Library and Information Centres : Concepts and Role in Society MODULE - 1

LIBRARY, INFORMATION
AND SOCIETY

1
Notes

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION

CENTRES : CONCEPT AND
ROLE IN SOCIETY

1.1 INTRODUCTION
In the modern information society, libraries and information centres have a new
role to play. This is due to increasing use of web-based information sources and
electronic services. Libraries are also being managed in a more democratic way
due to flexible communication system and efficient work organisation. Their
services are also user-centric.
In this lesson, we will discuss the role of libraries and information organisations
in the society. We will also study the significance of libraries in education, culture
and recreation.

1.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this lesson, you will be able to:
 define a library and an information centre;
 describe the purpose and functions of a library and an information centre;
 explain the role of libraries and information centres in modern society;
 list areas of activities of libraries/information centres;
 explain the significance of libraries in education, culture and recreation;
and
 explain the role of libraries as repositories of knowledge.

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1.3 DEFINITION OF A LIBRARY
The word ‘Library’ is derived from the Latin word “libraria” meaning ‘a book
place’. It originates from the term ‘liber’ which means ‘a book’. According to
the Oxford Companion to the English Language – “Library is a collection of
Notes books, periodicals and/or other materials, primarily written and printed.”
Harrod’s Librarian’s Glossary and Reference Book defines ‘Library’ as:
(1) A collection of books and other literary material kept for reading, study
and consultation.
(2) A place, building, room or rooms set apart for the keeping and use of a
collection of books, etc.
(3) A number of books issued by one publisher under a comprehensive title
as the ‘Loeb Classical Library’, and usually having some general
characteristic, such as, subject, binding, or typography.
(4) A collection of films, photographs and other non-book materials, plastic
or metal tapes, disks and programs.
In view of the above definitions, a library is defined as:
a. A place in which literary and artistic materials, such as books, periodicals,
newspapers, pamphlets, prints, records, tapes and artefacts are kept for
reading, reference, or lending.
b. A collection of such materials, especially when systematically arranged.
c. A room in a private home for such a collection.
d. An institution or foundation maintaining such a collection.
The library, thus, is a social organization and a necessary unit of the society.
It is organized for transmitting knowledge and experience of society to
individuals. This is done through books and other material like the maps, charts,
phono-records, microfilms, etc.
Dr. S. R. Ranganathan, father of library science in India, describes the library
as a public institution or establishment charged with the care of collection of
books and the duty of making them accessible to those who require to use them.
Therefore, it could be derived from the above definitions that a library is an
organization of records of human thought. These records are in a physical form,
i.e., human thoughts embodied in the form of useful manuscripts, books,
periodicals, audio-visual records, microfilms, graphs, charts, etc. These are
arranged, stored and preserved in a physical functional structure for effective
utilization by the potential users in future.

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INTEXT QUESTIONS 1.1

1. What are the three basic requirements for the existence of a library?
2. List at least five forms in which human thoughts are made available in a Notes
library.

1.4 PURPOSE AND FUNCTIONS OF A LIBRARY

The purpose and functions of a library are given below:

1.4.1 Purpose
The purpose of establishing a library is to serve the society through the records
of human thoughts, ideas and expressions by making them available to all.

1.4.2 Functions
The functions of a library are given below :
 Collect and provide books as well as other non-book materials to help the
people to become aware of the thinking of others and to think and act
independently.
 Foster and promote the spread of knowledge, education and culture;
 Provide facility for formal and informal life-long self-education in the
community;
 Preserve the literary and cultural heritage of humanity for posterity as
vehicles of culture and material for research;
 Provide reliable information for all kinds of users irrespective of age, caste,
creed, colour, religion, sex, etc.;
 Collect resources in order to promote an enlightened citizenship and to
enrich personal life; and
 Facilitate advancement of culture in the community.
In view of the above, functions of a library can be broadly grouped into
following four areas:—

(a) Education
Libraries provide means for self-development of the individuals and groups at
various stages of education. This closes the gap between the individual and
recorded knowledge. As an educational centre, the libraries support and promote
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all types of education, i.e., formal, non-formal, adult and life-long. This is
achieved by stocking of books and other reading material for the community.

(b) Information Dissemination

Notes Libraries help to provide accurate and current information to individuals and
groups, particularly on the topics of their interest. The scope of information
services is extended to include information on socio-economic needs of the
society. A library has to serve as an information centre or referral centre for
specialized sources of information. The employment opportunities, public
utility services, social awareness programmes undertaken by various departments
are considered to be essential areas of information. Information about these
areas is collected and stored by libraries for dissemination to the general public.

