A keynesian approach to University library management

Abstract

University libraries, especially in the Indian context, have been functioning as if they have adopted the age old “laissez-faire capitalism” as their guiding principle. The simplest embodiment of the laissez-faire capitalist “principle” can be found in the famous “Say’s Law”’ that “supply creates its own demand”. The predominant reason for John Maynard Keynes 2 to become a severe critic of it and to develop an alternative approach was its unreal theoretical foundations and nonintegrative approach to solve practical problems. Like the laissez-faire economists, university librarians have been laying the foundations of all their library operations on unreal assumptions. University libraries have as a result been facing depression in the use of libraries by the user community especially in the Indian context. The real solution lies, either in adopting a Keynesian approach to university library management and services, or in implementing “socialist planning techniques”3 in university library and information services. However, it is necessary to examine the implication, of both laissez-faire and Keynesian approaches to University library operations.