Annals or Library Science and Documentation 1992, 39(3), 81-85

KNOWLEDGE AS STOCKMINMTRADE OF LIBRARIANS

UNIVERSE OF KNOWLEDGE

French philosopher, Michel, Foucoult, publishedin 1980, his book, "Power/knowledge". In 1982,he published ,"Is it really important to think"?Before and after these works, he had brought outa number of other important publications. Foucoult,was one of the pioneers of "Modernism" and"Post-Modernism" schools of thought. One ofthe most important concepts of his was aboutknowledge and power. This theme suits thelibraries the most because knowledge is theirstock-in-trade. Foucoult also emphasised,"Knowledge cannot be produced independentlyof its use".

Libraries are institutions which deal with utilisa-tion of knowledge. Earlier, in 1973, Baniel Bellhad published his classical work, 'The coming ofpost-industrial society', which heralded the dawnof the Information Society and gave the librariansand libraries an upward gradation. J.F. Lyotardcame out in 1984 with his work, "The post moderncondition - A report on knowledge", which pleadedthat it is only 'local knowledge', based on timeand culture, that was being used largely, andemphasised that all forms of experience lived'must be incorporated to widen the use of this kindof 'local knowledge'.

The community of librarians has always viewedknowledge as global in character, synthesised instructure, and utilization as its sole Objective.Bliss, R~mganathan, Shera, and others all haveattempted this style and approach. H.E. Blisswanted knowledge for social use, Ranganathanemphasised that 'knowledge' can lift the mankindto higher order, and Shera pleaded for 'puttingknowledge to use'. While Shera was a contempo-rary of Foucoult, Daniel Bell, etc., both Bliss andRanganathan were their predecessors.

KNOWLEDGE AND LIBRARIES

Ranganathan was the first in the world to pre-scribe a course on 'Universe of Knowledge' at thegraduate level for librarians in order to give theman insight into the various aspects of knowledge.Vol 39 No 3 sept. 1992

A P SRIVASTAVAUniversity LibrarianDelhi UniversityDelhi

Librarians have always believed that I!brarianshipis the management of knowledge from its genera-tion, exchanqe to its utilisation (KGEU).

A group of scholars, from all over the world, hasdeveloped the concept of Knowledge - Genera-tion, Exchange and Utilisation, (KGEU) andproduced a comprehensive monograph underthe same title. The group also publishes aninternational journal on the same subject. Thelatest book by Alvin Toffler, The power-shift' (1991),includes all information data, images and im-agery, as well as attitudes, values and othersymbolic products of society, etc., under theumbrella of knowledge. May be his intention wasto escape the definitional quicksand. What Tofflerpleaded in 1991 has been the librarian's endeav-our for decades. Melvil Dewey, Bliss, Sayers,Ranganathan and others have emphasisedsimilarly on this aspect. Ranqanathan's works,'Five Laws of Library Science' and 'ReferenceService', on each page, deal with these facets ofknowledge for their generation, exchange andutilisation through libraries and librarians. Theconcept of Knowledge revolution is accepted bylibrarians for the use and multiplication of knowl-edge by readers. Librarians have always been onthe front line of KGEU activities and knowledgerevolution. The author of every worthwhile bookpublished today, acknowledges his thanks to alibrarian for the assistance given by him. Therecannot be a greater proof of a librarian putting theknowledge to use, exchange and further genera-tion.

Librarians have always believed that if a societywants to progress and move towards growth, itsfirst attempt should be to acquire informationand knowledge. This is where libraries come intothe picture and playa vital role. The librarians havesucceeded in their mission. The task of libraries, toa challenging level, is also to moderate the impactof the unhealthy elements of the eternal-past onthe life-style of people and to eradicate theoutdated thoughts of unsound metaphysicalnature from their minds. The libraries throughdissemination of knowledge, have helped inviewing myths and superstitution in a country in

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their proper perspective in the light of validknowledge. The enlightened people have re-viewed the age old concepts like eight hunderedthousand cycles of life and death, untouchabil-ity, natural phenomenon surrounding people frombirth to death, and the belief that the salvation ofthe individual is attained only after death, andcertain other fossilised aspects of belief. Knowl-edge through libraries has helped the people inthe growth of their personality without anyattempt to commonahse the unique. The profes-sion dealing with knowledge utilisation is boundto give due importance to such thoughts andmovements.

Wherever libraries have not existed, the phe-nomenon of re-interpretation of concepts, fromtime to time, in the light of new knowledge, hasfailed to manifest. It is through self-education vialibraries that a person inquired into uncongenialideas practised by the man over centuries. Inhuman thought, each generation, certainly ineach century, experienced ever shifting frontiersof the "truth" and the "reasonable" and thelibraries have helped an adult citizen to see suchchanges' and modify his/her invalid older atti-tudes.

Majority of . people are unable to refuse livingtotally in the past because they are illiterate andignorant. It is necessary that the knowledge ismade available to them to make them rediscover,re-interpret and synthesise their concepts andvalues. It is essential to harvest the gains ofcumulative efforts of the whole humanity and helporganise the crude heap of localised facts toextend their perceptions globally.

