Library And Society

Library and Society A panel discussion

Bangalore Social Science Forum

DR. H N Hall, National College, Basavanagudi, Bangalore April 13, 2009 ; 6.00 pm

M S Sridhar Former Head, Library & Documentation ISRO Satellite Centre Bangalore

Introduction

• Libraries existed as records room and collection of clay tablets since 3rd millennium BC • Later forms included other perishables like papyrus and parchment (leather) • Destroying such libraries in war and building new ones and at times, from war booty were common • Most were private individual possessions of rulers, rich and aristocrats (later that of religious institutions) with access to selected few • Renaissance generated zeal for learning with demand for books, which handwritten manuscripts could not meet • Johannes Guttenberg invented ‘movable printing press’ in 1439, which gave boost for mass production of books and brought books and libraries to the reach ofMcommon man S Sridhar Library and Society

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Library and Society

• Library and society are inter-linked and interdependent • Library is a well acknowledged ‘social agency’ • The social role of library is complex and its responsibilities are stupendous • There is a strong communication between library and society • Library plays pivotal role in molding and shaping society (a training school for democracy) • Holds cumulated and consolidated intellectual output of society (authors are alive in books and libraries!) • Transmits and disseminates accumulated experience of society to its individual members through the instrument called ‘book’ Library and Society

M S Sridhar

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Library • An effective means and strategy for handling explosion of information and knowledge • A ‘social (& public) institution’: a product of society for its cultural development enabling group to survive and conserve the past • Library is the ‘mind of society’, ‘house of wisdom and learning’, ‘community’s intellectual center’, ‘common stock of knowledge’, ‘roots and fruits of great civilization’, ‘product of our cultural maturation’, etc. • “Without public library support there can be no true democracy, no real freedom of mind or of body” - Unesco Library and Society

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Information Age Agricultural Age

Industrial Age

Information Age

Thousands of years

Centuries

Decades

Contributio Steep falling n (55 to 25% in to GDP 50yrs)

Steep falling

Employme nt

slow falling (70 to 66% in 50yrs)

slow falling

Fast increasing (46% from service Economy) fast increasing

Learning from

parents

schools

self

Inputs

men

machines

mind

Duration

Library and Society

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Types of Libraries: a strategy to meet diverse needs of Society • Public libraries (common man’s university) • Academic libraries (hub of learning) • National libraries (repository of nation’s heritage) • Special libraries (information service centers) • Others like Private, Digital, Hybrid, etc.

Library and Society

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Role of Libraries in Society • Educational needs Formal and non-formal Life long self-education for self improvement and well informed citizenry Literacy promotion; in-service trainings • Entertainment/ Recreation & Cultural and Ideological needs Purposeful and useful utilization of leisure time (needs to compete with aggressive players of digital media like TV, Internet, etc.) To preserve and encourage cultural and intellectual activities of the community Library and Society

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Role of Libraries in Society contd. • Preserving heritage for posterity • Information Services – business, economic, social and other information to needy • Support to R&D and industrial developments • Others Providing a quite place New roles like filling tax forms, magic show, reading clubs, internet, etc. A move in American libraries is to provide even video game clubs for teenagers Library and Society

M S Sridhar

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Place of Library in Society Those meeting esoteric requirements like religious service, art, etc. as well as those considered extremely precious/ essential resources like money, health, food, etc. are certainly on top Books and libraries are neither esoteric nor essential for existence But library services should be at least on par with other welfare services Unfortunately, a striking characteristic of all under developed nations is their paucity of libraries Library and Society

M S Sridhar

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Provision for Libraries: Some Facts As per IFLA standard, there should be one public library for every 3000 people & the nearest library unit should be not more than a mile away Accordingly, we should have had 330,000 public library units; But we actually have 60,000 (In 1954, we had 32,000; During next 48 yrs 28,000 were added, i.e., @ 600/yr, we require 500 more years to create remaining 268,000!) Russia has 325,000 libraries for 22 crore population, i.e., 1 per 677 people & 6 b books (27 books/ head) in 70 languages India has 1 library for every 16,000 people; In Karnataka per capita books is 0.26 & per capita expenditure is Rs. 1.23 Karnataka is the 3rd state to enact P L ACT (1966); Since then , in 36 yrs established 3000 libs with 1100 personnel (at least 17,000 lib units are required) M S Sridhar Library and Society

