RBU_JR_LIS_V23_2021-FULL_TEXT-E-Copy

e-Published on 14th November 2021

UGC – CARE enlisted Journal

w.e.f. 14.6.2019

Previously it was under UGC List of

Journals No. 45237, Sl. No. 2023

Peer Reviewed

RBU JOURNAL OF

LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE

Volume 23, 2021

ISSN: 0972-2750

[Official organ of the Department of Library & Information Science]

Editor

Dr Sudip Ranjan Hatua

Department of Library & Information Science

Rabindra Bharati University

Kolkata, India

Visit: http://rbu.ac.in/home/page/102

Online Content of previous volumes (Full Text of Volume 21) available at:

https://lisrbu.wixsite.com/dlis/rbu-journal-of-lis

About the Journal

The RBU Journal of Library & Information science is a scholarly communication for education, research and

development of the Library & Information science field. It is published annually in print format only. This

publication is fully funded by Rabindra Bharati University, therefore it never asked any kind of charges or

publication fees or donations from the author. The first volume was published in the year 1997. It received

ISSN (0972-2750) in it’s 5th volume in the year 2001. From its 17th Volume published in the year 2015 the

journal become peer-reviewed (follows blind peer review process) by the eminent experts across the

country. This Journal was enlisted under UGC List of Journals No. 45237, Sl. No. 2023 when UGC published

a list of research journals published across the country in its website. Later this journal enlisted under

UGC-CARE List w.e.f. 14.6.2019. Present publication is it’s 23 rd Volume published in the year 2021.

The RBU Journal of Library and Information Science was published under following Editors-

Professor Pinakinath Mukhopadhyay : Vol.1 to Vol. 11

Shri Salil Chandra Khan : Vol. 12 to Vol. 14

Dr Sudip Ranjan Hatua : Vol. 15 to Vol. 23 (continuing...)

For details please visit: http://rbu.ac.in/home/page/102

To view the content of the previous volumes and the full text e-copy of VOLUME 21 , 22 & 23 please visit:


UGC-CARE

RBU JOURNAL OF


(Peer Reviewed)

Volume 23, 2021; ISSN: 0972-2750

(see online at: http://rbu.ac.in/home/page/102 )

For details along with previous volumes’ content

(Full text of Volume 21, 22 & 23) visit:


Author’s Guide

How to Send an Article?

Submission Guidelines

The RBU Journal of Library and Information Science publishes original research findings, review articles, practice outcome

and survey results, integrate and critically examine new information accumulated in recent years in a particular subject field

and specifically the following categories in order to cater to the diverse needs of its readership.

1. Research papers may describe completed research efforts with results, analyses and implications to practitioners, and should

not exceed 15-20 pages in length.

2. Practice papers may describe new industry practices, tools and methodologies, with emphases on practical issues, problems

and solutions, and should not exceed 10-15 pages in length. Papers may also discuss the relevance of theory to practice and

applications.

3. Current Trends papers will reflect new or current trends, thinking, perspectives and opinions in research and practice, and

should not exceed 8-12 pages in length.

4. Review papers should give a critical and analytical perspective of related books, publications, methodologies, practices,

tools or systems, and should not exceed 5-6 pages in length.

Minimum standards for considering the submitted manuscripts for peer-reviewing Papers must be written in English

Language. Text files should be prepared in MS Word format double line space.

Page setup: Page size A4, orientation portrait; Margins: mirror margins, top 3 cm, bottom 2 cm, inside 2.5 cm, outside 2

cm, gutter 0.5 cm;

Layout: header 1.7 cm (different odd and even), footer 1 cm, section start continuous, page alignment top; Font - Times New

Roman, 12 point. First Heading -14 bold Times New Roman Second sub heading -12 bold Times New Roman, Each next sub

heading- 12 italics Times New Roman

Preparation of the manuscript:

All original research articles should be structured in the following manner.

• Title: The title should be concise and reflect the entire work of the submitted manuscript. (Written

in 14pt bold Times New Roman font size)

• Names of all authors need to be indicated below the title (Written in 12 bold Times New

Roman font size)

• More than one author should display side by side with a tab space (5)

• Department/Affiliation: bellow of each author, 10pt Times New Roman, centered University/Institution: 10pt Times New

Roman, centered

Address: 10pt Times New Roman, centered

Email : account@xxxxxx.xx (10pt Times New Roman, centered)

Abstract

Abstracts should clearly state the purpose of the work, methods used, key findings and major conclusion drawn from the work

in the following format-

Introduction-2-3lines

Purpose-1-2 lines

Research problem-1-2 lines

iii

Objective-1-2 lines

Methodology-1-2 lines

Findings-2-3 lines

It should not more than 500 words. (Written in 12pt italics Times New Roman font size)

Keywords

The author should provide 3 to 6 key words, characterizing the scope of the paper, the main plant material used and the central

aspect of the work. Keywords should be presented below the (Written in 10pt bold Times New Roman font size)

Layout of article

Layout of article should maintain minimum following pattern-

• Introduction: State the background and mention clearly the objective of the present work.

• Literature Review – minimum last ten years

• Problem Identification- Research question and draw hypothesis

• Methodology-All methods used should be clearly mentioned

• Data collection and analysis- How and which method followed? How it has been analyzed?

• Findings- What specific finding have occurred?

• Conclusion - Give the major conclusion from the present study.

Acknowledgement - Acknowledge those persons who helped you in the present study by providing facilities, personal

assistance and funding if any.

In text Citation

In text citation is mandatory. It should follow APA style only using surnames (year) approach.

For using Table Chart and Diagram

For each table text or data should use Arial font in 8 size. If a data table is good enough to represent the

concept unnecessary pie, bar or any other diagram need not to be use. The caption of the table should be

placed under the table in center using Table- No : title; format with Arial 9 font italics.

For chart use the same pattern and use Chart- No: tile ; and for figure user Figure- No. : title of the figure.

