'-' -=-~~.'~-...-

144 Quadrant 4

Quadrant 4 corresponds to the stage in which

1 intellect is used either b.x itself or aidedbY:rnachinerYcmrstructed to sp~ed.up the ;-;;rkof" the i~t~-ilect and to give relief to it in somemeasure;

2 reaso~~lL!s made with the at~~~~ctivelogic including general semantics, and mathema-tical and other calculuses to work out all th~- .compelling implications of the fundamental

laws;

3 there is progression towards particulari-s ati on and regressio~om generalisatton;

4 there is progr~ion towards concretenessand regression from abs~actness;

5 the. deduSEOd".law.s are deri::.d and recorded:

6 the derived deduced laws include one andall of the inducr;;r;;;;pi;i~al laws ;and ~-~- ••

7 the number of derl"~ced laws exceeds thatof the empiricallaws,' ifihe' fundame,~tal lawshad beenselzed 'with intuition of adequate

intensity.

145 Entrance into the Next Cycle,

VThe spiral of scientific metnod begins th enext cycle thereafter, by re-entering quadrantTwo ~s happen at the stage.of,<!-.6veloprnentcorre sponding to quadrant 1 in the new cyc le :1 Observations and expe r i ra erit s are made toverify empirically the validity of the new deducedlaws; and 2 further observations and ex pe r i+ments are made continuously and this leads to

accumulation of new e.rnpi r ic a l facts.

146 Helpfulness of theFundamental Laws

So long as the deduced laws are verifiedempirically to be true and the new empirical

Mar 1957 V 4 N 1

facts are found to be in conformity to the impli-cations of the fundamental laws, there is nofurther movement in the spiral; and the funda-mental laws hold sway and continue to be deemedhelpful. But, this seldom holds good for long.Disturbance arises sooner or later in a lrno s tall the domains in the universe of knowledge,

they are cultivated and developed.

147 Arduous Effect

As and when empirical facts and experienceappear to contradict the fundamental laws,aid uo u s effort is made to ensure absence of;ony kind of fallacy in the process of deduction,any kind of defect in the logic or the calculusus ed 'en the process, and any krnd of fault in thee xpe ri m ent or observation or in the instrumentsu se d , Wh eo w a rr a.rrte d , more powerful in s t r u+rr.cnt s of observation, ro o r e exacting e xpe r im cn t s ,a',ld sharper calculuses for (Ld.uction arede vis e d, Witness for exa.mple the invention ofn:asu-spectroscopy which dissolved on apparentc,:!':radiction to Dalton's fundamental law aboutt.;- at c rn , the de vi.si.n g of observations of starsduring total solar eclipse, which dissolved anar.r a r e nt c ont ra dic ti on to Eins t.ein !s fundamentalL:!_\;~-;of r-el.a.t+vitv , and the unceasing progress inU~,~ development of general s orn arit ic s and thernatherr1atical calculuses to roak e deductions";:";c;let·L~a.ting a r.d f r e e f r o rn fallacies. Every- "n:-t should 2.150 be mace to re-interpret theterms in the formulation of the furid a me nt a.I lawsw itl ; the aid of exegetics, so as to get out of themtr:.. !l' fullest possible import, lying hidden untilthe necess;;lry ernpirical experience draws

attenti.on to it.

148 Declaration of Crisis

Now and as2.in, c ont r ad ic t ion between the<"iTlpirical facts of experience and the currently:.1 ed, tund a m en t a.I laws persists, in spite of allthe possible precautions to en su r e absence off au l t s and fallacies in the building of thefacts of experience and the inference of theimplications of the fundamental laws, and inspite of every possible and proper use of exe-'g et.i c s . Then we have to recognise the existence,:0£ a new class of facts and declare the incidenceof a crisis in the application of the scientificmethod,

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RANGANATHAN

149 Resolution of Crisis

Then, the new class of empirical facts areaccumulated at the nadir; and a new cycle getsinto full swing and carries the spiral of sci-entific method further. Work in quadrant 2leads to a new set of empirical laws. Work inquadrant 3 leads to the seizing of a new set offundamental laws. Work in quadrant 4 leads toa new set of deduced laws. Work in quadrant 1is again started as before. This cycle is liableto be repeated without end in many a domain.

