Ranganathan Online!

It is a happy, happy day for me. My #1 hero and professional idol in the library field is on-line and inching nearer the position of respect and recognition that he deserves. Ranganathan revolutionized the institution of the library in India in the 1930s with his Five Laws of Library Science:

1. Books are for use.
2. Every reader his or her book.
3. Every book its reader.
4. Save the time of the reader.
5. A library is a growing organism.

I was researching S.R. Ranganathan's work this past fall, and checked out his Five Laws of Library Science (1931). Understandably, considering its age, but unfortunately, considering its value, the copy I got from my college library was falling apart, having very brittle pages and no surviving binding. Now it has been digitized courtesy of the University of Arizona's Digital Library of Information Science and Technology and the introduction and chapter 1 are already available as pdfs at http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/1220/.

If you want to learn a little more about the library legend himself, try this site: http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v7p037y1984.pdf

Or if you want to see how his laws apply to technology-based resources, try: http://www.webology.ir/2004/v1n2/a8.html