(c) Promotion of Culture

Libraries act as one of the principal centres of cultural life and promote
participation, enjoyment and appreciation of various arts. Promotion of culture
has two aspects- firstly, reading and thinking, that widens mental horizon and
develops creative capabilities of the individuals. Secondly, the library has to
contribute to the cultural enrichment of the society by organizing extension
activities like lectures, seminars, symposia, book exhibitions and cultural
gatherings.

(d) Recreation
Libraries play an active role in encouraging the positive use of leisure time by
providing material for change and relaxation. Provision of scope for healthy
or positive use of leisure time is an important function of a library. Books of
fiction, magazines, newspapers, etc. facilitate recreational reading. Audio-visual
materials such as films, television, radio, audio-video cassettes, etc. increase
the utility of a public library. Various forms of performing arts may also be
organized in the library to make them real community centres.

INTEXT QUESTION 1.2

1. Explain the three basic functions of a library.

1.5 ROLE OF LIBRARIES IN SOCIETY AND EDUCATION

Libraries play an important role in the socio-economic, cultural and educational
development of a society. Let us now study the role of libraries in modern
society and education.

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1.5.1 Library as a Social Institution
Library service is considered as a social necessity for the steady development
of a person as a social being. Library as a social institution serves several
purposes.
i) It helps the life-long self-education of one and all; Notes
ii) It furnishes up-to-date facts and information on all subjects to everyone;
iii) It disseminates to everyone, in an unbiased and balanced way, all shared
recorded views and thoughts;
iv) It provides opportunities for positive use of leisure time to one and all;
v) It preserves the literary and cultural heritage of humanity for antiquarian
research; and
vi) It works for continued social well-being of the society, as an agency in-
charge of all socialized recorded thoughts.

(a) Library for raising Cultural Level

Libraries enhance the level of intelligence and status of the common man in
the society to a great extent. They also increase the quantum of common sense
of the average man in the community. The library tends to increase the reading
habits and change the reading tastes of the people by raising their cultural level.
To make the people erudite, civilized and cultured, an effective educational
system largely dependent on abundant reading material is required. If reading
materials are to be at the disposal of the whole population, libraries are
inevitable. Libraries cater to all possible needs of the community, facilitate users
to undertake research in every walk of life, provide recreation and information
to all classes of the population.

(b) Library – an Instrument for Creating Refined Citizens

A civilized society is expected to have a literate and educated community fully
aware of the value, importance and use of libraries. This is so because, wherever
there is civilization, there must be books and wherever there are books, there
are libraries. The library is, thus, a driving force capable of building a better
society by its nature, variety, quality and extent of service. It is a support for
all types of educational development of an individual. It enables every reader
to access a wide range of reading material in order to broaden one’s outlook,
knowledge and ideas. The success of any democracy depends upon the educated
and enlightened citizens irrespective of their social status. An informed and
refined citizen tries to judge what is right and wrong. It opens the windows of

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the mind and enables the readers to solve their crucial problems in a reasonable
manner.

(c) Library Promotes the Desire for Books

Notes Being a social institution, library not only satisfies the readers by providing
books but also promotes the desire for books. By promoting the reading habits
of the people, the library makes them library-minded and enables them to love
books. Demand for required books is fully met by librarians who make them
available to the users. Therefore, the libraries play a vital role in the social life
of the community. The growth in the size and stock of books, is made possible
by the increased desire for books by innumerable readers, giving due importance
to libraries in the cultural and social development of the society.

(d) Library Facilitates Social Integration

As a social institution and library allows its users to interact among themselves.
This is carried out by organizing talks, lectures, films, discussions on current
topics, book exhibitions, and some socially useful activities. A library provides
a right forum for social get-together within its premises and makes it available
on equal terms to all groups in the community.

(e) Library Preserves Knowledge

A library maintains archives of old and rare documents thereby preserving
literary heritage for posterity. It stores the literary remains of humanity for
antiquarian research in varied physical formats. Such collections help researchers
to delve into historical aspects.

1.5.2 The Role of Library in Education

Education and training of the individual is considered an essential means of
stimulating economic and social development. To make the people erudite and
civilized, the society requires an effective educational system. Without libraries
there can neither be any good school, college or university nor can life-long
education of adults be encouraged. It is believed that where formal education
ends, informal education begins and a life-long learning process is sustained
with the support of adequate and proper library service.

(a) The Library as a People’s University

Education aims at imparting knowledge and skills to individual human beings
for his/her self development and inculcation of civic and social responsibilities,
so that he/she can play a positive role in the development of a society and a

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nation. Libraries are the foundation in such an endeavour and can essentially
be considered “Universities of the people”.