15 Definition of Science

Any domain in the universe of knowledge,irrespective of the subject and the method ofstudy, which admits of the above-describedspiral of scientific method in the course ofits development is a science. In the naturalscience, including the physical and the biologi-cal sciences, the fundamental laws are calledhypotheses. They furnish a descriptive formu-lation of the empirical facts of experience. Inthe social sciences, such as education, politi-cal science, economics, sociology, law andlibrary science - which is also one of them - thefundamental laws are called normative princi-ple s. They fur nish an interpretative explana-tion of the empirical facts of experience and ofthe technique s found neces sary in experience.The terms true and false apply only to factsand the empirical and deduced laws-:-'--Th-eydonot apply to hypotheses and normative principles.These can only he described as helpful or un-helpful, according as they fit in or not with thefacts of empirical experience. Newton's lawsdid not fit in with certain new empirical factsfound during the present century; and in thiscontext, they ceased to be helpful hypothesis andgave place to the E'ins te iri+s laws of relativity.These two sets of laws belong to two differentcycles in the spiral of scientific method. As itoften happens, particularly if the laws areseized by a sufficiently intensive intuition, theNewtonian hypo the sis is contained in theEinsteinian hypo the sis. For, the former isgot of the latter by taking the speed of light tobe greater than any conceivable finite speed.Similarly, the old second law of library science- viz. Books are for the Chosen Few - did not fitin with the library practices coming into voguein community after community during the last

24

century as a result of the onslaught of democra-cy. In this context, it ceased to be a helpfulnormative principle and gave place to the newsecond law - ~Books are for All. These twolaws belong to two different cycles in the spiralof scientific method. It can also be seen thatthe former version of the second law is con-tained as a particular case in the latter version.Again the old normative principle of politicalscience - viz King can make no mistake - didnot fit in with the political practices cominginto vogue in community after communityduring the last two centurie s as a re sult of theonslaught of republic idea. In this context, itceased to be a helpful normative principle andgave place to the new normative principle _Judiciary can make no mistake. As all thefunctions of the judiciary were vested in theking in the earlier days, the earlier normativeprinciple was contained in the latter.

16 Delay in RecognisingSocial Sciences

161 Natural Sciences

Natural sciences were admitted as sciences,as tested by the use of scientific method in theirdevelopment, much earlier than social sciences.This was because, in the case of natural scien-c e s ,

1 observation - corresponding to quadrant 1of the cycle - can be impersonal and nearlyobjective, subject only to the errors of obser-vation which could be corrected by the curve oferrors and the calculus of observations designedmore than a century ago by Gaus s;

2 experiments - corresponding to quadrant 1- can be made without any let or hindrance in thecase of physical sciences and with a minimumof mental revulsion even with the living bodiesof the lower organisms; and

3 the mathematical calculuses, necessaryand sufficient to make induction and deduction -corresponding to quadrants 2 and 4 - within thedoma.in of the natural sciences, had been forgeda few centuries earlier and there has been acontinuous sharpening of them.

161 Social Sciences

On the other hand, in the case of socialsciences, unfavourable factors prevail in all

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the three quadrants. Observation is vitiatedby the observed entity being man himself withall the obstructions which his mind can cause.Experimentation is difficult if not impracti-cable and even impossible when man himselfhas to be the subject of experiment; even whereit is attempted it takes several decades to col-lect adequate data, on account of the large spanof each generation and of the low rate of multi-plication - compare for example that bee smultiply to a million within a year and that stilllower organisms have a negligibly small spanfor each generation and their fecundity too isphenomenally high. Moreover, humane con-siderations prevent experimenting with the humanspecies. Again, the statistical calculus neces-sary for work in quadrants 2 and 4 were eitherunknown or were found to be in a primitivestate till about half a century ago. Karl Pear-son, who died only two decades ago, was apioneer in forging the calculus and fitting itfor really advanced work in quadrants 2 and 4.Statis tical calculus, operational analysi s , andother tools are being sharpened only to-day toa degree sufficient to make allowance for thevitiations, incidental to man and his societybeing the subject of study. As a result of theforging of such powerful tools, however, thedevelopment of many disciplines in the domainof social sciences is becoming progressivelyamenable to scientific method. Library scienceis one of them. The time has come to recog-nise the existence of library science as ascience.

