Paper N

COURSE OF TRAINING FOR DOCUMENTALIST

OutlineE a syllabus for the training of a.person, with a. post-graduate degree, as a.documentalist, leading to M Lib Sc degree.The course is spread over instruction in sixsubjects and two projects to be carried outduring the year of training. Points out theconfusion caused by a historical accident insome countries and two different connotationsof the term 'information service'. Recommendsthe separation of the cour-se a for documenta-list and for information officer, and theplacing of. the former within the area of Lib-rary Science.

o INTRODUCTION

The subject of Training for Documentalisthas been engaging the attention of the FID for ;'I

number of years. It is time for some decisionto be made. For, the urgency of the problem isincreasing in many countries. Consequently:there are diverse irrational practices takingshape. They may become rigid, even if it befor reasons of prestige. The problem, should,t henef or e , be taken up for deta'iled discussionat the forthcoming FID Conference, at Rio deJaneiro. As a help towards this, the followingcourse of studies for Training for Documenta-list is outlined as a basis for focussing dis-cussion. The duration of this course of studyis taken as one year.

01 Number of Papers

For convenience, the details of the courseof studies are given in terms of the subjects tobe covered. These are as follows:

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S R RANGANATHAN

1 Universe of knowledge, its developmentand structure;

2 Library c l as s ification (Theory);

3 Library classification (Practical);

4 Library catalogue;

5 Documentation;

6 A project in documentation;

7 Business library system; and

8 A survey of trend in current literature inan approved subject.

1 UNIVERSE OF KNOWLEDGEITS DEVELOPMENT & STRUCTURE

1 The various subjects having knowledge asthe field of study. Their int e r c r el at ion ,

2 Primary senses. Association. Intellec-tion. Imagination. Intuition.

3 Sensory experience. Intellectual ex-perience. Private, Externalised, and Social-ised memory. Thought-Term relation. Nomen-clature. Terminology. Fundamental termsand their standardisation.

4 Fact. Empirical law. Descriptive formu-1ation. Fundamental law. Interpretative ex-planation. Hypothesis. Normative Principle.Deduction. Empirical verification. Abstrac-tion. Generalisation. Concretisation. Parti-cul a r is ati on, Spiral of Scientific Method.

5 Positivistic, Speculative, and Autho r i.ty,centred modes of thinking. Methods of pure

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COURSE OF TRAINING FOR DOCUMENTALIST

sciences, applied sciences, social sciences,and fine arts.

6 Universal knowledge as mapped inschemes of library clas s if'i c at iorr. Its demar-cation into sections and sub -sections. Uni-verse of knowledge as a static continuum.

7 Inter-relation of sections. Modes ofinter -relation and cross -section. Formationof new sections. Modes of formation. Dis-section. Denudation. Lamination. Looseassemblage. Universe of knowledge as a dyna-mic continuum.

2 LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION(THEORY)

1 General theory of classification. Canonsfor it. Theory of knowledge cl a s sification.Cannons for it. Work in the idea plane, andthe notational plane. Basic class. Isolate.Facet Analysis. Phase Analysis. Focus.Simple, compound, and complex foci. Intra-facet and intra -a r r ay relation.

2 The five fundamental categories and thefacets cor r esp'onding to them. Rounds andlevels of manifestation of the fundamental cate-gories. Postulates for idea plane. Principlesfor determining the helpful sequence of any twofac ets.

3 Array. Telescoping of arrays. Tele-scoping of facets. Common isolates - anteriorising and posteriorising., Special isolates.Quasi isolates. Environmented isolate. Super-,imposed isolate.

4 Enumerative classification. Analytico-synthetic classification. Enumeration of iso-1ates in a facet. Formation of isolates byalphabetical, chronological, geographical orsubject device. Zone Analysis. Abstractclassification.

5 Notational plane. Postulates for notationalplane. Co-extensive class number. Ind ivi dua l ,ising class number. Mixed notation. Octavenotation. Group notation. Heirarchial and non-heirarchial notation within a facet.

6 Macro -thought. Clas s if ica tion for bookarrangement. Micro -thought. Classificationfor documentation work. Depth classification.Other uses of library classification in a l ib ,

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rary. Us e of classification in arranging cart;'..crete materials. Classification andcoditlg,:formachinery for search. ,.,,:1

7 Evolution of cla s s if i.cat or yLe chn i-que ,Comparative study ofBibliographicclassifica~tion , Colon cIas s if icat ion, Library of' Cdngre.sAclassification, and Universal Decimal Clqs~ifi-cation. Standards for the 'element~'ri~~~~c;i i~

.!;\

classification schemes. Universal a~d sp ec ia.Ischemes of cIa s sif icat ion ,

3 LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION(PRACTICAL) , i" '.

Classification of books, monograph'si·'and'F,:'articles, by Colon Classificationand,;Un'iver$alDecimal Classification.