(b) The Library as a Centre of Mass Education

Libraries in general and public libraries in particular, have a very important role Notes
to play in the fields of political awareness, socio-economic growth, cultural
and educational enlightenment which are indispensable to the future development
of any country. Library service to all classes of people acts as an intellectual
catalyst by providing facilities for acquiring education, information, recreation,
aesthetic appreciation and research, irrespective of age and sex for the welfare
of the society as a whole.

(c) The Library as a Centre of Continuing Education

People continue their reading habits with the help of libraries according to their
desire, capacity or need. Being a centre of continuing education for millions
of people, it develops their vocational, professional and learning skills thus
facilitating individual and community problems solving. A Library informally
provides life-long continuing education to individuals.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 1.3

1. What is the importance of a library in a society?
2. How are social and educational development of people possible through
libraries?

1.6 INFORMATION CENTRES

The progress of civilization and advancement in science and technology resulted
in tremendous growth of literature. The explosion of knowledge in multi-
disciplinary subjects was recorded not only in books but also in latest research
periodicals, research and technical reports, patents, standards and specifications,
trade transactions, circulars, reprints, off-prints, etc. The specialists not only
needed books but also information contained in periodical articles and other
material. Information centres were set up to cater to their specialised information
needs.
An Information centre is defined as an organisation that (1) selects, acquires,
stores and retrieves information in response to requests, (2) prepares abstracts,
extracts, indexes of information, and (3) disseminates information in anticipation
and in response to requests. Information centres are attached to highly

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specialised Research and Development (R&D) organisations. An Information
Centre provides various services such as referral service, literature search,
translations, bibliographies, abstracting, etc. to its users.
There are varied forms of information centres viz. (1) Information Analysis
Notes Centres (2) Clearing Houses (3) Data Centres and Data Banks.
(1) Information Analysis Centres: They collect literature produced in a
particular field, evaluate its utility and communicate to the specialists
conducting research in directly usable form on request. The centre verifies
the collected information for its validity, reliability and accuracy before
dissemination. The reports of these analysis centres play an important role
in strengthening research, pinpointing gaps in knowledge or shortcomings.
(2) Clearing Houses: They are set up either on a cooperative basis or by a
national or international agency. They provide a single point of access to
information originating from different sources, countries and languages.
They compile bibliographies of particular disciplines and circulate them
to the organisations interested in them. A copy of the available document,
if requested, is also provided.
(3) Data Centres and Data Banks: Data centres collect, organise and store
numerical data pertaining to specific subject field to answer specific
queries. They collect information in anticipation of future requirements of
its users. Data Banks are usually concerned with a broader subject field.
They extract and process raw data from the collected data sources and
relevant literature. They keep these structured files ready to provide right
answers to user’s queries.
These centres are managed by subject experts as well as library and information
professionals who organise information to retrieve and disseminate for conducting
research. Staff of these centres varies, but may include all or any of the
following: Research officers, librarians, bibliographers or trained information
officers. It may include the functions of a special library and extend its activities
to include collateral functions such as technical writing, abstracting, Selective
Dissemination of Information (SDI) and library research for clients.

1.6.1 Difference between a Library and an Information Centre

A library differs from an information centre in many ways. Libraries provide
macro-documents to their users whereas information centres provide micro-
documents. Library also differs from information centres in the types of
documents stored, types and levels of users, provision of documents rather than
information, rendering services to both, internal and external users. Apart from
collecting, processing and disseminating information, documentation/information
centres are also involved in analysis and presentation of information.
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A major difference, thus, is that, a library provides only the document as a whole
but an information centres provides not only the document but also the details
of the contents of the document. For example in a library a book which contains
particular information is provided, where as in an information centre exact
information is provided not the entire book.
Notes

INTEXT QUESTIONS 1.4

1. Define an information centre.
2. How are libraries different from information centres?

1.7 LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION CENTRES OF

INFORMATION AGE
A society does not remain static but goes on changing. As a library is a social
institution, social changes also affects the role of libraries. The present day
society has undergone transformation in almost all sectors. Several factors are
responsible for this transformation. These are as follows.
 Political and social stability of the society
 Expansion of educational facilities and high rate of literacy
 National, regional and local socio-cultural traditions
 Urbanisation and globalisation of population due to migration
 Growth in trade and commerce, industry and business
 Encouragement from national, local and state governments
 High standard of living
 Influence of leaders and individuals in different fields
 Well established book trade
 Mass communication
 Computer and communication technology
These social, political and economic conditions have left a great impact on all
aspects of the growth of libraries, by radically changing their conventional
functions. It not only deals with books but collects information in multiple
media for its clients. The modern library has undergone changes in handling
the basic functions of a library viz. collection, processing, storage, retrieval,
dissemination and utility of information. New information, communication and

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networking technologies have completely changed the functioning of the
libraries. Information is collected, processed, stored and disseminated using
sophisticated technologies. Users are provided information at their own desks
or even in their homes through Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area
Networks (WAN). There is no need to visit a library to access information and
Notes thus save time.
A library is regarded as a service institution. The advent of computer,
communication, information and networking technologies have posed a great
challenge to the librarians. In order to render efficient services and assist the
users to make effective use of the available resources, a librarian has to
understand, appreciate and accept these changes. They must be willing to cope
with the changes and adopt them for taking advantage of the same.

