Page 33 - DLIS001_FOUNDATION_OF_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SCIENCE

Foundation of Library and Information Science

Notes 2.5 Fourth Law “Save the Time of the Reader”

Readers coming to the library are busy people and they should not be made to wait longer than
necessary to get their needs met. They should get an exact and fast service from the library. If
they develop a sense of waste of time in the library, they are likely to avoid coming to the
library. In many individuals, intellectual interest may exist only momentarily and, unless it is
satisfied at the moment of its existence, it may vanish. Hence, the importance of the law “saves
the time of the reader”. The implications of the fourth law are as follows:

2.5.1 Implications – Open Access

Like the third law, the fourth law advocates open access. In libraries where the closed system is
practised, readers do not have access to books directly. They have to stand outside the stackroom
and requisition the books they want. The procedure is that they prepare a list of the books they
want after consulting the catalogue, and hand over the list to a member of the staff. He may
bring some of the books asked for and report the non-availability of others. It may so happen
that the reader, on actually seeing the books, may discover that none of them meets his needs.
He will have to prepare another list and again wait. This trial and error process may have to be
repeated several times and yet his needs may not be fully met. A lot of time is spent in these
processes.
There is both objective time and subjective time which are wasted. Objective time is the time
actually spent. Subjective time is the time that we feel we have spent. We may have waited for
a bus only for ten minutes, but we may feel that we have waited for thirty minutes. That is
subjective time. In the closed system, both subjective and objective time is involved. But in the
open access system, the reader is engaged in handling and perusing the books himself and he is
not conscious of the passage of time. So a lot of his subjective time is saved. If the books are
properly arranged and there is no misplacement of books, his objective time is also saved. So,
open access is an effective means of satisfying the fourth law.

2.5.2 Implications – Classification and Cataloguing

Proper classification which would bring together books on a specific subject and also related
subjects, a catalogue designed to meet the various approaches of readers, a reference service and
stack room guides are all basic tools for securing fulfilment of this law.

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Caution Adoption of an acquisition system that would ensure the speedy procurement of
books and periodicals is also necessitated by this law.
2.5.3 Implications – Charging System

An important library operation which was not mentioned in the context of the earlier laws, but
which has great relevance for this law, is the loan of books, i.e., the charging system. The earlier
practice in libraries was to enter all books lent out in a register and their return to be, recorded
in the same register. There are some libraries still following this system. Needless to say, this is
a time consuming process and shows that the library is not paying due respect to the fourth law.
It is as a result of efforts to simplify this process and to reduce the time involved in the operation
that modern issue systems like the ticket system, photo charging system and computerised
charging system have been evolved. In these modern systems, there is substantial reduction of
time in the issue and return processes which the fourth law strongly advocates.

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