On the 5.

5, according to all the horoscope sites, is my "life-path number." I don't really know what that means, and I don't really have an affinity for the number 5 (what with 7 being always more enticing, followed by 2).

I do, however, spend more time than one might suppose ruminating on the 5 Laws.

Yes, those 5.

You see, I'm a librarian.

In brief, if you don't want to actually (gasp) read through the work, the Five Laws of Library Science, put forward by S. R. Ranganathan all those years ago, are

Books are for use.

Every reader his [or her] book.

Every book its reader.

Save the time of the User.

The library is a growing organism.

Over the years, people have written various adaptations and interpretations of the 5. This is all well and good; rethinking the profession as technology, learning, and media evolve is sensible. Fore me, though, the 5 are part of my guiding philosophy.

I got into librarianship because, first of all, I knew that writing was unlikely to pay. The odds were better that I could at least get by on a librarian's salary. And why go for librarianship, instead of linguistics or architecture (previous possible paths)? Because I spent my senior year of high school working for the high school librarian during my study hall. It was just stuff like shelf reading, sorting overdue notices, and such, but she was also the coach of one of my academic teams, and we loved her. (We won state competition and $300 for the library two years in a row for her.) The decision had no philosophical backing; I liked working in the high school library, and I had always been an avid reader/library user. So I got into library school right out of my undergrad, and while I had a basic concept of what libraries did, the philosophy was all new.

My first semester I ended up taking the reference class; this was mostly because I jumped in at the spring semester and took what I could get into. (This also resulted in me taking a public policy class that was chock full of doctoral students and required a presentation at the end of the semester. Terrifyingly great experience.) The reference class was, quite honestly, my first exposure to library databases. My high school didn't have any of that when I was there; we still used a card catalog. Bibliographic instruction involved MLA and the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. And I was a history major during my undergraduate; that entailed microfilm, not databases. (The database exposure did help during subsequent my history master's program, since I didn't seem to have time to actually read books.) Databases, with their hierarchical structures, their thesauri, their logic, come very naturally to me. But on top of that, the reference class was where Ranganathan's Five Laws were introduced.

I didn't think much about them while I was in library school, actually. Or even during my first year or so of doing reference in an academic library. Really, though? They're part of my own core philosophy of librarianship.

Books are for use. We're a library. We collect resources not for the sole sake of preservation or the collection itself. Our collections are meant to support and enhance learning and knowledge. Some collections, yes, need to be protected - fragile materials, rare materials. But we should still find ways to provide access to the materials unless a part of our mission includes preservation of specific collections. Maybe items need to be made digitally accessible so that they can be physically preserved, etc.

Every reader his [or her] book. Somewhere out there is the resource the user needs. (Maybe. Obvious exceptions include the perennial 'photograph of a dinosaur' and such.) But, if it exists, we should do our best to get the resource and the user together. If it's something like unique microfilm or archival material, we may be able to locate it, but not bring it to the user; maybe we can get a copy; maybe the only way to access it is on site. And if the exact resource the user wants either doesn't exist or simply cannot be made accessible in a timely fashion, we should help the user find the next best thing.

Every book its reader. Somewhere out there is the user for the resources in your library. Not every user needs every resource; not every resource is needed by every user. A lot of ag-tech majors probably don't need Artstor, but a lot of graphic design majors probably don't need AGRICOLA, either. If the resource's user-base is no longer part of the community you serve, it may be time to consider weeding that resource. Holding on to something just in case an ILL request comes through for it doesn't make as much sense as deacquisitioning the item and possibly offering it to libraries whose users do have a need for it. (Assuming it's not a temporary lull in the existence of the user-base. A class not being offered this semester is different than the department being dissolved and the college no longer has, say, a videography major.)

Save the time of the User. Make your discovery guides simple, powerful, and intuitive. Excellent cataloging, classification, and indexing of resources will make them vastly easier to find. Automate where it makes sense to. Excellent reference will help the user refine their needs as quickly as possible, as well as help them locate alternate sources and subject terms to help steer them out of dead ends. Change when change is needed; keep methodology that works. Don't chase the new just because it's new; chase it when it's an improvement.

The library is a growing organism. Resources evolve. We're not just books and print periodicals anymore, but databases and electronic resources; websites and internet search engines; maps and realia; DVDs and CDs; laptops and digital projectors. Services evolve. We do so many things electronically now - email (and chat and text) reference; automated interlibrary loan; online catalogs and websites. Instruction is embedded into classes, relevant to research, and designed for life-long learning. Our paradigms shift. Graphic novels have made inroads. Games are no longer just games. (Want to bring people together at an open house or other event? Put out Scrabble or cards or set up a Wii.)

So, yeah. The 5.