Mysore/Mysuru: Dr. N.G. Satish, former Professor of Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad, said that as the digital revolution gains momentum, traditional book collections are no longer sufficient to meet the diverse needs of today’s users.

He was delivering a lecture on the topic ‘Reflections on Reordering Ranganathan’  organised by the Department of Studies (DoS) in Library and Information Science (LIS), University of Mysore (UoM) and Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science (SRELS), as part of librarians’ day celebration in commemoration of the 131st birth anniversary of Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, at Dr. S.R. Ranganathan Hall,  DoS in LIS, Manasagangothri, yesterday.

Stressing on the need for exploring the five core principles proposed by Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, who was affectionately considered as the ‘Father of the Indian Library Movement,’ Dr. Satish observed that the five laws have served as the cornerstones for library services.

Highlighting the crucial points that guide the evolution of libraries in the modern-day context, he said that readers are paramount in libraries. He advised librarians to deepen their connections with user communities, align services with users’ key needs and seize every opportunity to showcase library expertise. He also emphasised the essential qualities of a modern librarian and urged librarians to embrace entrepreneurship, reimagining their roles in fake news identification, competitive intelligence, technical writing and more.

Prof. M.S. Sapna, Chairperson of the Dept. of Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ), called for rigorous digitisation activities to be taken up by the libraries. She said that libraries should involve themselves in community building activities by way of projecting themselves in social media, print media and electronic media through talks, write-ups and reports pertaining to libraries. Information professionals with market research and data mining skills will have better employment opportunities, she added.

Prof. N.S. Harinarayana, Chairman of the DoS in LIS, in his address, said Dr. S.R. Ranganathan pushed for accessible information, advocating upon access in libraries more than a century ago. His works like Five Laws of Library Science, Colon classification and others are revered, he added.

Prof. K.S. Raghavan of SRELS too spoke on the occasion. Faculty of the Department of LIS – Prof. M. Chandrashekara, Prof. H. Adithya Kumari, Dr. M. Sunil Kumar and Dr. B. Niveditha, former faculty Dr. Shalini R. Urs, Dr. Khaisar Jahan Begum and Dr. Mallinath Kumbar, former UoM Librarian Dr. C.P. Ramasesh and UoM Librarian Dr. P. Sarasvathi were present.