References & Footnotes

References to already published literature should be numbered consecutively in the text and placed within

square brackets. Please adopt correct referencing methods. Papers with incorrect referencing and in-text

citation are likely to be rejected.

The citations should be placed at the end of the paper in the sequence as they appear in the text. References to

personal communication and unpublished literature should not be placed under references, but should be cited

in the text in parentheses. Explanatory material should be given in the appendix. Examples of citations to

different types of documents are given below:

(i) Journal Article

1. Gosh, B.K. (2004) Knowledge management policies options. RBU Journal of Library and Information Science. 41(3): 145–

150.

2. Neelameghan, A. & Gopinath, M. A. (1967). Research in library classification. Library Science with a Slant to

Documentation. 4(2): 356–38

(ii) Book/Monograph

1. Ranganathan, S R. (1957) The Five Laws of Library Science. 2nd ed. Mumbai: Asia Publishing House, 456p.

(iii) Chapter from a Book

1. Neelameghan, A. & Raghavan, K.S. (2012). Frames of knowledge: a perspective of Vedic-Hinduism and Dravidian culture.

In: Cultural frames of knowledge, edited by Richard, P Smiraglia & Hur-li Lee. Wursburg, Germany, 2012, 19–61.

(iv) Conference Paper

1. Ragahavan, K.S. & Neelameghan, A. Indic cultures and concepts: Implications for knowledge organization. In 12th

International ISKO Conference , 6–9 August 2012, Mysore, India, edited by A. Neelameghan & K.S. Raghavan, 2012, pp.

176–182.

(v) Conference paper (online)

Cannan, J. (2008). Using practice based learning at a dual-sector tertiary institution: A discussion of current practice. In R. K.

Coll, & K. Hoskyn (Eds.), Working together: Putting the cooperative into cooperative education. Conference proceedings of

the New Zealand Association for Cooperative Education, New Plymouth, New Zealand. Retrieved from

http://www.nzace.ac.nz/conferences/papers/Proceedings_2008.pdf

(v) Report

1. Birkler, John; Smith, Giles; Kent, Gleen A. & Johns on, Robert V. (2000) An acquisition strategy, process, and organisation

for innovative systems. National Defence Research Institute, RAND,

iv

USA, 2000. RAND-MR-1098-0SD.

2. Lindsay, R.S. (1999) Tests of level B suits-protection against chemical and biological warfare agents and simulants:

Executive summary. Edgewood Chemical Biological Centre, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. July 1999. 14 p. AD-A3

68228; ECBC-TR-047.

(vi)

Serial / journal article (online from a database – e.g. EBSCO) Marshall, M., Carter, B., Rose, K., & Brotherton, A. (2009).

Living with type 1 diabetes: Perceptions of children and their parents. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(12), 1703-1710.

Retrieved from http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0962-1067

(vii) Internet – no author, no date

Pet therapy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.holisticonline.com/stress/stress_pet-therapy.htm

(viii) Blog post

Liz and Ellory. (2011, January 19). The day of dread(s) [Blog post]. Retrieved from

http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/St-Kilda/blog-669396.html

(ix) Newspaper article

Matthews, L. (2011, November 23). Foodbanks urge public to give generously. Manawatu Standard, p. 4.

(x) Newspaper (online)

Rogers, C. (2011, November 26). Smartphone could replace wallets. The Dominion Post. Retrieved from

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/6038621/Smartphone-could-replace-wallets

(xi) Thesis (print)

Smith, T. L. (2008). Change, choice and difference: The case of RN to BN degree programmes for registered nurses (Master’s

thesis). Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.

(xii)Thesis (online)

Mann, D. L. (2010). Vision and expertise for interceptive actions in sport (Doctoral dissertation, The University of New South

Wales, Sydney, Australia). Retrieved fromhttp://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/44704

(xiii) Wikis (including Wikipedia)

Moodle. (2011). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle

The Reviewing Process

All submitted manuscripts are subjected to peer-review by independent reviewers. Primary review is made by

Internal Editorial Team. Once the paper is selected by primary editorial team, it sends to the esteemed peers

selected randomly across the country. Peer reviews are done by double blinding method where both the

author and reviewer are unaware of each other. Final decision of accepting the article rests with the editor.

Final Selection

Verifying the Reviewer’s comment, finally the editorial board will take decision to publish the paper. As there

is limited space once the paper selected may publish in the next volume subject to the availability of space.

Author will be informed if paper is not selected for publication. No explanation will be given to the author for

not selection of his/her paper.

Submission Process

All manuscripts must be submitted in MS-Word format through e-mail in the following

email address- lisrbu@gmail.com

After final selection of the article author has to send the corrected softcopy (through e-mail) with two hard

copy (one side print) along with CD to the following address along with a DECLARATION stating its

originality, integrity and not anywhere send for publication before.

To,

Head (Editor)

Department. of Library and Information Science


56A, B.T.Road

Kolkata-700050

Email: lisrbu@rediffmail.com

iv

UGC CARE enlisted Journal

RBU JOURNAL OF


(Peer Reviewed)

Volume 23, 2021; ISSN: 0972-2750

CONTENTS

Editorial

1 Books for bullets: a story of resistance

Ajanta Biswas & Ritaja Mukherjee

2 Library of Congress Subject Headings versus LibraryThing Social Tags:

A Comparative Study

Arindam Sarkar & Udayan Bhattacharya

3 Use of College Libraries under Vidyasagar University: a study through

Garrett Ranking technique

Avisek Chaudhuri &

Durga Sankar Rath

4 Role of Professional Association in the Development of Community

Information Centre in Bangladesh: An analytical study

Md. Azizur Rahman &

Subrata Biswas

5 Assessment of newspaper reading habits among the Khas community of

Kalimpong District, West Bengal

Binoy Sharma & Prabin Karkee

6 Information Management in e-Governance: Role of Metadata

Sainul Abideen P

7 Mapping and visualization of Scholarly Publications on Cancer: A

Bibliometric Review

Samima Khatun & Sibsankar Jana

8 110 years influence of literary warrant on controlled vocabulary and

standard: A case study of DDC, LCSH, and Z39.19

Sandip Majumdar

9 Generalities Class (000) of Dewey Decimal Classification schemes: an

analytical study

Satarupa Saha & Sudip Ranjan Hatua

10 Assessment of DRDO e-journals Consortium in India by librarians: an

analytical study

Senthil, V & Margam Madhusudhan

11 Mapping output of the scientific literature on Infodemic research: a

Scopus based analysis (2004-2020)

