REINTERPRETATION OF RANGANATHAN FIVE LAWS OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN THE DIGITAL ERA: AN OVERVIEW OF THE 21ST CENTURY ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide reinterpretation of Ranganathan Five Laws of Library Science in the Digital Era. The paper is a reflective piece examining Ranganathan five laws of library science in the context of academic libraries. The paper argued that although Ranganathan five laws remains relevant till date, the emergence of the digital resources in academic libraries has opened opportunities for librarians to quickly reaching out to many users at the same time as compared to when Ranganathan first published his five laws in the 1920s. Literature review indicated that Ranganathan five laws continued to be reinterpreted by researchers and professionals to assist librarians in bridging the prevailing information provision gaps in the teaching, learning and research needs of the users. Various literature reviews argue that reinterpreting of the works of Ranganathan is timely and should be a continuing process of championing library services globally. Also, there are needs for reinterpretation of the laws in line with modern practice especially with the emergence of digital resources. The value of the paper is to examine conventional Ranganathan five laws in library services and reinterpreting the values of the laws in the digital era. The paper concluded that despite multidimensional development in different areas of library work and service and their enrichment with the application of modern technology, Ranganathan Five Laws of Library Science are applicable till date in spite of digital technology development.