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Unit 3: Place of Library in Dissemination of Information

The above statement vividly brings out the changing dimensions of knowledge and information Notes
and the institutional mechanism to handle them. Now, information is at the centre, while earlier
the library was at the centre.
Although the library essentially handles information and knowledge, the institutional
mechanism to meet the demands of users in an information society has expanded by properly
organising and operating many of the modern information systems and services.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
1. Political changes affect by changes in production and distribution, technology transfer,
assessment and application.
2. Now, information is at the centre, while earlier the library was at the centre.
3. New institutional mechanisms are being set up with the introduction of structural
innovation.
4. Educational changes take place in the fine arts and music.

3.2 Changing Role of Library in Socio-economic Development

Information systems, at any level of complexity, necessarily involve technologies such as
printing, telecommunications, or computers. However, to Library and Information Science,
technical potentialities and constraints are of importance mainly in that they affect the social
relations concerned.
Any study of social relations must itself be conducted in the light of assumptions about the
nature of these relations. These assumptions will control what aspects of communication will be
selected for analysis. Our assumptions can be expressed as follows:

Each individual person, group, organization, or other element occupies a certain social
position, and enters into varied social relations with other persons, groups, organizations,
etc.

Each individual undergoes a lifelong change in his social position and social relations,
associated with childhood, maturity, and old age, and with career.

Each group or organization undergoes a similar development, change in activities,
personnel, internal structure, social position, and social relations.
Society, as a whole, is similarly changing in evolutionary fashion (that is, changing
cumulatively to a state previously unknown, not just in a fluctuating or cyclical fashion).
The structure of society and the interrelations of its elements are therefore continually
altering.
Some consequences of these assumptions can be set out. Firstly, since communication of
information is essentially a social act, we may expect it to be affected by many aspects of the
social positions of the participants (source, recipient, and channel). It is unlikely that an analysis
confined to the unit act itself will give us full understanding. It is necessary to explore what
social influences affect information resources and wants, channels and their availability, and
other aspects of the transfer process.

Secondly, we may expect that the communication behaviour of each resource or recipient will
depend strongly on the stage he has reached in his life and career development, and that it will

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 43