India's major problems are over population, stag-nent economy and inefficient use of naturalresources. The etiology behind all these prob-lems is ignorance and non-use of the modernknowledge by the people due to absence oflibraries and committed librarians. Even schol-ars, politicians and authorities have not been ableto utilise the knowledge in these areas. In absenceof proper utilisation of new knowledge perhapsdoomsday is not very far off. In addition to edu-cationists, the professionallibrarians-cum-infor-maticians have put the modern knowledge to useby the largest number of people through various li-braries and other media, in various parts of theworld.

MERELY ORAL COMMUNICATION

In the third world countries there are highlycomplicated (at times unproductive) life-styles,

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ideas, aspirations and values which continue tosurvive only on the word of mouth as the mode ofcommunication. They do not incorporate newknowledge from time to time. In the last four to fivehundred years the greatest gain of the mankindhas been the development of social and scientificspirit (not at the cost of other spirits) and itsintense cultivation over a wide area of humanactivity.

Within the third world the developments in socialattitutes and scientific spirit have not been perco-lated to masses, because of lack of publiclibraries. These libraries, through extension serv-ices were bound to educate even the illiterates.The educated classes were made to limit theirefforts to a classroom or a laboratory projectbecause free public libraries were not there for life-long learning. Therefore, unproductive values, mythsand blind faith continued to rule the people.

The present age has witnessed the emergence ofmost profound scientific discoveries and socialattitudes. Since these discoveries did not reachthe masses through the medium of libraries, thefaith and the interest of the masses continue inmyths and ritualism. The third world societies havenot yet taken new knowledge as the resource formental development and as an equipment foreffecting profound transformations in the contextof new life. The minds have not been duly fash-ioned to properly receive the concepts of socialwelfare state and the technological civilisation inpropel' perspective because knowledge was notgathered in libraries for use.

Modern science and other social concepts havenot become cultural modes to permeate the wholeof society. Proper learning seldom takes placeeven in the educational system in absence oflibraries. The reforms and transformations on theneeded lines are not going to take place in thedesired speed unless knowledge is put to use bylibraries.

In the developed countries, for centuries, peoplehave been learning through libraries all their lives.In the third world, in absences of public libraries,even a graduate relapses into a kind of practicalilliteracy at the earliest opportunity. People, there-fore, contiued living without information. For ex-ample, Flora and fauna, matter and energy, andsubstance, etc., have been around us for ages.What was not available with us was the properinformation about them. So it is the informationthat is more important for the mankind.

"Information is more fundamental than matter or

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KNOWLEDGE AS STOCK-IN-TRADE OF LIBRARIANS

energy". It may appear to be idiosyncratic but it isvery ture. What the mankind, including people inthe third wortd, needs is the information. Univer-sity graduates in these societies have toacquire information and in turn disseminate it tothe masses. Ubrarians and informaticians havevital roles to play in this movement.

The quality of the third world life remains the sameIn absence of constant review of social andmetaphysical thoughts and practices in the lightof at least a generation's growth in the knowledge,which never reaches the people. The new knowl-edge acquired by the mankind over the centuriesin many areas and contexts goes unnoticed bythe masses of the third world because it is notdisseminated to them. The masses cannot affordtheir own books. The lapse is due to the least useof books and other materials through the normalinstitution of libraries and information centres.The community of informaticians, to which the li-brarians belong, by virtue of their profession, hasvital role to play in developing the informationservices through libraries in backward countries.Libraries are vital for developing a knowledgeconsuming and knowledge producing society. Ifthe libraries are that important, the importance ofthe contribution of librarians cannot be underesti-mated. Ranganathan, and others lived under thisfaith. '

KNOWLEDGE BROKERS

The phenomenon of multi-dimensional growth inknowledge has deprived the learner of his abilityto deal directly with new knowledge. Now, it is notpossible for a scholar to know at his own the totaloutput of knowledge, say, in a year or two, in hisspecialised field of academic interest. One has toaccept this statement. Even a noble laureate isdependent on an informatician for a comprehen-sive bibliography of literature in his field. Elbowsupport of a librarian is essential in generationand utilisation of knowledge.

It is very unfortunate that due to computerisationand closed access, a scholar cannot even directlysee the collections of his interest in a documenta-tion centre or a library. In numerous cases, theshelving of documents is no more in a filiatarysubject-classified sequence. Materials have beenorganised on the basis accession number orsome other criterion. Access to materials in suchcases is not possible without the help of areader's-adviser, a reference librarian or adocumentalist, who, through conversation, iden-tifies the exact requirement of the reader, pin-points subject-headings and operates .his com-

Vol 39 No 3 Sept. 1992

puters or punched cards and then gives the listto the user. These trends reveal that a searcher ofknowledge has to stand on th~ shoulders of an in-formatician, whatever be his/her exact designa-tion, for using the knowledge in modern times.

The whole research activity of the world can cometo standstill if, abstracts and indexes like, chemi-cal abstracts, economic abstracts, humanitiesabstracts, etc., do not appear. It is the professionof informaticians which is behind the preparationof these vital secondary sources. Even tertiarysources have emerged as the output from librari-ans and are of vital use in initiating academicprojects. The partnership between the scholarand the librarian is a phenomenon which shallbecome more thick in decades to come.

