Ranganathan’s Impact on International Librarianship Through Information Technology

Abstract

Discusses briefly, with extensive literature review, the impact of Ranganathan's contributions on international librarianship, especially in Europe and USA. His Five Laws Of Library Science are seen as guidelines for practice in all areas of library and information services, by professionals in many countries. The Colon Classification, which marked a new trend in the design of bibliographical classification schemes, is not used for document classification in the libraries of the West, but the principles and techniques of facet analysis and synthesis have influenced the model for new classification systems, indexing languages, formulation of search expressions in information retrieval, etc. The Classified Catalogue Code and the chain procedure have influenced professional thinking and practices in the field. Several of the new terms that Ranganathan introduced are now part of the vocabulary of library and information science. The application of information technology in library and information services has not diminished the value of Ranganathan's contributions. On the one hand more recent areas of their usefulness are being identified, and on the other information technology is enabling the realisation of Ranganathan's vision of a user-centerd, user-friendly information service implied in his Five Laws