162 Other Disciplines

To appreciate the claim of some of thesocial sciences of to-day to the status of ascience, it will be he lpf'ul to mention some otherdisciplines, whose development is not amen-able to sc ientific method as outlined above.Theology is an obvious example. In this discip-line, the zenith is occupied by unalterable autho-ritative principles, often taken to be revelation.Historically, even empirical experiences in thephysical world, going contradictory to them,were denied validity: indeed, history is full ofinstanc es of treating the as sertion of suchempirical expe rience s as here sy and of thecruelty meted out to such heretics. Here, theleft half of the cycle is thrown out of action; andthere is thus no scientific spiral at all. Exe-getics is put to the severest strain to reconcile

Mar 1957 V 4 N 1

the authoritative principles at the zenith andthe contradicting facts at the nadir. One of theextreme devises used in this exegetics is knownas Artha-Vada, which amounts to postulatingthe occurrence of meaningless words, phrases,sentences, and even paragraphs, to be unin-telligible, and hence. to-be-neglected, "noises"i.n the revealed texts occupying the zenith. Mi-ma ms aka s in Indian philosophy have providedoutstanding examples of extreme forms of re-conciliation of this kind. Christian theologyalso gives extreme, though earnest, att empt sat such forced reconciliation of e.mpiricalfacts and the Bible. E T Whittaker's Space andspirit demonstrates this in a lucid way. Finearts including literature form another domainin the universe of knowledge, which is notamenable to the scientific method describedabove. The development of these subjects donot present quadrants 1, '2, and 4. We can onlyrecognise quadrant 3. They are all productsof intuition with little play of intellect. Nocycle of scientific method is possible in thatdom.ain.

17 Emergence of LibraryScience

Unlike in theology and the fine arts, thedevelopment of library science is fully charac-terised by the spiral of scientific me thod , AlltHe earlier chapters of the book Five laws oflibrary science (1931) demonstrate it. Theydescribe the typical library practices thencurrent and corresponding to quadrant 1. Theystate facts of experience corresponding to thenadir. They also mention in a few places someempirical laws derived from the facts. The fivefundamental laws seized in quadrant 3 form thenormative principles corresponding to thezenith. Quadrant 4 is well provided for by show-ing the then library practices as compellingimplications of these normative principles. Inlater sections, some indications will be given asto how new inferences are being.made, and newlibrary practices are explained or suggestedby the sam.e normative principles, and newinterpretations of their terms are being given,in the light of the change s occurring in theboundary conditions imposed by society onlibrary service. These factors indicate con-formity of the development of library scienceto scientific method. This justifies deemingit a science.

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RANGANATHAN

18 Trivial Truism

Before dealirig with these factors, a wordshould be said about the remark that the FirstLaw - Books are for Use - is a trivial truism.The first law of most of the sciences is equallyso. For example, Newton's first law of motionreads, "Every body preserves in its state ofrest unless it is compelled to change thatstate by impressed forces." Is this not a tru-ism? Perhaps the triviality of a first law isbest illustrated by the first law of logic, com-mented upon as follows in the New foundationsof logic (1947) by K R Popper:- "The mosttrivial and at the same time the simplest ruleof inference is undoubtedly, "From the state-ment a, the statement a can be derived. "Thi s ;-ule is so trivial that many cIa s s icallogicians have hesitated to admit it. They havefelt that nothing could be gained by admittingit and that the dignity of the procedure ofinference would be imperilled if this were call-ed an inference. Since the rule is, obviously,not invalid we should have to admit it even ifit were useless. But contrary to first impres-sions, it is far from being useless. It iseven characteristic, altogether, of the trivialityof the fundamental rules from which the edificeof logic arises. We should further more Keepin mind that triviality of the basic assumptionsis an advantage rather than a disadvantage,provided that what we obtain at the end is ade-quate for our purpose. In spite of the trivialityof these rules, the concept of derivability thusdetermined turns out to provide an exceedinglypowerful instrument, "

The implications of the first law have beenprofound, rich, and revolutionising, as workedout in the first chapter of the Five laws. Weshall now state some of the library practicesnewly set up as implications of the other laws.