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Libraries in India (Estimate for 96-97) Public Libraries

54845

University / Deemed to be University Libraries

267

College Libraries

8000

Science and Technology Libraries

1200

Social Science Libraries

450

Government Department Libraries

800

Art, Culture and Humanities Libraries

500

School Libraries (Higher secondary / Secondary / Primary and Upper Primary) Total

404128

Source: 1. India, Planning Commission. Report of the working group of the Planning Commission of Libraries and Information for the Ninth Five Year Plan, 1997-2002. New Delhi, May 1996. 2. India, National Council of Educational Research and Training. Sixth All India Educational Survey. New Delhi, 1998. Library and Society

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Statistical miscellany – 16

M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Dec. 1, ’02)

Biggest Libraries of the World (Volumes in millions) RANK NAME

3

Nati onal l i br ar y of I ndi a

9.5

New Yor k Publ i c Li br ar y

VOLS IN M

1 Llibrary of congress Wash, DC 23 2 N.L. of China

Yal e Uni vi ver si ty Li br ar y

1 0. 5

Nati onal Di et Li br ar y (J apan)

11.3

Russi an State Li br ar y

1 1 .8

Har var d Uni ver si ty Li br ar y

Beijing

16

3 N.L. of Canada

Ottawa

14.5

4 Deutsch bibliotek

Frankfurt 14.4

5 British Library

London

6 Harvard University

Cambridge 2.9

13.0

7 Russian State Library Moscow

11.8

8 Nat.Diet Library

Tokyo

11.3

9 New York Pub. Lib.

New York

10.5

10 Yale Univ. Library

New Heron 9.5

Note: Indian National library claims to have several million items including 3 m books

1 2. 9

Br i ti sh Li br ar y

13

Deutsch bi bl i otek (Ger many)

1 4. 4

Nati onal Li br ar y of Canada

1 4. 5

Nati onal Li br ar y of Chi na

16

Li br ar y of Congr ess

23 0

Library and Society

PLACE

5

M S Sridhar

10

15

20

25 12

Special Libraries • Special library is a 20th century phenomenon • Industrial revolution, world wars, industrial & scientific research followed by tremendous increase in publications, need to know what has already been done & published in a given area have led to the idea of information service • A sort of 'intelligent department' with the duty to get to know all other possible sources of information & organise the literature came into existence Library and Society

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Special Libraries

contd.

• ‘Putting knowledge to work' is the mission; serves as a source of knowledge rather than recreation and collects all the information in wide variety of forms that will help its organisation to fulfill its policy/ mission and bring its work to fruition quickly and in some cases, at least, profitably • They serve limited highly specialised customers • Normally not open to public • They emphasise unit of information rather than complete document

Library and Society

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Organise wide variety of forms No. of Records (As of Dec 2006)

Database Books

42374

Conference papers

58802

Seminars held at ISAC

171

Reports (Hard Copy)

15433

Reports (Microfiche)

144897

Standards

8500

ISAC Reports

4892

ISAC papers Hindi / Kannada / Govt. rule books

725 2595

Non-book Materials

2344

Student Reports

1227

Bound Journals

24282

Journal Articles

4000 310242

TOTAL Library and Society

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Digital Contents (Full Text E-Resources) A. Owned/ held (born-digital) CDs Floppies Total • books 779 340 1119 • journals 654 41 695 • reports 37 1 38 • standards 1 7 8 • Others 6 6 Total 1477 389 1866 B. Not owned (Cyber copies) • e-journals 145 • e-books / reports 3 • Online books stores 57 C. Specially digitised collection • Internal reports • Papers of ISACians • In-house Technical Journal JST at www.j-gate.informindia.co.in Library and Society

M S Sridhar

Non-book materials • Video cassettes 120 • Motion pictures 35 • Maps 78 • Charts 12 • Slide sets 6 • Globes 2 • Audio files 108