Thinkers of today have to conceive about'Multiple - Transformative Capacity' on societallevel, particularly in the third world. The aim isto work for all round resource mobilisation. Forthis, a Complex Processe of Social Learning andCommunication with a Multiple Time-Space Per-spective requires to be promoted. The 1970s and1980s were witness to the emergence of global,planetary and international social movement,which provided the slogan 'Think globally and actlocally'. Library as an agency, and librarianship asa profession, should be on the top of the list fordeveloping multiple-transformative capacity onsocietal level, particularly for use of knowledge inthe third world. India cannot ignore having pilotproject of developing public libraries, in rural andurban areas, for dissemination and use of knowl-edge in a 'post-industrial information society' inwhich the country has already landed.

As honest brokers of knowledge and information,librarians have to deal with the great minds asgenerators and the masses as users. Apart fromthe specialised and technical knowledgerequired by specialists, general concepts, andinformation about them are required to be takento all. A list of publications embodying seminalknowledge that should be taken to people invarious forms (including oral form), particularly inthe third world is given in Appendix A:

KNOWLEDGE AS POWER

Contemporary thinkers have pleaded for people'sempowerment, for effecting social change anddevelopment. This can come exclusively throughknowledge dissemination and use. The Westernlibrarianship has been doing it for about fifteendecades in an effective manner. The famousdescription of developing 'selective rationalisa-

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tion' by Habermas, 1982, depends largely on'concentration of information' in libraries forlifting the masses. Consciously or unconsciously,the librarians have been doing nothing butconcentrating, organising and disseminating in-formation/knowledge for use. The law, 'knowledge/information is for use', shall always remain theguiding force.

Today, the concept of property has variousforms. The most important form of 'property' isknowledge. A particular piece of knowledge canbe a property to provide prosperity to many at thesame time, while property of a particular pieceof land or a bank balance can help only onespecific owner. This feature of property is notproperly appreciated both by capatalists andsocialists in various countries. While fields andfactories as forms of property, are exhaustable,the knowledge as a form of property is inexhaus-table. Knowledge gets collected, organised, anddisseminated from libraries. No body can afforddoinq these personally. Even the element ofcentral planning essential for allround growthdepends on KGEU factors.

Today, the top-down planners get more lies whenthey seek more data because of the poor qualityof KGEU arrangements. Managers, bureaucrats,politicians. and even academicians operate with-out the requuired data/information/knowledge. Itis only in the hands of libraries that KGEU servicesare of satisfactory standard.

The method for creating new wealth require

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enormous knowledge of various kinds, which cannotbe obtained by the process of merely the central-ised planning. Mere vertical flow ofinformation/data/knowledge cannot sustain mod-ern day planning and administration. Horizontaland diagonal facets of KGEU are highly importantto make the planning and economics successful.The modern automated libraries, with alert andqualified personnel, can provide KGEU, of vertical,horizontal and diagonal type. The value of vertical,horizontal and diagonal species of KGEU lies, as ithas been proved in this century, in converting thehardware machine into the machine with knowl-edge. "Chips" have provided this characteristicto machines. Success of chips depends onknowledge culture.

Mikhail Gorbachev surrendered in the rings in1989, when he said, "we were nearly one of thelast to realise that in the age of infor matti onscience the most expensive asset is knowledge."[quoted by Alvin Toffler In Power Shift, N.Y., Ban-tam, 1990, p. 406]. The third world cannot ignorethis phenomenon. KGEU becomes less expen-sive if selected libraries, in an organised manner,perform the tasks as national project of high impor-tance. Globalisation of knowledge is going to takeplace because the mankind in the future, like inthe past, has to live on some finer values. Homosapiens cannot live like dogs, fighting constantlyfor ever. They have to share knowledge which hasso far grown only through sharing. Libraries andLibrarians have, therefore, clearly, demarcatedtheir roles and responsibilities on their shouldersin times ahead.

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KNOWLEDGE AS STOCK-IN-TRADE OF LIBRARIANS

Knowledge generated in the following works is LO be disseminated bylibraries and the librarians to masses

1. Rachel Carson: Silent spring2. Barry Commoner: Science and survival3. The Club of Rome, report;4. Meadows et al: The limits to growth5. Dubos and Ward: Only one earth6. Maddox: The doomsday syndrome7. Goldsmith et al: A blueprint for survival8. Foley: The energy question9. Allaby: Inventing tomorrow10. Allen: How to save the world11. George: How the other half dies12. P Harrison: Inside the third world13. Brandt et al: North-South - A programme for survival14. Heilbroner: An inquiry into the human prospect15. Higgins: The seventh enemy16. Schumacher: Small is beautiful17. Dickson: Alternative technology18. Cooley: Architect or bee?19. David Collingridge: The Social control of technology20. Colin Norman: The God that limps

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APPENDIX A

(1962);(1966);

(1972);(1972);(1972);(1972);(1970);(1976);(1980);(1976);(1979);(1980);(1975);(1978);(1973);(1974);(1980);(1981);(1981).

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