INTEXT QUESTION 1.5

1. How have information technologies affected modern libraries?

WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT

 A library is responsible for collecting, organising and storing all kinds of
print and non-print materials for providing efficient services to users. It
plays a vital role in promoting socio-economic, cultural and educational
development of a society.
 Libraries occupy a prominent place in the society in developing social and
educational standard of the common citizen. They provide support in
promoting research, cultural, recreational, spiritual and ideological activities
of a human being thereby contributing a lot to the nation building
programmes.
 Libraries, as repository of knowledge, are used by all types of users to build
up a value system for themselves. Libraries provide the means to accomplish
the advancement of learning as well as the building up of the nation’s soul.
 The use of library by the people make them well-informed citizens of the
society and allow them to become knowledgeable and educated in course
of time.
 An Information centre is defined as an organisation that (1) selects,
acquires, stores and retrieves information in response to requests, (2)
prepares abstracts, extracts, indexes of information, and (3) disseminates

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information in anticipation and in response to requests. Information centres
are attached to highly specialised research and development (R&D)
organisations.
 New information, communication and networking technologies have
completely changed the functioning of libraries. Information is collected, Notes
processed, stored and disseminated using sophisticated technologies.
 Users are provided information at their own desks or even in their homes
through Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN).
There is no need to visit the library to access information and thus save
their time.

TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the role of libraries in the context of a changing society.
2. “Libraries contribute greatly to the society in promoting education — both
formal and non-formal in many ways.” Discuss.
3. “Knowledge is power”. Explain this statement by highlighting the importance
of libraries in enriching the knowledge of the individuals.

ANSWERS TO INTEXT QUESTIONS

1.1
1. The basic requirements of a library are a functional building, records of
human thought in the form of manuscripts, books, periodicals, audio-
visuals, microfilms, charts, etc. and potential users to use them.
2. Human thoughts are made available in the form of books, periodicals,
manuscripts, audio-visual records, micro-films, graphs, charts, maps, CD-
ROMs, DVDs, etc.
1.2
1. The three basic functions of a library include promotion of education,
information dissemination, promotion of cultural and recreational activities.
1.3
1. A library serves as a social agency, an agency of perpetual self-education,
a community’s intellectual centre and a people’s university.

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2. The use of library by the people makes them a well-informed citizen of
the society and allow them to be knowledgeable and educated in course
of time.
1.4
Notes 1. Information centre is defined as an organisation that (1) selects, acquires,
stores and retrieves information in response to requests, (2) prepares
abstracts, extracts, indexes of information, and (3) disseminates information
in anticipation and in response to requests. Information centres are attached
to highly specialised research and development (R&D) organisations.
2. A library differs from an information centre in many ways. Libraries
provide macro-documents to their users whereas documentation/information
centres provide micro-documents. Library differs from documentation/
information centres in the types of documents, types and levels of users,
provision of document rather than the information, rendering services to
both internal and external users. A major difference thus is that, a library
provides only the details about document but a documentation/information
centres provides exact information.
1.5
1. The basic functions of the library viz. collection, processing, storage,
retrieval, dissemination and utility of information have undergone changes
by adopting computer and communication technologies.

GLOSSARY
Antiquarian : Study of rare collection.
Aesthetic : The study of the mind and emotion in relation to the
sense of beauty.
Catalyst : A substance that helps to bring about a change
Erudite : Learning and scholarly activities.
Macro document : A document providing a broader view of a subject.
Micro document : A document covering a narrow field of knowledge.
Phono-record : An object on which sound has been recorded.
Repository : A place where library materials are stored and are
readily available on request.

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SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
1. Visit any large library and get acquainted with its environment, collection
and various services and write a report.
2. Interact with the professionals working in the library to understand it’s
working. Observe the various users visiting the library and try to find out Notes
the kind of documents used by them.

WEBSITES
1. http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/literacy-and-reading/publications/role-of-
libraries-in-creation-of-literate-environments.pdf
2. http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/handle/123456789/7236
3. http://www.cobdc.org/jornades/7JCD/ryynanen.pdf
4. http://dspace.knust.edu.gh:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/3716

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