16

No. of visitors to Library Home Page –Dec 2006 2247 1338

3 4

6 9

7 8 8

8 1 1 1 0

153

6 1 50

13 6

10 5

3 2

4 9

23 8

4 1

2 4 3 4 2 1 1 2 1 7 1 26 1

103

2 7

30

1 1

27 Library and Society

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Reading Habit • Ours is more a ‘chatting society’ than ‘reading society’; Cultural habit is to listen and chat than serious reading • One who does not read books has no advantage over one who cannot read (An educated who is not having reading habit is in no way better position than an illiterate) • In children, 8 to 13 years age is considered to be the golden age for developing reading habit as a leisure activity • Reading habit is like ‘passport’ to many different new ’worlds’ like the world of past, future, technology, nature, outer space, other countries and above all the innermost part of human heart (personality) Library and Society

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Reading Habit

contd.

• Parents (particularly father) and teacher are the role models for children in acquiring the habit • If the child is exposed to more books, it helps him to develop a strong liking for reading • In India hardly 28% of educated have reading habit; Of which 16% do light/ rare reading and 7% occasional reading • Average American reads < 1 book per year; 58% never finish a nonfiction book after high school; more than 50% of adults have not read any book for last 6 months; • In Britain, 25% of adults have not read any book for last 6 months; In last 25 years, reading time has increased from 3 to 7 minutes per day and readers have gone up by 17% • In Brazil, only one-third (25%) of educated have reading habit M S Sridhar Library and Society

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Reading Habit & Digital Explosion • Digital invasion is the main enemy • TV with easy access and massive instantaneous dissemination capacity needs no efforts and consumption skills; it is powerful hypnotic gadget and a cultural melting pot • Considered as a third parent to children • Cuts margin between childhood and adulthood • As violent and ‘hot’ medium exposes to unrealistic and provocative life (about 1 lakh acts of violence are seen by an average American child before attaining the age of 13) • TV has scant respect for intelligent viewers • Internet has created ‘digital nomads’ Library and Society

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Reading

• A multilevel cognitive mental process • A tool of learning; Exemplary form of learning (a good reader is a good learner or improved reading ability improves learning ability) • No more a privilege of small cross section of society; Provides life-long self-education (In 100 years 80% doing manual vocation changed to 80% doing intellectual profession) • Good readers like reading (Non-readers read poorly & find reading a difficult task) • Makes full use of individual’s capacity • Broadens & creates life-long interest • Books are bearers of knowledge from generation to generation & they can hardly be superseded by any other medium in passing on intellectual achievements M S Sridhar Library and Society 21

Reading

contd.

• Reading is ‘cool’, provides lasting experience, allows flexibility in use, no health hazard, upholds cultural values, perception independent (as against perceptual constancy of TV), demands careful mental processing and analysis leading to analytic mode of learning (as against synthetic mode of TV) • Reading supports drive for self improvement, breaks loneliness and isolation created by technology, provides freedom & autonomy, respects individuality, supports diversity. It leads to purposeful & fruitful time spending, sponsors rational thinking and dispassionate analysis • Research has shown that reading improved performance as well as behaviour of school children Library and Society

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Market Penetration of telecommunication, Internet, PC, Pay-TV and Public Libraries 2005 Fixed line 4.0 Mobile 2.1 Internet 1.8 PCs 1.3 Pay-TV Subscribers 3.9

2008 5 9.1 6.9 2.6 5.7

Public Library

<2

(Source: The India Telecom rep 2005 by Business Monitor Int. ltd) Library and Society

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Media in Karnataka Urban Newspaper

Rural

Total

45.2

19

27.9

80

46.4

68.7

22.9

23.3

21.8

Cinema

9.6

5

13.5

Internet

2.3

0.3

1.5

3

0.2

1.1

86.6

60.5

79.0

TV Radio

Mobile Total

(Source: Maxes, Bangalore; Figures are coverage in %; Urban: Rural 30 :70) Library and Society

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Reading Habit & TV In Japan with the advent of TV, time spent on reading (150 m/ day) in 60’s is reduced to 33m/ day in 1995. In America, hours spent per person in 2000 (In another survey, about 5 hours per day)