Shakil Ahmad, Akhtar Hussain & Sabahat Nausheen

12 Visualization of the research performance on Integrated Library Systems:

a bibliometric analysis

Sk Sofik & Ziaur Rahman

1

7

15

22

29

37

44

55

63

70

80

92

vi

13 Nobel Laureates in Asia (1901-2019): an analytical study

Sonali Dutta & Subarna Kumar Das

14 Co-Citation and bibliographic coupling analysis of Annals of Library and

Information Studies Journal during 2011-2020: visualization through

prism of VOS viewer

Saumen Das & Manoj Kumar Verma

15 Alteration of nomenclature of the Class 570 in different editions of DDC:

a retrospective analysis

Sudeshna Panda & Pijush Kanti Jana

104

114

122

vii

RBU Journal of Library & Information Science

Volume 23, 2021

UGC – CARE enlisted Journal w.e.f. 14.6.2019

Previously it was under UGC List of Journals No. 45237, Sl. No. 2023

Visit: http://rbu.ac.in/home/page/102

Online Content of previous volumes (and full text e-copy of Volume 21 & 22)

Visit: https://lisrbu.wixsite.com/dlis/rbu-journal-of-lis

Editorial

Covid-19 pandemic not yet wash out from our country.

We are struggling with the third wave of Covid-19. As per

data reported by WHO as on 22 nd September 2021, 08:36

pm GMT+5:30 the 26 964 are the confirmed New cases

and 445 768 have died due to covid-19 in India. As per

report of Govt. of India available at

https://www.mygov.in/covid-19 , as on : 23 rd Sep 2021,

08:00 IST (GMT+5:30) the number of active cases are

3,01,640 (0.90%) and the death cases are 4,46,050

(1.33%), however the total 83,39,90,049 people have

been vaccinated. As on today morning (23/09/2021) the

statistics of the Sate of West Bengal is quite

satisfactory as the number of confirmed cases are

15,63,393, the active cases are 7,724, the total death cases

are 18,691 and total 5,29,46,740 people have been

vaccinated in this State. As per GO No. 753/IX –ISS/2M-

22/2020 dated 15/9/2021 of Govt. of West Bengal,

restrictions and relaxation already in force stand extended

upto 30 th September 2021. Unfortunately total education

sector of this state is still fully under restrictions. No

physical appearances are allowed to the university,

colleges and schools. Official works have started in a

restricted manner. With all these compulsions and

obligations we are happy to announce that we have

received the print copy of RBU Journal of Library &

Information Science, Volume 22, 2020 in due course.

We got approval from Hon’ble Vice Chancellor to start

started processing to be published of RBU Journal of

Library & Information Science, Volume 23, 2021 on 1 st

June 2021. After making primary planning we made

public notification through our website

https://lisrbu.wixsite.com/dlis/rbu-journal-of-lis and direct

global mail to few hundred available email ids, and

various social media and forum etc on 10 th June 2021. The

Last date of receiving Manuscript was announced as 30 th

August 2021. We have strictly followed the time dead

line. Immediately after publishing the notification we

have received huge responses. As a continuous workflow

all the manuscript primarily reviewed by our internal

editorial team consisting of all the faculty members of the

department. Any updating, editing, doubt clearing have

communicated to the authors repeatedly when required.

However, due to lots of burden and compulsion we can

neither increase the issue number nor incorporate the

number of articles beyond the capacity of the Volume.

Therefore it is painful to us to discard many of the quality

papers.

We have received 130 manuscripts within restricted time

period for the RBU Journal of Library & Information

Science Volume 23, 2021. Among them the maximum

number of papers are received from West Bengal (40)

followed by Tamilnadu (14) and Karnatak (13). The paper

received from different states can be viewed a bar diagram

given below-

viii

We have received three papers from our International

counterpart. One paper each from Soudi Arabia,

Bangladesh and Nigeria. This indicates that RBU Journal

of Library & Information Science is slowly achieving the

international identity. However, papers from Soudi Arabia

and Bangladesh had joint authored from its Indian

Counterpart. A paper from Nigeria was Single authored

paper.

It is found that among all the authors’ 44% are

librarian, 37% are faculty members and only

16% are research scholars mostly written jointly

with their supervisors.

While analysing subject it is found that around 11%

articles belongs to Bibliometric analysis. 6% articles

are on Scientometric analysis. Altogether around

23% articles we received on citation analysis,

bibliometric analysis or scientometric analysis.

As a result it was dificult to us to select the articles

from same type of content . Most of the articles on

bibliometric analysis have been written based on a

specific software which were lack of any interesting

intelectual individual reseach output. Authors

represented only that which the software shows

with some eyewashing catchy images.

Unfortunately it is the new normal trends of writing

bibliometric analysis. Similarly, no new theory or

application of existing theories of scientometrics

have been used any of the articles received on that

area. Very few interesting research articels on basic

subject of Library & Information Science we have

received and those are highly appreciated by our

esteem peers. A huge number of articles we have

received on survey of library use and ICT

infrustructure or on e-resources and those reflects

the same results which we

ix

found various literary works regularly in last few

couple of years. The writing stanadards and data of

those were sub-standard which we could not able to

consider to be published.