4 LIBR ARY CAT ALOG UE,::.

1 Canons for cataloguing. Layout of acatalogue code. Standards for the elements'needed in catalogue code s va t .the international;national, linguistic, and local levels. ",'

Dictionary cataio'g,~e.entry. General entry.

2 Classified catalogue.Kinds of entries. SpecificMain entry. Added entry.

3 Choice of heading for main entry and bookindex entry for simple, multi ..volumed, andcomposite books, periodical publications, andmicro-documents. ' ,

4 Rendering of personal, geographical corpo-rate, and series names and titles of books inheadings of entries.

5 Title section in main entry and in otherspeciiic entries.

and rendering of headings in sub-Chain procedure. List of subj ect

6 Choiceject entries.headings.

7 Author analytical. Subject analytical-.

8 Class index entry. See and See also sub-ject entries. Cross reference index e~try,.;

9 Comparative study of the latest .edi rio nsof the Classified catalogue code, the ALAc ()d_~,Ru'ie's--for-th-;-dicti~na;y'~ a talog~~~' andthe rule-s-for-thedictionaryc'atalogu-~-gi~enin·the Classified catalogue code. '

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10 Alphabetisation and its problems. Abb-reviation of titles of periodical publications.Bibliographical references.

11 Layout and additional rules for unioncatalogue, abstracting and indexing periodicals,and national bibliography.

12 Cataloguing of non-conventional forms ofdocuments.

5 DOCUMENT ATION

1 Book versus document; Mac ro c thou ghtver sus Micro -thought: Nascent thought;Generalist and specialist readers. Bibliogra-phy and documentation list.

2 Documentation work. On demand. Inant ic ip at iqn , On a specific subjec t. On allsubjects. National versus world coverage.Retrospective versus current.

3 Levels of organisation for Documentation:International: National: Local. Role of FID andUnesco as co -ordinating and promoting agen-cies. Varieties of documentation list. Princi-ples of selection for national and local docu-mentation work. Layout of documentation list.

4 Documentation Service: Facet analysis inhelping the reader in the exact enunciation ofhis subject of interest at the moment. Findingthe needed document. Finding the needed data.Finding entities having several specified pro-perties or values and mechanical searching aidsfor the same.

5 Search methods: Conventional methods -classified catalaogue using depth classificationand subject headings by chain procedure;Mechanical methods - punched cards, electro-nic machinery and coding for machinery. Re-lation of depth classification to coding. Com-parison of conventional and machine methods.(Note: The engineering and technological as-pects of mechanical methods are excluded).

6 Procurement of documents: From local,national and international sources.

7 Types of document reproduction from thepoint of view of users and top management ofdocumentatio.n centres. Pho tos tat. Enlarge-ment. Microfilm (roll or strip). Microfiche .•Microcard. Preservation. Reading apparatus.

(Note: The engineering and technological as-peets are excluded).

8 Translation service: Full time translators.Panel of translators with full time editors. In-formation about progress towards machinetranslation. (Note: Excluding engineering as-pects).

9 Abstracting: Abstracting personnel.Competence in subject field and depth classifi-cation. Use of author synopsis. Need forabstracting one and the same document in.theabstracting media of several subjects. Canonsof abstracting. Language: Sentence versuskernel form; technical versus popular terms.Use of standard fundamental constituent terms.Length of abstract. International Co c or di.nat ionof abstracting service.

10 Social factors making documentationnecessary. Population pressure. Supplement-ing natural and near-natural commodities, byartificial commodities made from unc ons urn e

able raw materials with the aid of technology.Reference service to research workers. Con-servation of the research potential of the world.Research-in-parallel versus Research-in-Series. Pl ough c ba ck of nascent micro-thoughtinto the minds of the research team.

6 DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

Preparation, during the year of a Documen-tation List on an approved subject on the basisof an approved set of periodicals for c:meyear.

7 BUSINESS LIBRARY SYSTEM

1 Types of business libraries. Industriallibraries. Commercial libraries. Newspaperoffice libraries. Libraries of GovernmentDepartments. Libraries of Research Institu-tions.

2 Kinds of business libraries. Libraries ofindividual institutions. C!,!ntral libraries atnational and regional levels. Int er c Hbr ar y co-operation. Service library. Distributinglibrary.

3 Place of library in business organisation.Correlation with the activities of the departments

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COURSE OF TRAINING FOR DOCUMENT ALIST

of the parent body. Relation with the staff of thedepartments of the parent body.

4 Organisation of the different types andkinds of business libraries. Library finance.Library building, and equipment. Librarystatistics and lib r a rn et r v ,

5 Classification and filling of fugitive mate-rials like prospectuses, leaflets and clippings.Help in the classification and arrangement ofcommodities.

