Principles of Ideal Libraries vs. Facilities in Pre-University College Libraries: In Indian Context

Pre-university education is significant in every student’s life as it shows the career future of every youth. Hence, the pre-university colleges are responsible for providing good qualitative education with knowledge towards present studies and future career life of all students. To impart knowledge to pre-university students and teachers, libraries in pre-university colleges play a significant role. Realizing the importance of the library in colleges, Dr. S.R. Ranganathan has contributed Five Laws of Library Science, ideals and principles, which every pre-university college needs to adopt. In this context, the present study has been made in the Kalyan-Karnataka region to know whether the pre-university college libraries are following standards, principles and guidelines contributed by Dr. Ranganathan. It is found that, the majority of these libraries don’t have their own library building, libraries are not managed by full-time professional librarians, these libraries are operating on a closed access basis, and only a few libraries have classified and cataloged information sources and so on. Hence, it is suggested to the management to look after the problems faced by pre-university libraries and follow the guidelines, principles and ideals of Dr. Ranganathan for students’ overall academic and educational development at the pre-university level.