As per our policies we have tried to covers various

areas of Library & Information Science and

accordingly we have selected the articles. To

encourage the young authors and new researchers

our editorial board have given little relaxation to the

standard to publish their articles.

It is observed that more than 90 % authors never

bother to consult author’s guide of how to write and

follow the format and standard before sending their

paper to be publised in RBU Journal of Library &

Information Science. Most of them never follow the

proper citation standard as well as abstracting

format for our Journal as given in the website. This

type of carelessness is not expected from a research

writing as well as Library & Information Science

professionals.

This is a remarkable year to the department as a full

course in B.Lib.I.Sc and M.Lib.I.Sc have been passed

out from the university completely by studying

ONLINE. It’s a very surprizing and painful

experiences to us. It was very difficult to us to make

our students understandable about DDC, UDC, CC,

AACR and various LMS softwares through online

classes, where most of our students don’t have

computer or laptop at their home. In-spite of our

extreme effort I am sure their learning remains

incomplete. We are worried about our students how

they could compete in the professional job market.

Anyway this is the new normal and we have to

accept the situation.

This year 2 research scholars Sri Abhijit Chakraborty

and Sri Animesh Halder awarded PhD under the

supervision of Prof. Salil Chandra Khan. Total 17

scholars awarded PhD from this Department.

At the end, I believe articles which we could not able

to accommodate in this volume, I am sure those

may be published in any other journals. I also hope

that all the authors will continue this support by

sending their research article for our forthcoming

volumes.

I convey my sincere gratitude to all authors, board

of editors, reviewers, university authority,

publication division of Rabindra Bharati University

and printers to make RBU Journal of Library &

Information Science as one of the popular and

quality scholarly communication in Library &

Information Science domain.

Good wishes to all


Editor

x

RBU Journal of library & Information Science, V. 23, 2021

UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750

Books for bullets: a story of resistance

Dr Ajanta Biswas & Ritaja Mukherjee

Manuscript Received on –

18 th August 2021

Primary Reviewed on –

16 th September 2021

Peer Reviewed on –

4 th October 2021

Accepted for publication

5 th October 2021

ABSTRACT:

Dr Ajanta Biswas

Associate Professor

Department of History


biswas.ajanta@gmail.com

Introduction: Year after years the libraries all over the world are the witness and soft

place for terrorism and hooligans attack. This paper is a glimpses of nazi attack in

library Germany in the year 1933 and the authorization through an analytical study of

Dita Kraus’s life and work.

Purpose: This paper will try to look back into history to recognize the importance of the

smallest of libraries in human lives and will try to raise hope for a better tomorrow.

Research problem: What kinds of libraries were being attacked and burned, while what

kinds of books were being preserved? How a young holocaust survivor's attempts to

preserve a library inside a concentration camp?

Objectives: To look back how the Nazi Book Burning campaign started. To study how

German students involved in this vandalism. To find out the contribution of Dita Kraus

lived experiences of a holocaust survivor.

Methodology: This is a historical research based on study of literature.

Findings: The contribution of Dita Kraus in the history of mankind as a librarian and

as a human. Librarian can become equally important as a revolutionary or a soldier in

times of need and with a non-violent tool like books to combat bullets.

Ms Ritaja Mukherjee

Department of Comparative of

Literature

Jadavpur University

ritajamukherjee97@gmail.com

KEYWORDS:

Dita Kraus, Library-Vandalism, Terrorism in Libraries, Book vs Bullet.

Bull burning, Twelve Theses

1


Biswas & Mukherjee: Books for bullets …

Introduction

Source: https://www.amazon.in/dp/1529104777/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eMiCFbN2BHE10

The next level of homicide occurs when the identity and

history of humankind are damaged beyond repair.

Deliberate destruction of libraries is one of such heinous

forms of violence that the world has witnessed several

times. Libraries are one of the most basic forms in which

man tried to preserve his acquired knowledge of this

world, to make life easier for future generations. Today, if

a large part of human history was not wiped out due to

man's hatred for one another, the world could have been

more enriched with knowledge that could have taken the

progress of the human race to another level.

Here we will work with literary texts like Spanish author

Antonio Iturbe’s The Librarian of Auschwitz 2, whereas an

author and journalist Iturbe (Iturbe, Antonio, 2019) took

interviews Dita Kraus whose contributions towards library

sciences are immense. We will also deal with a very

recently published book A Delayed Life: The true story of

the Librarian of Auschwitz 1 written by Kraus herself on

the lived experiences of a holocaust survivor. Once it is

understood how without the formal training of the

discipline of library science, how much legendary

contributions Kraus has left in the field of library science

will provide a plethora of research subjects for future

academicians of this discipline. The problem identified

while analyzing this study was the treatment of libraries

by the Nazi and how the Book Burning 3 incident was

organized by the students of Germany in the year 1933.

Centralizing this attitude of the rulers of the land regarding

libraries, and books of the Jewish community this paper

attempts to resolve the authorization through an analytical

study of Dita Kraus’s life and work.

The study has included a list of the types of books that

were burned during this incident and also tried to

understand the content of the collection of books Kraus

was taking care of and how they were relevant to the

prisoners of Auschwitz and how deeply the collection of

this smallest of libraries had to impact on the humanity of

those times. Especially studying these situations in the

present times where terrorism, war is taking a toll on

history and culture, for example in Afghanistan and Syria,

gives rise to a hope of betterment. Holding up books

against bullets is one of the major ways of resistance and

that's what this paper wants to prove. The world still bears

the scars of the holocaust that occurred during World War

II, adding to the human death records, suffering, and

massacres the 1933 (May 10th) Book Burning carried out

by Germans tells the story of how the incident mutilated,

not only the Jewish culture but history of the world.