6 Library administration. Selection andacquisition of books and periodical publications.Accession work. Maintenance, circulation, anddisplay of books, periodical publications, patel1:ts,standards, specifications, drawings, pamphlets,clippings, microfilms and similar materials.

7 International, national and local sourcesand centres of information. Reference service.Bi b.liogr aph ica I service. Abstracting service.Library bulletin. Extension service to work-ers.

8 REPORT ON LITERATURESURVEY

Report on an assigned project carried outduring the year in surveying the trends incurrent literature and the bibIi ogr aph icaI toolsin an approved subject.

91 REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION

Normally, a candidate for admission to acourse in Documentation should have as a mini-mum a primary University Degree in one orother of the Na t ur al Sciences, Applied Sciencesor Social Sciences. For the time being, thedemand for documentation is only in theseareas. Even here, there is less demand inSocial Sciences than in the others; In the selec-tion for training as Docum en ta Ii s t , candidateswill be drawn from different subject fields inthe light of requirements. This may varyfrom country to country and in the samecount rv from year to year. It is desirablethat preference is given to candidates deputedby organisations needing documentation service.This will be particularly important in newlydeveloping countries. In addition to a primaryUniversity Degree, a candidate should havealso a post -graduate degree. It may be either

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B. Lib. Sc , (Bachelor of Library Science) or aMaster's Degree in some other subject. Thecourse for Training for Documentalist maylead to the degree of M. Lib. Sc , (Master ofLibrary Science).

92 APPRENTICESHIP

It is desirable that a candidate for a coursein Documentation should have acquired famili-arity with the routine of documentation work andservice. For this purpose, he should have beenan apprentice for a prescribed period in an app-roved library doing documentation. It has beenfound that raw graduates admitted directly to thecourse do not have the time within one year to'gain competence in routine work. It is alsofound that, without a prior familiarity withroutine, a candidate finds it difficult to absorbthe instruction in the theoretical aspects of thesubject. He does not easily acquire the mentalset to appreciate the need for many of the ele-ments taught in the course. Experience ofapprenticeship is normally required in everyother profession, such as Engineering. Theprofession of Documentalists cannot be an ex ,ception to this practice.

93 FAMILIARITY WITH LITERATURE

A candidate taking a course in documentationshould acquire intimate familiarity with the ex-isting literature, reference books, and biblio-graphies in some areas of knowledge. It is amoot point whether this familiarity should beacquired by the candidate by his own voluntaryeffort and wide reading, or wehther it shouldbe made formal part of the course. Whateverknowledge he may pick up during the course willsoon become out-of -date. For, the universeof documents is ever dynamic. He will have tokeep himself continuously informed of the newliterature taking shape from time to time.Moreover, he cannot escape the impact of newliterature in the very process of his work as adocumentalist. It will therefore be futile toadopt the camel-theory of education and loadthe memory of the candidates with titles ofbooks and other publications. On the other hand,the project of literature survey suggested ins ec tion 8 will give a good di scipline to candi-

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dates in comprehending and keeping himselfaware of the live documents in the wave frontof knowledge. It will also increase his compe-tence in making effective use of the annual re-riews of literature in diverse fields. It mayalso qualify him for the production of annualreviews of literature which is one of the formsof documentation work. Of course, this com-petence he will acquire only by his specialisingin documentation work in a particular subjectfield for some years. A development alongthese lines will eventually eliminate the wastagein research potential now being caused by per-sons engaged in research being themselvesobliged to spend their time in preparing re-views of literature. The social pressure todaydoes not allow the dissipation of the research-potential of the world in this way.

94 HISTORicAL ACCIDENT

In countries which began to develop even bythe nineteenth century, a form of conflictappears to have arisen in the development ofthe p r of es s iori of documentalists. These arecalled 'special librarians' as opposed to libra-rians. For example, this conflict was high-lighted in the Aslib Conference of 1948. Somehours were spent in debating whether 'speciallibrarians' should be treated as librarians orscientists. The latter view won by a narrowmajority. A touch -me -not outlook was alsowitnessed among the 'special Iibr a r ian s tofUSA in 1950. The retarded rapproachmentbetween the Ifla and the FID and the p-r on en e's sof the library associations and the associationsof 'special librarians' to continue to be ex clu ,sive of one another also bear testimony to thisconflict. Bul it is all due to a historical acci-dent. In the nineteenth century, ~hen the publiclibraries developed in those countries, theiraim was mostly to serve whole books and peri-odicals. Thifl.,was considered sufficient by mostof the readers. Research scholars needingmicro documents were usually self-helpers.The professional librarians practising in pub-lic libraries gained greatly in strength and gotthemselves organised effectively as libraryassociations. Decades later, in the twentiethcentury, the industries r ea l ised the importanceof research. They also realised the waste in-volved in research workers having to spend