2 SECOND LAW AND NEW TYPES OFBOOKS AND NEW PRACTICES

Since 1931 many new library practices havecome into vogue. These are all in conformityto the implications of the word "Every" in theenunciation of the second law. The se implica-tions suggest also some new practices, yet tobe implemented. Stated in general terms, thesecond law regards every human being as a

26

potential reader. Democrary should beallowed the fullest sway in the interpretation ofthe second law.

21 Books for Children

"Every" includes children. They too areentitled to books. But adults' books are notsuited to them. Children's books should coverthe entire universe of knowledge in a specialkey, in a distinctive style of exposition, with 'ahigh proportion of illustrations, and with aphysical get up of their own. Accordingly, aspecial class of children's authors and publi-shers have come into being in some of thecountries. This is yet to happen in India. Ascheme for it has been worked out in the §chooland college libraries (1942).

22 Books for the Abnormals

"Every" includes the blind and the crippleconfined to bed. Books are now being trans-formed into sound records for the use of blindreaders. Many of the public libraries of theU. S. A. are now engaged in their productionwith the aid of voluntary readers. The Libraryof Congress is taking a leading part in theorganisation of their production, storage, andcirculation. Ceiling books were seen by mefor the first time in the Carnegie Library inPittsburg. A ceiling book is a micro-filmwith projector equipment fit to be projectedon to the ceiling by a cripple confined to bed,with the aid of any limb of his, such as a toeor a finger which is functioning.

23 Books for Artisans

"Every" include s artisans in the lowest quar-tile in the intellectual scale as well as the eco-nomic scale. To make them accept and benefitby library service, it is necessary to producecraft-centred sets of books. Each set willhave a specific craft as the central biasingtheme. The entire universe of knowledgewill be covered by the books in the set, withone book on each class or region of knowledge,written from the angle of the craft in question.The need for such craft-centred sets of bookswas first sensed in Education for leisure (1946)

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LIBRARY SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD

and more fully expounded in a memorandum tothe Government of India and in Social educationliterature (1952).

24 Books for Neo-Literates

"Every" includes neo-literates. Neo-literate adults will form an abnormal percen-tage of the Indian corn rnunity for at least onemore generation. There is need for a set ofgraded books for their use. The P" rpor t ion ofillustrations to letter-press will decrease fromperhaps 10 to 1 in the lowest grade to perhaps1 to 10 in the highest grade. The details of thisc las s of books will be found in Literature forneo-literates (1953).

25 Books for the Last Deciles

"Every" includes also the persons of lowestability forming the last ten per cent in theinte llectual scale. Even c raft-c entred booksand the books of the lowest grade for neo-literates will not be suited to them. They needspeaking-books. A speaking-book is a well-illustrated book written in a specially simplestyle, carrying in a pouch at its end sound-records of the Ie tt.er+-p're s s in the body of thebook. Thus, a sound-book will appeal to thereade r in a triple way - through the ear, throughthe eyes, and through the phonetic symbols. Theneed for this class of books to satisfy the secondlaw was first expounded in a talk given by mein the Chaucer House, London, before a meet-ing of the Library Association in 1950.

26 Books for the Menat the Bench

"Every" includes the foremen and the work-men at the bench in the factories. The currentunbalancing between population pressure andnatural and near-natural commodities of con-sumption calls for enormous productivity dr i'v e ,Rate of production and avoidance and elimina-t ion of waste of evey kind ultima.te ly depend ontne foremen and the workmen at the bench. Theyhave to be put in possession of the latest know-how, from time to time. But they are usually ofthe lowest quartile in the intellectual scale andan. reluctant to pick up ideas from the printed

Mar 1957 V 4 N 1

word alone. Their interest has first to be r ousedwith the aid of audio-visual materials portrayingthe latest know-how. This has to be followedup by aggressive reference ser vicv to enablethem to pick up the exact de t a il s [rom books spe-cially written up to their standard, both in styleand in the proportion and nature of ilIus t r at ions .This class of materials and books are yet to beproduced in most languages to the satisfactionof the second law.

27 Books for the StraySpecialist

"Every" includes the stray specialist in anysubject, living all by himself in some part of thecountry far away from his peers. The secondlaw would insist on his local library finding hisbooks for him. But, it may not find any otherreader for such a book for rnany years to corrre,In view of this, the Lawof Parsimony would refuseto vote money for the purchase of that book. 'Thi c

dilemma has to be met by an organisationaldevice. This is inter-library ~oan. This irnpt i e sthat all the book-resources in a country shouldbe regarded as a single pool. This also impliesa union catalogue. But this involves many prob-lems still unsolved these problems are nowengaging the attention of the lfla. It is proposedto have a series of articles on this question inthe Annals of library science.

