The Five Laws of Library Science, created by Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan, define how libraries should offer services and how users should respect books and others. The laws include “Books are for use,” “Every reader is his book,” “Every book, its reader,” “Save the user’s time,” and “The library is a growing organism.”
The laws of library science are a set of rules that define how the library system should offer its services to people. Indirectly, they are also guidelines for all library users on how to respect books and other users in a library setting. In 1931, Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan, known as the father of library science, published a book entitled “The Five Laws of Library Science”, the contents of which became widely accepted as the primary principles of library science. These five laws can be summarized in five statements, the first two are “Books are for use” and “Every reader is his book”. The last three statements are: “Every book, its reader”, “Save the user’s time” and “The library is a growing organism”.
The first law, “Books are for use”, states that libraries exist primarily to give people access to books, and the protection and preservation of books is only secondary. It has been observed that libraries generally keep books away in order to prevent them from being damaged or stolen to the point where they are almost inaccessible. Books, however, must be read so that people can acquire knowledge and appreciate literature. Under this law, libraries must be located in “accessible” locations, must have appropriate opening hours and lending policies, and must employ professional and welcoming staff.
The second and third laws of library science, “Every reader is your book” and “Every book is your reader,” respectively, are often used interdependently. The second law explains that every user of a library has the right to obtain and receive any book or information based on their taste and needs. The third law, on the other hand, states that every book in the library is valuable and useful, even if only one person needs it. Generally, these library laws prevent any kind of discrimination against readers and books and require that all types of literary genres, references and other sources or information be included in the collection. Laws also recommend that libraries have competent, competent staff and a transparent shelving system.
Issues of efficiency and organization are specifically discussed in the fourth law: “Save the reader’s time.” Readers should be able to search for what they want and need right away. The application of this fourth law can be seen in indexes, card catalogs and bibliographies. Even how the books are organized, alphabetically, by genre or by the Dewey Decimal System, is a reflection of the importance of how libraries can and should “Save Reader Time”.
The final law of Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science is that “the library is a growing organism”. In this law, the word “growth” or “growth” not only points to the amount of books and documents accumulated, but also to the recurrence of these resources. This law also dictates how library systems must adapt to changes, such as when digital and online resources become more widely used.
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