Alongside this, there is also a marvelous history of

courage during such dark times of a thirteen years old

Dita Kraus, a Jewish girl, who was responsible for saving

the world's smallest library in a German Concentration

camp. This article deals with these two incidents from the

German atrocities on the Jewish people during World War

II and tries to understand how the violence against culture

was done by the destruction of books, and how basic

aspects of humanity were saved by the preservation of the

smallest of libraries in the most hostile situations. In the

face of extreme forms of violence, at times even silence is

an agency, the smallest of attempts of resistance brings the

era to the verge of a revolution. With the current trends of

the destruction of books to tame a race as we are

witnessing in Afghanistan, Balochistan and several other

countries in the grasp of terrorism, it is important that we

take a deeper look into history to find what agency a few

books or a library can offer to humans in times of need,

and how clinging on to books are often the only ways to

hold on to basic humanity in certain situations. Kraus’s

story is one such incredible journey to look back on in the

times of darkness and preserve our faith in light and is an

important milestone in the history libraries.

2



Objective

The objective of this paper are as follows-

To understand and analyse the impact of library

destruction, on human consciousness and the

amount of harm it causes to civilisation as a

whole.

To study how these incidents of destruction

through oppression and resistance through

preservation happened in a specific time frame.

To establish the fact that the importance of the

library as an institution in times of crisis. To draw

attention to a very crucial aspect of the history of

library and information technology as discipline.

Scope

Wikipidia has listed around 145 notable book burning

incidence in the world. Apart from those there are many

other mode of destructions libraries have witnessed. This

paper mainly focused on or restricted its study on the

massacres in 1933 Book Burning carried out by Germans

and the marvellous history of courage during such dark

times of a thirteen years old Dita Kraus.

Research Question

This study has made based on the following research

questions-

major source of information was from the different

reviews of Iturbe and Kraus’s work. We have also looked

into the different interviews of Dita that were taken over

time, and are available on the internet. We presented the

Book Burnings (Nazi book burnings) in detail and keeping

that particular incident in mind we tried to present Kraus’s

story so that it clarifies under what exact conditions she

took up the role of a librarian risking her life.

This analysis will throw light on the Nazi technique of

oppression. All books were banned in Auschwitz and

Kraus would be sentenced to death if she was caught. Her

collection consisted of a book by Sigmund Freud, a worldfamous

Jewish author, whose Jewish identity is irrelevant

while considering his contributions to literature and the

human race as a whole. Well, this author was one of the

famously banned books by the Nazi and was one of the

most widely burnt books in the 1933 Book Burning in

Berlin. Dita’s courage and spirit are beyond imagination

and her efforts are priceless for the human race.

Nazi Book Burning campaign

What kinds of libraries were being attacked and

burned, while what kinds of books were being

preserved?

How a thirteen years old Jewish girl, Dita Kraus

was responsible for saving the world's smallest

library in a German Concentration camp?

How basic aspects of humanity were saved by the

preservation of the smallest of libraries in the

most hostile situations?

Methodology

This historical research based on survey and study method

used to conduct in a structured manner in which it starts

with the problem identification, followed by the analysis

of the cause and impact of the same. In this case, the paper

first identifies the reasons for the Book Burnings of 1933

and will include a detailed study of the method in which

the process of destruction was carried out. Next it has tried

to understand the contributions of Dita Kraus keeping in

mind her situation, also understanding the significance of

her efforts as a form of resistance against the cultural

homicide that the Nazis were conducting on the Jewish

communities.

Data Analysis

This study is on Dita Kraus’s memoir (Mariotti, Antoine

2020) that got published this year. Along with that our

[Source:

https://germanculture.com.ua/germanyhistory/aryanization-of-germany/amp/]

In the year of 1933, the German Student Union took up an

initiative in Nazi Germany and Austria to ceremonially

burn books in the name of cleansing or purification, and

that is how the Nazi Book Burning campaign started. The

books that were subjected to such barbaric fate were

considered subversive, again Nazism, mainly written by

authors who were Jewish, socialist, anarchist, communist.

The first books that landed up in the fire were those of

Karl Marx and Karl Kautsky. This heinous action had a

war cry, “Action against the Un-German Spirit.” hence the

‘cleansing’ was required and the black-list was formed.

This incident was being compared to Martin Luther’s

burning of the papal bull when he posted his ninety-five

theses in 1520, and the burning of certain things including

11 books11 at the 1817 Wartburg Festival on the 300th

anniversary of the bull burning incident of Luther.

However, this comparison was quite unjustified to what

3



the Germans were planning to carry out. The abovementioned

incidents were not carried out as acts of

censorship, in no way was it destructive of other people's

memory, nor did it harm any particular race or culture,

they were just acts of protest that included symbolic

destruction of 12 items. Referring to this incident in a

misrepresented form, the German students burned down

ten thousand volumes found from a list of approximately

4000 titles and this was being called the ‘Twelve Theses’,

a call for a pure national language and culture.

probably one of the most unfortunate incidents that the

world could have ever witnessed.

This problematic idea of toxic nationalism was being

placed as a “response to a worldwide Jewish smear

campaign against Germany and an affirmation of

traditional German values.” ( Kraus, 2020) . A brutal

example of uncompromising state censorship was set on

May 10th 1933, when students burned down 25,000

volumes of ‘un-German’ books in the square at the State

Opera Berlin. High German officials, supporters, most

unfortunately students participated in this and were

present as spectators of this grotesque incident. Looking

back at this incident causes a shiver to run down the spine.

How constructed destruction of culture and history of man

by other men can be carried out by the youth, the majority

shows a larger picture, and that is scarier than the incident

itself. It is dangerous to know the majority of people were

brainwashed enough to believe that the destruction of

precious books could result in any good. This was a

joyous ceremony where people danced and sang around

the fire and took fire oaths. Joseph Gobbels also delivered

a fiery speech to an audience of 40,000 Germans that said,

"The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an

end. The breakthrough of the German revolution has

again cleared the way on the German path...The future

German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of

character. It is to this end that we want to educate you. As

a young person, to already have the courage to face the

pitiless glare, to overcome the fear of death, and to regain

respect for death - this is the task of this young generation.