3 THIRD LAW AND DOCUMENTATION

The greatest pressure on exegetics has per-haps been put by the third law - Every Book itsReader - in its attempt to yield all its irnpl.ica+

lions in the context of the new boundary conditionsset by the economic pressure developing insociety to-day. Perhaps the most pressingdevelopments in the library profession arise outof the march of library service into the economicsphere. World is becoming one in the economicsphere much faster than in the political sphere.The economic functions of lib r ar y service aretherefore pressing. One such function has beenalready referred to in section 26. The (act isthis. For shelter, clothing, food, tr an s por t ,

and communication, natural and nea r -n atu r alcommodities have to be increasingly supple-mented by artificial commodities, built out of~xtracts from raw materials quite unfit and even

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poisonous for direct consumption, by their syn-thesis, and by othe r modes of processing. Thebuilding of artificial commodities for consumptionhas to be based on research. Their productionon large scale and their prompt distribution toall the points of consumption on the surface of theearth call for a much higher order of managementand transport than found sufficient hitherto.This too has to be based on research. The urgen-cy of these forms of research is such thatresearch cannot be left any longer to the casualappearance of a man of genius, who pursues re-search spontaneously and inevitably to satisfyhis own inner urge, unprompted by externalnecessity. Nor can we afford any delay inexploiting new inventions and discoveries forthe economic service of mankind, though suchdelay had been quite common in the past. Com-pare for example the time-lag in the exploitationof the discovery of electricity and the rapiditywith which the discoveries in nuclear physicsare being exploited to-day. Research has there-fore to be organised consciously and so as toproceed "in-series", rather than "in-parallel"as in the past.

31 Plough-Back in Research-in-Series

Research-in-series has many implicationswhich force library service to move forwardrapidly during its march into the economicsphere. In the first place, organised researchhas to draw its man-power even from intellec-tual strata far below that of genius. Secondly,a genius is a self-helper, not necessarilydepending on organised library service. On theother hand, the persons now being pressed intoresearch are in great need of being fed exactlyand exhaustively by library service. This needis getting intensified every day by the veryincrease in the rate of output of new thought,caused by research-in-series all the world over.It is also intensified by the tremendous amountof cross-breeding and lamination taking placein the universe of knowledge, as a result ofintensively organised research in many sectorsof knowledge. Even in one and the sameindustrial house, wasteful, unintended, research-in-parallel sets in frequently, because of in-efficiency in keeping every worker informedpromptly of every new achievement of everyother worker, which may be at least partly

2B

or remotely germane to the pursuit of manyothers. The heaps of un-fed house-reports onmany research projects in one and the sameenterprise - and even under one and the sameroof - form a. staggering monument of costlynew thought left idle, without being ploughedback into the research-in-series which is inprogress.

32 Generalisation of 'Book'

There is another factor in library ser viceto be given attention in the economic sphere.Research-in-series will not be fully helped iflibrary service confined itself to whole booksand periodicals, as service-units. The unit ofservice should be an individual article in aperiodical or a section and even a paragraph ina book. To use a jargon coined by me, the unitof library service can not any longer be macrothought; it must be nascent micro thought in theresearch sphere. Efficient, prompt, pin-pointed, exhaustive service of nascent microthought to specialists, necessitated by the socialpressure of to-day, has now come to be calledDocumentation Service. The reconciliation ofthis library practice with the third law and theother laws requires a generalisation of the con-notation of the term book. It should hereafterbe used in the sense of Document; this defini-tion was attempted in the Headings and canons(1955). Even this stood out-moded ir. the lightof the instrument-record of phenomena - unme-diated by the human mind and untransformed intohuman thought - gaining in importance as docu-ment. This transformation of the content of thethird law and the other laws by exegetical meansand its repercussions on various library tech-niques have been discussed in detail in myDocumentation in many lands: 4 Document, con-ventional and non- conventional published in theAnnals of library science, 3, 1956, 22-32.

