Ranganathan in the Hiz-ouse

Like Jessamyn, I am a huge Ranganathan fan. I've bemoaned the fact again and again that his books are not in print. I read his Five Laws of Library Science for fun my last semester of my MLIS. I found it endlessly fascinating and educational. For a book that is nearly 70 years old, it still has a lot of information in it that is useful today.

So, it was with unprecedented excitement that I read that open source versions of his work are being created by The Digital Library of Information Science & Technology Classics Project. And here's chapter one! How cool!

And, as promised many months ago, here is a version of the list I made for myself for my library, using the Five Laws as its backbone.

To explain the document a little bit, it obviously shows some very simple things that I needed to do--such as getting business cards and getting a shelf for my desk--but also has many things that are more forward thinking--such as allowing patrons to tag the catalog and starting an anime club in the library and creating a library PayPal mobile account so patrons can pay fines with their phones. When I finish an item, I change the font to strikethrough so that I can see what I've accomplished (and revisit things if they aren't working out) but still know what I don't have to focus on.

I'd love comments on my crazy list if people have them.

Tags: libraries, Ranganathan