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time in literature search. In other words, theyfelt the need for documentation work and doc u,mentation service to be done and administeredto them by others. But the library professionpractising in public libraries did not grasp thisopportunity to reorient itself in its outlook andservice. Consequently the scientists set apartsome members among themselves for thiswork. In some countries where library a s s oc ia ,tions were controlling or conducting professionalexaminations, a further complication arose. Afew scientist 'special librarians' felt the needfor training in certain areas of library sciencerelevant to their purpose. But there was insis-tence from the library profession on the wholearea of library science as developed for publiclibrary work with hardly any content needed fordocumentation. This widened the gulf. Speciallibrarians _ do curn ent a Ii s t s _ began to or gani setheir own training. They went to the other ex-treme of refusing to recognise the extence evenof overlapping areas. This historical accidentin some of the earlier developed countries hascoloured the view even in the internationalplane.

95 A MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Another cause of confusion has come intothis field. It originated from the term 'infor-mation service'. This term has been used in-differently to denote two different services:

1 Service of nascent micro thought to re-search workers in order to feed them pin-pointedly and to help them to avoid unintendedand unnecessary duplication of research effortin any special field whatever; and

2 "Selling" newly developed ideas, techni-ques, and production methods to top manage-ments, production engineers in the industries,and industrial workers, written in a languagemuch simpler and more popular than ~he terseand sever ely technic al languag e of the or iginalresearch communications.

This indifferent use of one and the same termto denote these two different ideas has alsocaused confusion in determining the content ofthe course of training for documentalist. Butit can be seen that the purposes of these twoforms of 'information service' are different.

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COURSE OF TRAINING FOR DOCUMENTALIST N96

The clientele on whom they are turned aredifferent. The techniques to be employed by thetwo services have to be different. The trainingneeded for the rendering of the two servic es hasalso to be different. Failure to recognise thesedifferences has also led to confused thinking inorganising the curriculum and the consequentdelay in doing it. The coming of the term"Do cu rn ent a.lis t ' into increasing use is underlin-ing the distinction between the two kinds of 'infor-mation services'. The function of a documen-talist can be distinguished from those of 'Infor-mation Officer'. The time has therefore be-come ripe to work out different schemes oftraining for the personnel for the two differentkinds of 'information services'.

The course outlined in this paper is for thedocumentalist. Naturally, this places a greatemphasis on survey of trends in subject fields,organisation of documents with the aid of depthclassification, and methods of literature searchin the wave front of knowledge.

A different course of study should be de-signed for the 'information officer' meant fordissemination of information outside thoseengaged in r esea r cb , It should be rich inpublic relations methods and journalistic pre-sentation of such results of research as areready for exploitation by industries, that isby producers of commodities and providers ofservices - large and small - and other consu-mers. This separation should make furtherwork in designing cours e of studie s easier.Documentation technique may not fit in with thiscourse.

96 NEWLY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Today, several countries have recoveredfrom centuries of cultural exhaustion and crea-tive inaction in the sphere of thought. Whenthey wake up, they naturally feel dazed like

Rip Van Winkle. Blind imitation of alreadydeveloped countries is the first impulse. Theconfusion due to the double connotations of thesingle term 'information service' confoundsthem. They are affected by the pressure ofwhat happens in the earlier dev-eloped coun-tries. They are prone to take upon themselvesall the difficulties caused in the other countriesby historical accident or mistaken identity.Such a thoughtless capitulation blesseth neitherthe newly developing countries nor the alreadydeveloped countries. On the other hand, thenewly developing countries will do a good turnto themselves and to others if they take ad-vantage of the opportunity they have to re-thinkthe whole problem freely and boldly, and towrite on a clean slate free from hamperingtraditions. India is struggling to do so. Itseeks to secure the oneness of the professionof librarians and doc ume nta Hs t s , The train-ing of the two will have a good deal in common.The difference will be only in the area ofsp ec iaIi s at ion forming final culmination and theparticular branches of library service selectedfor adoption. The common area will becovered in the first year's postgraduate pro-fessional course leading to B Lib Sc degree.The second year's course leading to M Lib Scdegree will still have .a common core made upof a study of the universe of knowledge and itsdevelopment and structure, and" advanced clas-s ification and cataloguing. But the differentia-tion will be secured by provision for differentoptional subjects making up half of the secondyears course. One set of optional subjects willput its weight on the side of public and othertraditional kinds of library service. Anotherset of optional subjects will put its weight onthe side of documentation work and service.The course suggested in this paper for docu-mentalist is culled out of such an integratedcourse for both the wings of the library pro-fession.

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