33 Effect of Generalisationon Classification

The effect of this generalisation of the term'book' in the third law has been most pronouncedon the discipline of library classification. Thetechnique of classificat ion was cultivated in theearly years for mechanising arrangement of

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books on shelves. Superficial classification or c ent r a lis ation will effect 79"/0 saving in the man-classification of macro thought was sufficient power needed in the library system of a countryfor this purpose. Such a classification could to prepare the home-produced books for use.afford to be enumerative from the very start. The same book shows also that a similar 79"/0But depth classification is necessary if the unit saving can be effected in respect of foreignof service is micro thought. Depth classifica- books also, if each country practices centrali-cion has to be analytico-synthetic. In it, enumera- sation and participates in the scheme set forthtion should be confined only to some seminal in that book for international co-operation inschedules and a few schedules of common isolates the matter. The British National BibliographySuch a scheme is now being actively investigated is the best known demonstration of this impli-by the profession. The techniques of phase, cation of the fourth law. Though started only infacet, and zone analysis, the concepts of funda- 1950, it has already effected a considerable sav-mental categories and postulates for classifica- ing in the British libraries. Its recent or gani+tion, and the separation of work in the idea and sation to print and supply catalogue cardsnotational planes - largely initiated in India - within one day of the receipt of the order is aare proving productive in this investigati.on. An highwater mark of efficiency.international eeminar is being convened rnEngland in May 1957 to study the classificatoryproblems being precipitated by the shift in theconnotation of the central term in the laws oflibrary science.

4 FOURTH LAW AND NEWLIBRARY PRACTICES

The fourth law - Save the Time of theReader - gives the corrollary "Save the Timeof the Staff", in order to turn more hands onto reference se r vice , This corrollary has asits implications many practices in library ser-vice. Some of these have already made a start,though they have to go a long way to give resultsto the full satisfaction of the fourth law.

41 Centralised Classificationand Cataloguing

A huitful practice gaining support is centra-lised classification and cataloguin.g of books.These two techniques are quite impersonal, inthe sense that the class number of a book andits catalogue entries depend largely on the bookitself arid not upon the library using it. Theslight extent to which they may have to be occa-sionally oriented to the unusual needs of reader sof a particular class or of a particular localityis provided for by the Canon of Local Variationapplicable to both the disciplines. In view ofthis, centralisation is possible in the technicalpreparation of books for service. It has beenshown in the Headings and canons (1955) that

Mar 1957 V 4 N 1

42 Pre-Natal Classificationand Cataloguing

The fourth law has been always dissatisfiedwith the hold-up of books between their receiptin the library and their release for use, in orderto classify and catalogue them. The pre-natalclas sific ation and cataloguing of books, therelease of catalogue cards along with the releaseof the books themselves, the printing of thecall numbers in the books at the time of print-ing of the preliminary pages, tooling them whilecasing the books and the associated routine fororde r work, de scribed in the Headings andcanons, will make it possible for a library torelease a book within not more than a couple ofdays of its receipt. This is a practice that hasnot yet come into vogue anywhere. But duringmy visit to England in December 1956, Mr Wells,the editor of B N B, as sured me that suchpre-natal work was not as impracticable as itwas thought to be when it was first expoundedby me in August 1948 in an address at the Lib-rary of Congress. He does not anticipate anyresistance from publishers in their offer of co-operation, when it could be started by him.

43 International and NationalDocumentation

To save man-power and money, it has beenfound necessary to centralise documentation workeven at the international level. But, in practiceit leads to a time-lag of more than one year.This is a se.rious violation of the fourth law.

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Therefore, since World War II, the practice ofre st r icte d documentation work in each nationalcentre is being tried. The periodicals scannedare restricted to those taken within the country.The subjects for which they are scanned arerestricted to those in which work is being donewithin the country. These two restrictionsbring down the quantity of work inv oIved to agreat extent, at least in the newly developingcountries. The advance procurement of micro-copies of the title pages of periodicals by air-mail make it possible for the national documen-tation list to reach service -librarie s almostsimultaneously with the arrival of the periodi-cals concerned. A further step should be forthe national documentation centre of each coun-try to do pre-natal documentation of each of thearticles originating within its territory andreleasing the documentation list with abstracts.This suggestion of the fourth law may show away also to make some saving in the money nowbeing spent in the printing of the thousands ofperiodicals now current. This is a step in inter-national and national economy and organisation,into which it is not proper to enter in the pre-sent context.

