CLASSIFICATION OF LIBRARIES BASED ON THEIR FUNCTIONS AND OBJECTIVES

Types of Libraries:

Public Libraries:Which cater to the needs of general public, and those who

have and have not completed their formal education.

Academic Libraries:University Libraries – to promote research and academic

endeavours.College Libraries – to help understand and improve

curriculum based education.School Libraries – to create inquisitiveness and to develop

the knowledge on a wider range of issues.

Special Libraries:To support and to cater to the needs of the institutions with

which they are attached to.

Digital Libraries:The whole or a part of a library in which the collections are in digitized format (like audio-tapes, CD-ROM diskettes, Floppies, and Microfilms)

shall be termed as digital libraries.

Virtual Libraries:The digitized contents of a library when they are uploaded on the networks and made available to the users throughout the world, then such libraries are termed as virtual libraries. These libraries are also called as ‘Libraries

without walls’.

User Studies and User Education:

Users:The reader or clientele or person seeking information from a library is

termed as a user.Users can be classified under two broad categories namely ‘Naive Users’

(New and inexperienced users) and ‘Experienced Users’.

User Studies:Studies on information seeking behaviour

Studies on information use pattern in a libraryTo identify the extent of use of information sources by the users

User Education:Educating or informing the user about the pattern of arrangement of the

holdings of a library and to help them locate the relevant/exact documents required in the shortest possible time shall be termed as ‘User Education’.

Role of UGC towards the growth of Libraries:Various Committees/Commissions appointed by UGC:

The Library Committee(1957) Review committee on Library Science(1961)

The Education Commission(1964 - 66)Mehrotra Committee(1983)

Committee on National Network System for Universities/Libraries(1988)

Curriculum Development Committee on Library and Information Science(1990 - 93)

RRRLF:

Raja Ram mohan Roy Library Foundation was established in the year 1972 by the Indian Government to develop the public libraries in the country. This organization is also called as UGC for public libraries, since it caters

exclusively for the needs of public libraries as UGC does for academic libraries.

This organization is located at Kolkatta and provides matching grants and complete grants for the purchase of books and computers respectively.