Page 51 - DLIS101_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SOCIETY

Library and Information Society

Notes Even this small inadequate collection, in depth and content, is not used effectively due to the closed
stacks system and lack of staff and facilities for instruction concerning their use. The net result is
that the utility factor of the college libraries comes practically to nothing.
In most college libraries, books are neither properly classified nor catalogued. In several libraries
no systematic classification is followed for collection arrangements. The only service the college
library renders to its clientele is book-lending. There are colleges where students are not even allowed
inside the library. The UGC is aware of the slow progress of the college libraries. In addition to
providing financial help for development, it has also from time to time organized seminars to keep
the college librarians aware of the new developments in the field. But these seminars have made
only a limited effect on the progress of the college libraries. The condition of the college libraries in
the country should be a cause for alarm among the academic community. In the interests of the
development of higher education in the country along proper lines, it is important to make a detailed
study of the style of functioning of the college libraries and of the utilization of the library resources
and facilities by the students and teachers. This will help in the preparation of more realistic and
operational policies and programmes for ensuring the proper functioning, utilization and
development of the college libraries.
The college library has to be made the intellectual hub of the institution, serving equally, both the
students and teachers. This is all the more necessary because about 90 per cent of the students in
higher education in India pursue their studies in colleges and they have only very small and
substandard college library.

4.6 College Library in Indian Context

The College libraries in India have a significant role to play in higher education. The University
Grants Commission gives more importance to the college libraries. As the quality of higher education
and research, especially at the graduate level, depends upon, among other things, the standard of
the college libraries and their services. Therefore, the UGC has played a significant role in the growth
and development of college libraries since 1953 by giving grants for books, equipment, staff and
library buildings and has done a remarkable job in salary improvement of the college librarians.
The college library has to be made the intellectual hub of the institution, serving equally, both the
students and teachers.

University Libraries
University libraries all over the world have their own place of importance in the scheme of higher
learning. Libraries are not only repositories of knowledge but also dispensers of such knowledge.
The Radhakrishnan Commission (1948-49) expressed that “the library is the heart of all the
university’s work, directly so, as regards its research work and indirectly as regards its educational
work, which derives its life from research. Scientific research needs the library as well as its
laboratories while for humanistic research the library is both library and the laboratory in one. Both
for humanistic and scientific studies, a first class library is essential in a university.” The growth of
university libraries since Independence can be seen in respect of the initiatives taken by the Central
Government considering the vital importance of higher education and role of libraries in the
educational development, commitment to fulfill the demand of higher education, and the foundation
of the UGC in 1953 by an Act of Parliament. The Radhakrishnan Commission (1948) recognized the
value and importance of a well equipped and organized library system and its role in higher
education.

Ranganathan Committee (1957)
The most comprehensive and significant document on the university and college libraries is the
Report of the UGC library committee, chaired by Ranganathan. The Report was published by the
University Grants Commission in 1959 entitled ‘University and College Libraries.’ It was perhaps

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