44 Mechanisation

Another way of saving staff-time will be tomechanise every item of impersonal work ina library. For example, the design of machineryfor literature search has been in full swing sinceWorld War II. A combination of facet analysisin classification and machinery for search -beginning from punched cards and going to mag-netic tape - will save the time of the readerdirectly also. So it will be with the electronicand other mechanical methods of charging anddischarging work. Ralph Shaw has mechanisedother kinds of library routine considerably withthe aid of photography. This indicates the longvista of work to be done in response to thefourth law. But most of the work will fall withinthe province of technologists and managerialexperts. The library profe ssion can only statethe requirements and indicate the spheres wherernecha.nisat ion will prove useful and also harm-le s s ,

5 FIFTH LAW AND ITSDIVERSE IMPORTS

In 1931, the fifth law - Library is a growingorganism - was interpreted only in one sense.

30

Chapter 7 of the first edition of the Five lawsbrought out the implications of "Growth" onlyin the sense of "Child-Growth" - that is, growthinvolving steady increase in over-all size. Butthe term holds also another sense. It is "Adult-Growth" - that is growth by replacement ofconstituents without increase in over-all size.The double import of the fifth law leads to animportant principle in the organisation of anational library system. Two types of librariesare to be recognised, v iz conserving libraryand service library. This distinction was seenand applied consciously for the first time onlyin the Library book selection (1953).

51 Conserving Library

In view of the continuous demand of a con-serving library for additional building, shelves,and maintenance charges, economy would suggesta limit to the number of such libraries in acountry. The National Central Library shouldbe a conserving library; and it may prove suf-ficient in a country with a small area. Evenin a country with a large area, their numberneed not exceed half a dozen. There can be nouseful purpose except that of local pre stige inmaintaining two such libraries within sixty milesof each other as in Scotland. In a polyglotcountry like India, it will be necessary to havealso a State Central Library in each constituentstate for conserving copies of the publicationsproduced within the state. A City or a DistrictCentral Library or any other service librarysuch as a University Library be entrusted withconserving work except in the case of strictlylocal collections. When a country decides tohave additional conserving national libraries -India has decided upon having three additionalones - it may be economical to have some or allof them in micro films. It may be further wiseto have one of the microfilm collection locatedin a deep underground vault beyond the reach ofnuclear vandalism such as that on Hiroshima.The model library acts given in the Librarydevelopment plan (1950) have provided for mostof the above points; but, it needs amendmentabout the microfilm deposits; or perhaps suchprovisions maybe made in the rules framed11nr1~rthe Acts.

5~ Service Library

A service library will admit of a ceiling inregard to the number of volumes, the number of

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readers, and the strength of the staff, andtherefore of the building and fittings. The annualacce ss ion and weeding out, because of wearingout by use or of getting outmoded, will ultimatelybalance each other. But, it will be the duty ofeach service library to notify the conservinglibrary concerned of all the items to be weededout, so that the latter may take action on thesalvage and conservation of a few representativecopies of each book. A similar procedure shouldalso be carried out at the international level.This implication of the second import of the fifthlaw shows that the Quincy Plan, mentioned insection 711 of the book Five laws, is not incon-sistent with the fifth law, as it was assumedwhen only its first import was known.

53 Species Formation,a Third Import

A third import of the fifth law is phylogenesis,as distinct frol'l1 ontogenesis. This third importemphasises and explains the formation ofspecialised libraries specialising in specialfunctions. Till now specialisation on the basisof the classes of special readers has been obser-ved. This has been elaborately dealt with inthe Preface to library science. Certain functionsmay get elaborated, while others may be droppedor thinned out in some species. The relativeweight between conservation and service, found.in conserving libraries and service libraries,is itself an instance. Among service libraries,the relative weight between macro documentsand micro documents found in libraries for the-generalist and for the specialist is anotherinstance in point. Examples of this kind can bemultiplied. The perceptible difference in theceiling ior size between one class of servicelibraries and another is analogous to a similarphenomenon in different phylums in nature.

- Ti;' a third import of the fifth law was focussedon the conscious level by Dr Martin Mollerotof the Bavarian State Library during an excursionarranged tor the delegates of the Ifla Conferenceat Munich in September 1955.

