Ranganathan and public library system
Year: 1996
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The paper evaluates the contribution of Dr. S.R. Ranganathan to the public library system of India. In India Ranganathan was the first to introduce the modern concept that public library system is an integrated nationwide network of public libraries giving free library and information services to one and all the citizens – literate or illiterate, rich or poor, rural or urban. The study traces historically the work of Ranganathan towards enacting public library legislation in an uniform pattern at different States of India from 1925-1972. Ranganathan’s concept of Public library system was a socialist information system for the people, which can pool the total information resources of the nation and make it available to all citizens in an equal and unbiased way. If government has adopted his Model Act, India would have established a library and information system in which it would have become possible for any poor or wealthy to get any recorded information available anywhere in the nation or outside through the information service outlet maintained by the State near his home in the village or town. The study concludes by commenting that Rangantan’s concept of Public Library System was far advanced than his time as well as the concepts applied at present also.
Author: R. Raman Nair
Language: English
Subfield: Library and Information Sciences
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1553516962