First Law The first law of library science, "Books are for use," constitutes the basis for library services. This law means that
books in libraries are not meant to be shut away from users. Ranganathan observed that books were often chained to prevent their removal and that the emphasis was on storage and preservation rather than use. He did not reject the notion that preservation and storage were important, but he asserted that the purpose of such activities should be to promote use. Without user access to materials, there is little value in these items. By emphasizing use, Dr. Ranganathan refocused the attention of the field to access-related issues,
Second Law The second law of library science, "Every person has his or her book," means that librarians should serve a wide collection of patrons, acquire literature to fit a wide variety of needs, and refrain from prejudice or judging what specific patrons choose to read. Librarians should respect that everyone is different and that everyone has different
tastes regarding the books they choose. After the publication of
The Five Laws of Library Science, Ranganathan named children, the
physically disabled, artisans, newly literate adults, the
intellectually disabled,
working-class individuals, and individuals with niche interests as specific groups of potential readers that are served through the application of the second law. In addition, a library collection must represent the community it serves. Ranganathan said the fourth law in turn saves the time of the library staff through such practices as centralized
classification and
cataloging, documenting materials before sending them to the library that ordered them, and mechanizing methods for information retrieval.
Fifth Law The fifth law of library science, "A library is a growing organism," means that a library, like an
organism, should be a dynamic institution that is never static in its outlook. Ranganathan identified two types of growth: growth that increases the quantity of items in the library's collection, and growth that improves the collection's overall quality through the replacement of materials. Books, methods, and the physical library should be updated over time. There needs to be a consideration of growing physical space, but in the 21st century this has come to mean the multiple formats and platforms a collection can encompass. ==Variants==