54 A Fourth Import

Dr MolIerott brought up also a fourth importof the fifth law. It arises out of a fourth a.ttri-bute of growth, seen in a social organism.

Mar 1957 V 4 N 1

This is best seen in the human family, whichdivides into separate and yet closely relatedsub-families for convenience inexistence. Ana-logously, monolithic libraries of the past willhave to give place to separate and yet closelyrelated libraries for facilitating efficiency of ser-vice, in the changing conditions of society andof the social pressure on library service. Thisidea needs further pursuit.

55 Farmington Plan

The Farmington Plan formulated in USAabout a decade ago is a step in the reconciliationof these three imports ofthe fifth law. It is anew experiment in the formation of a newspecies of libraries with a considerable ser-vice function and with conserving function mid-way between those of a National Central Libraryand a normal City or District Central Library.

56 Growth of ClassIndex Entries

To illustrate the incidence of the light of thefifth law even in the details concerning a library,mention may be made of class index librariesin a library catalogue. The gamma functionrate at which they will grow, if entries aremade for each of the possible permutations ofthe terms forming the headings and subheadings,was brought out for the first time in the Theory oflibrary catalogue. This led to the invention ofChain Procedure to prevent such generalentries almost occulting the substantive bookentries in the catalogue. This has been morepointedly elaborated in the Classification, coding,and machinery for search (1950). The chainprocedure has been applied on a large scalein the British National Bibliography, ever sinceit was started in 1950. Its editor has stated inhis contribution to Library scie.!.1.s.~_in .India(1953), "The alphabetic part of the BritishNational Bibliography, like the systematic part,owes its success to the theories of Ranganathanon which it is built." The theory of chain pro-cedure has been due to the warning of the fifthlaw.

6 LIBRAMETR Y

Mathematical tools of various kin~ are nowapplicable to work out many of the implications

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of the normative principles of library scienceand in some cases to settle once for all someof the issues which have been filling the pagesof the or gans of library science with uninformedwasteful polemics. In my talk before the AslibConference of 1948 at Leamington Spa, the termLibrametry was coined to denote the mathema-tical study of the problems in library scien cein the light of or as implications of the five laws.

7 FAMILY OF BOOKS

Libramety is still only in its infancy. How-ever, a considerable systematic developmentof the implications of the five laws has been inprogress in diverse branches of library practicewith the aid of verbal dialectics. The poten-tiality of the five laws, viewed as the normativeprinciples corresponding to the zenith in the

current cycle implied in the spiral of scientificmethod, can be inferred from the family of aboutfour dozen books which it has been possible towrite covering the various branches of the sub-ject. Their pages will show how they all stemfrom the five laws, which were expounded in thefirst volume of the family. No end can be seento the number of other such books and papers,bringing out more of latent implications, in thelight of the changing boundary conditions set tolibrary service by the continuous as well assudden changes in social values experienced. bysociety from time to time •. The existence ofsuch prepotent, seminal, normative principles,and the possibility of such an endless chain ofinferences from them leading to ever-becoming,ever-new library practices and techniques, forma sufficient justification for answering thequestion, "Is there a library science?", in theaffirmative.

Statement about"ANNALS OF LIBRARY SCIENCE"

under Rule 8 of the Registration of Newspapers (Central) Rules 1956.

1 Place of Publication2 Periodicity of its publication3 Printer's Name

NationalityAddress

4 Publisher's NameNationalityAddress

5 Editor's NameNationalityAddress

6 Names and address of individualswho own the newspaper and part-nersor shareholders holding morethan one per cent of the totalcapital.

In sd oc , NPL, Hillside Road, New Delhi 12.QuarterlyS. ParthasarathyIndianInsdoc, NPL, Hillside Road, New Delhi 12S. ParthasarathyIndianIn sd oc , NPL, Hillside Road, New Delhi 12s. R. Ranganathan (Editor)Indian15 Sami Pillai Street, Triplicane, MadrasS. Parthasarathy (Jt. Editor)IndianIn sdoc , NPL, Hillside Road, New Delhi 12Iri sdoc , NPL, Hillside Road, New Delhi 12

(a CSIR Organisation)

I, S. Parthasarathy, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to thebest of my knowledge and belief.

Date 27.3.1957

•

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Sd. S. ParathasarathySignature of Publisher

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