Page 30 - DLIS001_FOUNDATION_OF_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SCIENCE

Unit 2: Laws of Library Science

Choice of Books: No library has ever enough funds to buy all the books that it needs. Notes
Hence, the need for selection arises. This has to be done judiciously so that the
available funds are utilised for the purchase of the most relevant and wanted books.
The library should leave nothing undone to ascertain the book requirements of its
clientele and accordingly formulate the selection and acquisition policy. In fact,
systematic user surveys are conducted by modern libraries to ascertain the book
requirements of their clientele in order to frame their policy of selection and
acquisition. It is enough at this point to know that user studies are important to
determine user requirements for books so as to build up a suitable collection in a
library. To buy a book that has no suitable or potential demand, in preference to a
book that is in demand, is a violation of the Second Law.
Choice of Staff: The Second Law, like the First Law, has implications for staff. An
adequate and competent team of staff is essential to conform to the Second Law and
provide every reader his book. A reader should be able to exploit the entire resources
of a library, which are relevant to his needs and in this exercise he has to be actively
helped by the staff. In the absence of such help the chances are that he will not be able
to locate a good number of books that he wants. Frequently a library finds itself in
such a predicament, where users are not served for want of adequate and competent
staff. The Second Law dictates that this should not happen and that the library
authority should not grudge making provision for the required staff which would
eliminate such situations.

(c) Obligations of the Staff: But, it is not enough if the library authority just makes adequate
and competent staff available. They have to be constantly conscious of the second law in
their work and conduct and be guided by its message.
The Second Law emphasises the need for a reference service by the staff. Here they have to
make an effort to understand their readers and their book requirements and help them get
the books which they want. There may be several books of interest to a reader in the
library, but the user may not be aware of some of them. So book service should not be
limited to making available only the books demanded by readers. The Second Law demands
that the user be served with comprehensive information of materials of his interest.
Reference service is an effective means of ensuring that the reader gains access to all the
books of possible interest to him held by the library.

Sometimes the material and matter of interest to a reader may be contained in a chapter or
in a few pages of a book. He may not consider the book as of interest to him and may not
look it up in the normal course. Therefore, there is every chance of the reader missing such
matter. To avoid such a situation, the library-catalogue should have profuse subject
analytical or cross reference entries which would draw the attention of readers to the
relevant contents of books in which they are interested.

Notes The word “book” in ‘every reader his/her book’ also refers to micro-documents
like articles in periodicals. In the present context of the massive production of literature in
each branch of knowledge and its wide scattering in different sources, searching the relevant
literature has become a difficult and complex task. The Second Law demands of the staff
give active help to readers to locate and use such literature with the help of tools like
bibliographies, indexing and abstracting services, etc.
(d) Obligations of the Reader: The reader also has certain responsibilities cast on him by the
second law. It particularly wants him to observe the library rules in respect of loan and use

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