Television Radio Recorded Music Daily Newspapers Internet Magazines Books Video Games Home Video Movies in Theaters Total

1633 961 263 151 124 107 90 70 59 12 3470

(Source: Veronis, Suhler. Quoted from Liebowitz Accn no. 38954, p126 & 134) Library and Society

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Statistical miscellany-11

M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Sep 16, ’02)

Percentage of time spent on print medium remained same over the years - National Readership Survey 1995(%) 2001(%) TV

62

72

RADIO

22

11

INTERNET 0

1

PRINT

16

PRINT 16.0% INTERNET 1.0% RADIO 11.0%

16

2001

80

TV 72.0%

1995(%) 2001(%)

70 60 50

Note: 2001 survey had 212,000 adult respondents; average urban Indian spends 2 hrs a day on media consumption

40 30 20 10 0

TV

INTERNET PRINT Library andRADIO Society

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Statistical miscellany –13

M S Sridhar, Head, LDD (Oct. 16, ’02)

Web Characterisation & use surveys Effectiveness of sites

T ype of sites

brochure w are sites 40%

Provisional 38%

clearly designed sites 2%

Public 41%

no sites found 58%

Private 21%

job related information •

the ‘invisible’ or ‘deep’ web is over 500 times larger than ‘surface’ web

•

25000 'mega sites' represent 50% contents

•

mean size of a public site is > 130 pages

•

no engine is indexing > 16% 0f publicly accessible sites

•

over 8000 search engines; >800 m pages ; >8 m sites

3

chat

10

Internet use in India • ½ hr to 2 hrs per day (av: 86.1 min.)

academic information

8

• 97% for e-mail purpose • top of mind recall : yahoo

general information

22%

hotmail 13%

7

e-mail

38

0

Library and Society

% of time spent

M S Sridhar

10

20

30

40

27

Book Buying Habit • As per income elasticity of demand, books are ‘inferior’ goods of leisure industry • Over a century, income distribution became more skewed, spending on leisure increased from 1% to 6% and is more evenly spread (leisure spending is no more a luxury) • For every 10% increase in income, there is 20% increase in spending on leisure and most leisure goods except books, magazines and newspapers are income elastic • Ten preferences of 100 sample teachers in spending UGC arrears did not include books or journals • In Europe, there are more couples who own two cars than buying two books a year Library and Society

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Book Buying Habit

contd.

• 95% of books sold in America are bought directly by individuals and remaining 5% by libraries. Borrowed use of books of American libraries is almost equal to 95% of books directly bought and read by individuals. • In contrast, book buying is poor in India. Despite having second largest literate population (after China) and large middle class literates almost equal to US population, individual purchases of books account for less than 25% of total sales of books • Per capita purchase of books in New Zealand is more than 75 times that in India Library and Society

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Book Market • Book production in India is down from 7th in the world in 1960s to 17th in 1990s; third largest for books in English (US & UK have over a lakh titles per year) • Official estimate is around 22000 titles where as IPA estimates as about 57000 titles (40% English books) with Delhi contributing 25% • Only 2% or 18 m read English; English books account for 21% of sales & almost 100% of imported books are in English and mostly from US or UK Library and Society

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Use of Libraries • Use of library is a minority event • A survey in one university revealed that not even 5% of the teachers take books from the library • “The common experience is that library facilities are often asked for, insisted upon, but rarely made use of” • “The lack of adequate library facilities is both cause and effect of our low educational achievement” – Moulana Azad

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Conclusion : Future? • Librarywala: Mumbai Karishma Merchant currently has 8,700 books with more than 1,100 members; the cheapest plan costs Rs 139 per month for three books • A new generation library for community in Whitefield that would combine a book store ambience with a traditional functioning of a library with effective usage of technology including RFID tags called Just Books – R Sundararajan • There is strong tradition of voluntary and philanthropic library service in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarath, Kerala, Manipur and Mizoram (Kerala Granthalaya Sangha has over 5000 libraries) • In Karnataka, Ramakka-Padmakka Trust spends Rs. 6-7 lakhs a year & over 200 village libraries established with this aid • INFOSYS Foundation assisted thousands of school libraries Library and Society

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Thank you

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