ఆంధ్ర గ్రంథాలయం/సంపుటము 1/సంచిక 1/Why, What, How?
Why, What, How?
By S. R. RANGANATHAN, M.A., L.T., F.L.A.,
Librarian, Madras University Library &
Secretary, Madras Library Association.
My heart is filled with joy when I see the irrepressible enthusiasm, resource and faith of my young colleagues of the Andhra Desa. Their devotion to the library cause appears to be unbounded. The Andhra Granthalayam is the latest manifestation of their spirit of venture. I wish it every success.
NEWS AGENCY
It has a three-fold function. It has first to be a medium for dissimination of library news. Each library stands to gain by knowing what happens in the sister libraries of the country. Imitation and emulation are most powerful factors in advance- ment. They enable everybody to share the fruits of the creative activity of the few who alone may be endowed with capacity for it. The net for the news may be made world-wide, provided editorial art will relate the news received to the conditions of our country in an assimilable form.
LIAISON WORK
This new venture can also be a reliable liaison between the hundreds of libraries-large and small-scattered throughout the land and the limbs of government which have to foster them, while the specific needs of individual libraries must be attended to only individually, it is possible to find out their common factor, so to speak. Here again it is up to editorial art to shape that common factor into a principle or policy for consideration by authorities. The library profession and the lay people who are interested in the library cause should use the pages of this
periodical as arena for discussion of principles and policies. THE MOST VITAL FUNCTION
Lastly, this new venture should function also as an organ for the forging of the technique of librarianship. Librarianship is no longer mere artisanship dependent on rule of thumb. It is a science. Its roots reach a few fundamental principles in which all the library practices-past, present and future-lie in a potential form. It is the duty of library science to make the potential manifest with the aid of what has been called scientific method. Observation, experiment, induction, deduction and generalisation are the recognised elements of such a method. Library Science is amenable to treatment in all these ways. This organ should enunciate from time to time specific problems that require investigation. Individual libraries that have the necessary facilities should experiment, observe and communicate their findings. The publication of such findings in this organ will lead to the necessary induction and deduction. Up to this point many can and should contribute. The last stage, generalisation, is usually extra intellectual. It lies largely within the sphere of intuition. But intuition functions only in the few.
The Lord says¹[1],
"मनुष्याणां सहस्रेषु कश्चिद्यतति सिद्धये ।
यततामपि सिद्धानां कश्चिन्मां वेत्ति तत्वतः ॥
Among thousands of men one here
and there strives after perfection,
and of those who strive and attain
perfection one here and there
knows me in all the principles of
my existence."
We have no means of finding out who the few are. But all the work up to generalisation must be done intensely, profusely and persistantly to facilitate the work of the few. They will appear at the right moment. I wish the Andhra Grantha- layam every success in this last, but most vital, function.
COMPLEMENTARY FUNCTIONING
Before concluding, I should like to say a few words as Secretary of the Madras Library Association. I am happy to realise that, in this new venture of my Andhra colleagues, the Andhra Desa Library Association and the Madras Library Association work in a most harmonious and complementary way. The latter discharges these three functions in a different way. The first two functions are discharged through its annual reports, and bibliographical series. The last function is being steadily fulfilled by its publication series. In that series, an attempt is being made to build up library science in a systematic way. The foundation for this work was laid in visits to hundreds of libraries and is being built upon with the aid of the vast collec- tion of the Madras University Library, which affords ample opportunity for observation. These items of work make the hands of the Madras Library Association quite full. The running of a library periodical came up several times but it had to be given up as being more than what could be done now with comfort and efficiency. Hence, when the editor of this organ explained his plans, I was glad that Providence was working in a way which was perfect. I pray that this complementary move of the two Associations may get more and more perfectly articulated. and lead step by step to the concrete realisation of our most cherished wishes for the library future of our motherland.
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- ↑ The Gita Chapter 7. Verse 3.