[LIS-Forum] Damning indictment of LIS profession

[K.Sankaraiah]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K.Sankaraiah" <sankariahk at dataone.in>
Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Damning indictment of LIS profession


> Dear Moderator,
> I would be most grateful for posting the following mail.
> Let me begin by thanking all the professional colleagues for their 
> comments on the subject.  I'm most happy to see  Dr Vyasamurthy also 
> picked up the Hindu article and providing a link to it, felt that some of 
> the librarians need to be sensitised to the concept of service.
> I hope to be permitted to sum up the whole little debate.  The comments 
> varied from a) some users are rude and selfish, try to pull their weight 
> around b) library is a temple and so access should not be restricted c) we 
> have not heard the other side of the story and so should not rush to judge 
> and d) every one should observe rules. In fact d) seems to be the dominant 
> factor.  One cannot the dispute the validity of these claims; but equally 
> we cannot dispute the suppremacy of service for our profession, as also 
> for many otherprofessions.  How can we forget the basic tenets of 
> librarianship as enunciated by the greatest library thinker of all times 
> viz books are for use; every book its reader; every reader his book and 
> save the time of the reader.  Can we afford to take a confrontationist 
> stand of "them and we" and cry for eye for an eye and tooth for the tooth.
> We talk of library marketing today  like any commercial enterprize.  We 
> say library user is a customer. Most of the librarians in the West say, by 
> calling the library user a customer, we have promoted them to a higher 
> position.
> Customers come in all shapes and sizes.  There are awkward customers and 
> difficult customers.  But is it not  a fact that as long as we are behind 
> the 'counter' ie the Lakshman Rekha, we cannot think of' tit for tat'. 
> Even when we know that a particular customer is in the wrong, we cannot 
> afford to vent our spleen on him or her. In this context, Gandhiji is 
> often quoted. 'We are in business because of the customer' and not the 
> other way round.
> Yes, there are rules.  But rule are there to prevent misuse or abuse and 
> not to prevent genuine use or user.
> I'm very distressed to see my friend, Prof Lakshman Rao saying that rules 
> have to be followed.  He says he was not allowed entry to Bibliotheca 
> National.  But I'm sure he would not have been asked to prove his 
> bonafides. The library staff there, must have explained the restrictions 
> in a most polite way.  I had a similar experiance.  First time I could not 
> get in to the British Museum Library in London.  But the staff there did 
> every thing possible to enable me to have access to it.  They advised me 
> to get a letter from the British Council, which I did.  I could see they 
> were inspired by the ideals of service. Mr Lakshman Rao is a respected 
> teacher and trainer of librarians and has been in the field for a long 
> time and if a teacher takes the stand that he has taken, we need not be 
> surprised by the attitude of some of us.
> In the present case of Ranjit Lal, to me it appears, he wanted to consult 
> the documents in the National Museum Library.  I visited its website which 
> looks very impressive, claims a stock of two lakh documents.  The name of 
> the librarian (?) given there is one Ms Pratibha Parashar.  She might not 
> have been the staff to  attending Ranjit Lal.  In the interests of our 
> profession, could some one in Delhi please find out what had happened.
> As I said in my first mail, because of isolated instances like this, the 
> whole profession is blamed.  By and large,  librarians are good and 
> service-minded.  Society is changing fast, much faster than any one can 
> imagine.  We have come a long away from preservation to active 
> dissemination of information ( proactive is the word most appropriate, I 
> think) and I hope we have long ceased to be policing our possessions. 
> Social forces like competition are driving us to provide quality service 
> to our users. Technology is helping us today in ways undreamt of 
> previously to help us in this noble mission of ours, which ultimately 
> contributes to personal, individual and  national development.
> I'm grateful to LIS-FORUM for opportunities to share our views in matters 
> concerning our profession. You are doing a wonderful service !!  Thank 
> you.
> Sankaraiah, K
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "K.Sankaraiah" <sankariahk at dataone.in>
> To: <lis-forum at ncsi.iisc.ernet.in>
> Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 7:28 AM
> Subject: [LIS-Forum] Damning indictment of LIS profession
>
>
>> Dear Moderator,
>> Grateful for publishing the following in lis-forum.
>>
>> I wish to draw the attention of our professional colleagues to an article 
>> under the Musings, entitled "What are your bonafides?", by Mr Ranjit Lal 
>> in the Magazine section of the Hindu of 9 April, 2006.  I think all of us 
>> should read this and ponder over the implications.  I'm sure many of us 
>> must have already done so.
>> The gist of the article is the author, obviously not a member,
>> approached the librarian of the National Museum library in Delhi for help 
>> and the librarian promptly asked him to prove his bonafides.  Ranjit Lal 
>> contributes articles to the Hindu and probably does so to many other 
>> renowned newspapers and journals.  In any case he told the librarian that 
>> he uses the Teen Murthi library and the British Council Library in Delhi 
>> and he is working on a book for which he needs help.  According to the 
>> article, this did not cut ice with the librarian.
>>
>> This article, I believe, is a damning indictment of the unhelpful and 
>> bureaucratic attitude of the librarian of one of the premier institutions 
>> of the country.  It should rouse the collective conscience of the LIS 
>> profession and force us to think if in today's competitive  world we can 
>> afford to have this kind of unhelpful attitude.  Even otherwise, isn't 
>> service to the user at the centre of our profession ?.  The aurthor 
>> rightly says the public pays for librarian's salary, allowances and the 
>> innumerable cups of tea, justifiable and just righteous indignation!!.
>>
>> How do we change this attitude?.  I was under the impression that things 
>> have changed and we all swear by  service.  All the works of SRR 
>> emphasise this aspect.  Because of instaces like this,( I hope they are 
>> isolated) the whole profession gets the stick.  And this is why society 
>> does not give us the status that an intellectual profession like ours 
>> deserves.
>>
>> We need to do something here.
>>
>> Sankaraiah, K
>> Immediate past President of the Madras Library Association (MALA)
>>
>
>
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