And thus you do well in this midnight hour to commit to

the flames the evil spirit of the past. This is a strong, great

and symbolic deed - a deed which should document the

following for the world to know - Here the intellectual

foundation of the November Republic is sinking to the

ground, but from this wreckage, the phoenix of a new

spirit will triumphantly rise." (The History Place 1993) A

student organized attack was carried out on the Magnus

Hirschfeld's Institute of Sex Research followed by the

plundering of several priceless archives. When they ran

out of books in the libraries they turned to independent

bookstores, instead, libraries were instructed to stock up

books according to the standards of Hitler. Wolfgang

Herrman (Wolfgang Herrmann) was the librarian who

created the original blacklist of the book and unbelievably

left his major contributions in this grotesque incident.

Students’ carrying out such massacres on books was

4


[Source: http://totallyhistory.com/nazibookburnings/]

Librarian of Auschwitz: Dita Kraus

Keeping this incident in mind, one of the biggest stories of

resistance can be found in the story of the librarian of

Auschwitz. This thirteen-year-old was entrusted with

books that the Auschwitz prisoners had managed to

smuggle into the camp. Dita's powerful memoir The

Delayed Life: The True Story Of The Librarian of

Auschwitz (Kraus, Dita, 2020 ) captures her incredible

journey, through the darkest of times. Born in 1929, this

91-year-old now resides with her large family in Israel and

lives to tell the tale of the victory of humanity in the face

of a well-constructed process of dehumanization. She is

also one of the children whose paintings have been saved

by a miracle in Ghetto Theresienstadt. At the age of 13,

she along with her family was deported to Ghetto

Theresienstadt and later to Auschwitz, where she lost her

father. Along with her mother, she was later sent to a

forced labour camp in Germany followed by the

concentration camp of Bergen Belsen. Dita who still

carries the number that was engraved on her body in

Auschwitz had embraced books as her escape from the

gruesome reality of the Nazi concentration camps. She

probably kept the world's smallest library when she

managed to save some books in the camp, she said, "As

the librarian of Auschwitz, she cared for a small number

of books in the camp. (Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, 2020)

“It was a row of books, not more than 12 or 14 books and

they were a random collection. They were books that were

found in the luggage of the arriving prisoners,”(Eberle,

Holly 2020) explains Kraus. “In a library, you have books

for certain ages, travelogues and novels, you have

literature for children and youths. Here it was random –

one was an atlas, one was a Russian grammar book,

different things you know. But each of them was used and

each of them helped to entertain the children in some

way.” (Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, 2020)

Based on her life, author Antonio Iturbe penned down a

book called The Librarian of Auschwitz.( Iturbe, Antonio,

2019 ) Preservation of this random collection of books


signified a lot of things. Firstly, it showed the never-dying

spirit of man amidst all horror. Secondly, it speaks of (DW

News, 2020) immense courage on part of a mere girl

against such a huge system that had deep foundations of

organized crime at that time. Lastly, this incident restores

hope for a better world and the end of nightmares. Jewish

leader Fredy Hirsch( who was also a Kinderblock teacher

where Kraus was sent to Auschwitz located in Birkenau,)

had entrusted young Kraus with eight random books

fished out of the bags of the prisoners. When prisoners

arrived at the Birkenau station they brought a lot of

luggage, none of which they were allowed to remain

inside the camp. The pre-existing prisoners who were

assigned to unpack and sort these luggage hid books

Hirsch for the children. This shows how man collectively

builds up resistance to bring in a change in the system.

This was the only way to a minimum amount of humanity,

normal human behaviour the prisoners could reach out to

at that time, and what more can remind a man about his

humanity other than books? Hirsch had managed to get

permission to run a daycare at Kinderblock giving the

excuse that it could keep the children engaged; hence they

would not hamper the works of their parents who worked

as forced labourers in the camp. Dita had arrived at the

camp and was soon separated from her parents, her father

perished and her mother too was murdered later in1945 in

the Bergen-Belsen camp. Freddy Hirsch too was murdered

in 1944 (Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, 2020). One can

imagine what kind of life young Dita Kraus was living.

Conclusions

We have found that the comparison of these two incidents

is extremely important for the history of library sciences

as a discipline because we often overlook certain factors.

We tend to forget that at certain bends of history,

situations are such that reading and distributing books

serve as an act of resistance when the oppressors are using

ignorance as a tool of power to control the masses. This

serves as a reminder of how important a library as an

institution is in the history of mankind.

Dita Kraus risked her life for a cause, and she has given a

valuable lesson to mankind. Whenever a dictator like

Hitler shrouds the world with terror, paralyzes humanity,

and chaos ensues, life finds out some way or the other to

ensure the smooth flowing of the stream of the spirit of

man. We will always have to remember, with every book

being hauled in the fire a Dita Kraus is born, and thus

humanity lives on against all odds. This was the story of

the world’s smallest library in the darkest of times and

how it was preserved by a young girl who did not know

library science or any proper system of maintaining a

library. However, when we look back at the discipline of

library science we understand how this subject developed

with all such brave steps, small initiatives taken by people

in different times and spaces. Dita Kraus will always

remain an evergreen figure in the history of library

science.

Findings

Stories of library destruction are indeed no new field of

research in this discipline. But the idea that our study

attempts to put forward is double layered. a) The study of

a story of destruction alongside a story of preservation that

clarifies the significance of a library as an institution in

trying times. Also points out how a race tried to preserve

its basic humanity and history while all other doors of

liberation were closed in front of them. b) It's important to

explore how Kraus emerged as a librarian without any

formal knowledge or training of the subject, what

situations enabled her to take up the role of the librarian,

and how important her contributions were not only to the

field of library science but to her culture and her people.

What we found through this study is very interesting.

Kraus (Kraus, Dita 2018) herself spoke on many occasions

and explained her naivety at the time of the Nazi rule. She

did not realize how big a contribution she was making in

the history of mankind as a librarian and as a human.

