The creed of a librarian

Abstract

A re-appraisal of Foskett’s 1962 paper, considering how much of it is relevant to contemporary librarianship. Foskett’s contention was that librarianship lacked the underlying historical and philosophical underpinning central to a professional outlook; the most sustained attempt was Ranganathan’s work, with its encapsulation into five Laws. Foskett emphasized professional education as a means to achieve what should be the goal of libraries - to bring readers and information together through a knowledge of both, and through organization, specifically indexing and classification. Despite some stylistic datedness, his arguments still have validity today, although he did not emphasize enough the practical form our profession’s philosophy needs to take. Reflection on the ‘Why?’ of librarianship matters because it informs practice, helping us develop in both overall professional approach and in specific areas of daily work. Without reflection we become stuck in our ways, unable effectively to reason with our detractors and opponents. As the concept of the library becomes more abstract, it is essential that we can argue cogently against views that libraries are no longer important. Of all Ranganathan’s Laws, ‘Save the time of the reader’ may be the key message today.