What is the first thing that comes into mind when you hear the word “Library” or “Librarian”?
If I was asked with that question just before I have been acquainted with Library Science as a degree, I would have probably answered “books, newspapers, magazines, research and silence please signage.”
Any of these descriptions would be the common answer by most of us probably because we really did not have a good start with librarians and library alike during our early years. But the real question here is how shallow are those descriptions to the real duties and responsibilities faced by a modern librarian?
As I was taking up my course with the introduction on librarianship, our instructor acquainted us about the five laws of library science which was introduced by none other than Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan (S.R. Ranganthan) who is the father of library science. According to Ranganathan, these laws are:
Every reader his [or her] book.
Save the time of the reader.
The library is a growing organism.
Taking a closer look into Ranganathan’s laws, it is safe to assume that librarians and library alike concern themselves with books as well as the readers. These laws are indeed relevant during the time of Ranganathan but can we still consider these laws relevant today considering that libraries are no longer the only sources of information? The answer would still be a resounding “YES!” but since there are changes which affects libraries, there is a most for these laws to evolve so as librarians and libraries alike can respond to the changing needs of the readers as well. This is the reason why Michael Gorman, a British-born librarian who happened to be a president of the American Library Association, reconstructed the classic five laws. Gorman’s five laws are:
1.) Libraries serve humanity: This law encompasses the assistance of individuals and the lofty ideal of the “furtherance of the higher aspirations of mankind”. This law also implies an altruistic desire to provide a quality service and to exceed the expectations of all users.
2.) Respect all forms by which knowledge is communicated: Gorman advocates the use of various forms of “carriers of knowledge and information”. He recommends a utilitarian approach – using whatever is more effective, cost effective, or advantageous.
3.) Use technology intelligently to enhance service: Librarians, Gorman argues, must welcome and integrate new technologies. Yet he is clear that print-on-paper will remain the “pre-eminent medium for the communication of cumulative knowledge” Technology must be used to solve problems and improve services, and achieve cost-effectiveness, rather than adopted for its own sake.
4.) Protect free access to knowledge: Allowing the records of the past to disappear is, from Gorman’s perspective, “a kind of censorship”. It is the librarian’s responsibility to ensure intellectual freedom because Gorman asserts, a “society without uncensored libraries is a society open to tyranny”.
5.) Honor the past and create the future: Gorman advocates the need to balance nostalgia for a pre-digital past with the need to embrace new technologies, in a selective way based upon the extent to which they will enhance the library service. He points to a need to respect the accomplishments of predecessors in the field of information science, whilst celebrating new developments in the field of librarianship
Taking into consideration the reconstructed five laws of Gorman, one can say that the task of libraries and librarians are universal for the services are not only limited within its communities but to the world. And since there have been a lot of technological innovations, libraries no longer treat them as threats instead libraries use these innovations to their advantage. Despite libraries incorporating technological innovations, confidentiality and privacy with records are always assured to avoid tyranny.
Narrowing down the practice of Gorman’s five laws of Library Science in the Philippines setting, one can say that librarianship in the Philippines is still immature despite of some libraries embracing the changes brought by the 21st century. The reason behind this is that public libraries in the Philippines are still underdeveloped since unlike the public libraries in the Third World countries, they are well supported not just by their government but with their communities as well. Another reason would be because there are still librarians who stick on what they have already learned in the academe and would no longer seek for further trainings and development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_laws_of_library_science
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gorman_%28librarian%29#Five_New_Laws_of_Librarianship
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