Therefore, it can be said that a librarian can become

equally important as a revolutionary or a soldier in times

of need and with a non-violent tool like books she can

combat bullets. We felt Kraus’s story, if explored in more

detail, could be an inspiration, and encourage many to take

up the job of librarians as a profession.

References

5


DW News, (2020), Retreived July 2020 from

Youtube.https://youtu.be/hdXW7pPJ8q0

Eberle, Holly (2020). Dita Kraus: The Librarian of

Auschwitz. Intellectual Freedom Blog. Retrieve July 2021

from https://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=20013

Herrmann, Wofgang (Librarian). Retrieved June, 2021

from

Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Herrmann_(li

brarian)

Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus (2020) . The journal.ie .

Retrieve July 2021 from https://www.thejournal.ie/dita-

kraus-interview-memoir-a-delayed-life-5012999-

Feb2020/

Inspire-Truth (2020) Retrieved June 2021 from

https://hhcoalition.info/2020/04/21/dita-krausinterview/

Iturbe, Antonio, (2019) The Librarian of Auschwitz,

translated by Thwaites, Lilit. Retrieved March 2021

from

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31145052-thelibrarian-of-auschwitz.

Kraus, Dita (2018) Kraus Life. Retrieved July 2020

from https://www.ditakraus.com/


Kraus, Dita, (2020) A Delayed Life: The True Story of

the Librarian of Auschwitz, Feiwel & Friends.

Retrieved February (2021) from

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46041133-adelayed-life

Mariotti, Antoine (2020) The Interview @ France24.

Podcast. Retrieved July 2021 from

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20200123-

interview-holocaust-survivor-dita-kraus-auschwitzlibrarian-books-anti-semitism

Nazi, Book Burnings (2020) Retrieved September 2020

from

Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings

The History Place. Retrieved June 2020 from :

https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/boo

kburn.htm

About Authors

Dr AJANTA BISWAS graduated from Presidency

College in History (Hons) with First Class. She

completed her Masters from University of Calcutta

with First Class. She received her Ph.D degree from

University of Calcutta. At present she is working as

an Associate Professor in the Department of History

in Rabindra Bharati University. She devotes her time

in contributing articles in reputed journals,

Newspapers, writing books as well as presenting

papers in seminars at both National and

International levels.

Ms Ritaja Mukherjee is a post graduate scholar in

Comparative Literature from Jadavpur University,

presently working as a blogger in an International

Digital Marketing Company. She has presented and

published a numerous academic papers on diverse

literary and Social Science topics nationally and

internationally. She also wrote a good number of

feature articles in The Telegraph newspaper.

6



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


21 th August 2021




6 th October 2021


10 th October 2021

Library of Congress Subject Headings versus

LibraryThing Social Tags: A Comparative Study

Arindam Sarkar & Dr Udayan Bhattacharya

ABSTRACT:

Arindam Sarkar

Research Scholar,

DLIS, Jadavpur University; &

Librarian, Indian Institute of

Liver and Digestive Sciences,

Kolkata-700150

E-mail:

infoarindam83@gmail.com

Introduction: The concept of social tagging has gained enormous popularity in present

era. In parallel with controlled terminologies these technologies have encouraging users

to organize information and retrieve information by using metadata. Many researchers

believe that social tags may increase the use of library collections.

Purpose: This is the age of #hashtag, social tagging, folksonomy, social bookmarking

etc. therefore it is a wonderful platform to test and compare between such type users

centric concept with professional expert generated concept.

Research problem: Development of the information retrieval concepts, knowledge

organization and dissemination concepts in W3 environment is going under an osmosis

process. All social tagging systems or controlled vocabularies have the common purpose

of helping users share, store, organize and retrieve the resources they are interested in.

Now the question is what are the differences and connections between social tags and

expert- generated controlled terms especially in creation of book catalogue?

Objectives: From this direction present study attempted to discover whether there are

any similarities or differences between the expert generated subjects and social tags.

Methodology: To achieve the objective this paper focuses on the comparison between

LibraryThing social tags and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) i.e. LCSH

descriptors. For this study hundred book titles in the domain of physics were collected

from the two selected databases.

Findings: The results shows that large portion (96.94%) of the social tags are not

available in the LCSH descriptor, but in contrast, about 28% of the LCSH descriptors

are likely to be accepted by users as social tags. Spearman's correlation suggests that

there is an 83% chance that tags and descriptors can be used together in overlapping

terms. Jaccard similarity coefficient shows that users and experts use variant

terminology to define a book catalogue. Users have used mostly title-based keywords

and experts have used mostly topic-based terminologies. Finally it has been reflected

that if the social tags are more subjects oriented, it could improve the subject access of

books in libraries; but it cannot substitute the controlled vocabulary like Library of

Congress Subject Headings.

Dr Udayan Bhattacharya

Professor,

Department of Library and

Information Science,

Jadavpur University, Kolkata

E-mail:

udayanbhattacharya1967@hot

mail.com

KEYWORDS:

Social tags, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Social tagging,

LibraryThing, Spearman's correlation, Controlled vocabulary,

Folksonomy, Social bookmarking

7


Sarkar & Bhattacharya: Library of Congress Subject Headings …

Introduction

In the present era, the process of information retrieval,

knowledge organization and dissemination of ideas are

going through an osmosis process. Most of the users are

relying on search engines and metadata is playing a key

role in this. The success of search engines entirely depends

on the execution of metadata. “Metadata describes other

data” (Metadata, n.d.). It can be created manually or

through automated data processing. However, this type of

manual creation of metadata is more accurate and

pinpointed. This helps users to describe the term or add

any required information to the descriptor (Metadata, n.d.).

