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Unit 1: Concept of Library Science

1.4 Purpose of Library Notes

The purpose of a library can be stated as is explained in this section:
1. Libraries are for the lending of books: Indeed, the earliest libraries were just this – a small
business, museum or other place would take it upon themselves to educate their neighbours
by lending out their collection of books. As collections increased, these places would need
innovative means to organize and provide access to such books and innovative people to
do the innovative work – thus librarians were invented. Current libraries continue to
offer ‘the lending of books’ as a key service. However, as processes slowly became replaced
through automation, ‘librarians’ have been taken away from these activities in favour of
a more broad slate of activities like instruction or management.
2. Libraries are for educating people of all ages: Since reading inevitably increases the
brainpower of communities, an educational role for libraries seems fairly obvious. In
academic and school libraries, this role is the most obvious and apparent, since the
institutions that host them are largely educational ones. The educational role for public
libraries is also substantiated by the departments that govern many libraries. While the
educational role for libraries is strong, it is not perfect. For instance, many assume ‘education’
to be analogous with ‘courses’ which, while many libraries do offer courses of all types,
this activity is not particularly core to what libraries actually do.

3. Libraries are for preserving and/or promoting community culture: The cultural role of
libraries is supported through the country governance. The cultural role for libraries is
also fought with problems because it pits them into competition with museums,
symphonies, archives, concert halls that are more closely tied to cultural development
and yet offer services that involve the development of culture rather than the storage of it.
The cultural role for libraries is largely a supportive one at best and does not speak to the
value a library has in the community.
4. Other roles: The identity of libraries are so tied to their communities that there is no end
of roles for them. The reality is that the purpose of a library depends heavily on the
culture, location and structure of its community. Libraries, especially public libraries, are
extremely adaptive to community needs and can play the role of ‘catch all’ where other
institutions such as hospitals, universities and schools really struggle to play such a role.
Apart from the above purposes, the following are the other purposes of library to:

Look at their communities to determine needs.
Apply encouragement and leadership to the community to see if they can meet their
own needs.

Point to and promote community assets (including books, meeting rooms etc.)
when they can be helpful.
Continue to grow.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

10. Current libraries continue to offer ……………….. as a key service.
11. The ……………….. role of libraries is supported through the country governance.
12. The reality is that the purpose of a library depends heavily on the culture, location and
structure of its ………………...

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