Ranganathan's Five Laws Of Library Science; Too Old For 21° Century Librarianship:- Nnenna C Samuel

ABSTRACT

Ranganathan's five laws of library science are 90 years old, yet, they continue to enjoy robust scholarly critique. into the 21st century. The paper has woven a discourse of the antecedents and the emergence, of Ranganathan's five laws of library Science, as well as their continued and continuing relevance in 21st century operations of librarianship, notwithstanding the age. This discourse is set against the background of objectives and functions of libraries which have remained constant, and services of libraries which have continued to evolve; expand and diversify, from the time of the emergence of libraries, through their developmental stages, to the information age of the late 20th and 2lst centuries. The concludes that the laws are still as relevant in the applications of librarianship of the 21st century, and even more so, than when they were 1st proposed in 1931. This paper, has relied on analytical literature review of published works and reliable conceptual ideas of the authors, to arrive at this position.