“Controlled vocabulary is a limited list of terms created by

experts which are used to represent the subject matter of

documents” (Chowdhury & Chowdhury, 2003). Examples

are Library of Congress's Subject Headings (LCSH), Sears

List of Subject Headings (SLSH), Medical Subject

Headings (MeSH) etc. These controlled terms are

basically used as metadata for better retrieval of

documents. Expert's created metadata is highly technical

and complex in nature. Creation of this type metadata is

expensive too. In this current situation the rapid growth of

digital resources on the web are slowly revealing the

limitations of expert-defined metadata. This user-centric

environment it requires further updates. New concepts,

such as social tagging or collaborative tagging, are

emerging from that perspective. These uncontrolled

vocabularies allow users to describe a document as their

own metadata (known as tag). LibraryThing is an example

of social cataloguing site where users describe the books

with their own tag or metadata. With some advantages

there are some disadvantages also like semantic

ambiguity, synonymous issues etc (Samanta & Rath,

2019). Many researchers and information scientists think

that social tags can be included in a book's catalogue for

better retrieval (Bogers & Petras, 2017).

Literature review

In case of comparison between tags and controlled

vocabularies Bogers and Petras (2017) pointed out the

effectiveness of controlled vocabulary versus tags in book

search. Their study was based on over 2 million book

records and over 330 real-world book search requests,

with a highly controlled and in-depth analysis of topical

metadata, comparing controlled vocabularies with social

tags. At the end tags perform better overall in this setting,

but controlled vocabulary terms provide complementary

information, which will improve a search. In addition,

they investigated the possible causes of search failure.

Form this study they concluded that “neither tags nor

controlled vocabularies are wholly suited to handling the

complex information needs in book search, which means

that different approaches to describe topical information in

books are needed”. According to Lee and Schleyer (2010)

“the increasing popularity of social tagging and the

limitations of controlled indexing (primarily cost and

scalability), it is reasonable to investigate to what degree

social tagging could substitute for controlled indexing”. In

this study, they compared CiteULike tags to Medical

Subject Headings (MeSH) terms for 231,388 citations

indexed in MEDLINE. Their study was consisted of

1,087,524 social tags, 24,121 of them distinct, to

2,822,934 MeSH terms, 21,129 of them distinct, for a set

of 231,388 biomedical papers using increasingly

sophisticated text processing methods. Their result shows

that “CiteULike tags and MeSH terms are quite distinct

lexically, reflecting different viewpoints/processes

between social tagging and controlled indexing”. Lu, Park

and Hu (2010) also found differences between users’ tags

and descriptions of images by professional indexers. Their

recommendation was that “social tagging and

traditional/professional indexing should be used together

to complement each other. The importance of tagging as

complementary activity to indexing is not a new idea”.

Objective

The objectives of the study are as follows:

i. To find out the relationship between social tags

and controlled vocabularies regarding their

connections or differences.

ii. To find out the relationship between controlled

vocabularies and social tags in a particular

book.

iii. To find out the trends of subject selection to

organize or describe a book catalogue in

present era.

iv. To explore the relationship between social tags

and controlled terms based on their usage.

Methodology

8


The study was conducted primarily to evaluate the

relationship between LibraryThing social tags and LCSH

descriptors in which the titles of books were applied in

both cases. The domain of the study was physics (under

530 class of DDC). In the present study, LibraryThing

(www.librarything.com), a social cataloguing site has been

used for collecting social tags. Although there are plenty

of social cataloging sites out there, LibraryThing has a

large number of book titles, so it's been chosen (Sarkar &

Bhattacharya, 2019). On the other hand, the LCSH online

catalog has been selected for controlled metadata

collection. Firstly the titles of some English language

books on Physics were retrieved randomly from the

LibraryThing database. Finally similar titles were also

retrieved from the Library of Congress Online Catalogue

(https://catalog.loc.gov). This study also ensures that only

those titles were retrieved which had at least three social

tags in the LibraryThing database and simultaneously had


at least one subject heading under MARC 650 field

(Topical term) in the Library of Congress database. Under

the field 650, different subfields were also considered as

metadata. An example is given below.

(treated as LCSH descriptor) which is available in their

titles. This means that users are more focused on title

keywords rather than experts for describing the book's

catalogue.

2 Title wise comparison between social and LCSH

descriptors

Figure 1: Example of social tags from LibraryThing

(Source: www.librarything.com)

In this section, LCSH descriptors were compared with the

LibraryThing social tags for each book. From another

angel this study shows that out of 100 titles there are 67

titles which have at least one matching term between

social tags and LCSH descriptors. It means general users

and domain experts adopt at least one common word or

phrase for explaining the book’s subject and the rest 33

books where users and specialists use different

terminologies. Figure 3 shows individual title-wise

different matching scenario in the range of 0 to 100 per

cent. The study describes that, in 5 books where 100 per

cent matching is found. That means in those 5 books,

where all the LCSH descriptors are used as social tags by

users. The other matching percentages are as follows: ≥ 80

per cent for 2 (2 %) books, ≥ 70 per cent for 6 (6 %)

books, ≥ 60 per cent for 1 (1 %) books, ≥ 50 per cent for

17 (17 %) books, ≥ 40 per cent for 4 (4 %) books, ≥ 30 per

cent for 10 (10 %) books, ≥ 20 per cent for 22 (22 %)

books and 0 per cent matching for 33 (33 %) books.

Figure 2: MARC description including 650 field from Library

of Congress online catalogue (Source:

https://catalog.loc.gov)

Data Analysis and Findings

Moreover, the total 1662 LibraryThing social tags and 183

LCSH descriptors were collected from both databases

initially. First of all both datasets were transferred into the

lower case letter for better processing and identification of

duplicates. MS Excel was used for the whole data

processing. The collected data were analyzed and

interpreted in various ways. In the following few

paragraphs data were presented through some tables and

figures.

1 LCSH descriptors and social tags

comparison from the perspective of book title

The titles of documents have long been used as an

effective tool for information retrieval. Title-based

searches not only retrieve the desired documents, but also

discover those documents that are not retrieved through

topic or subject-based searches. The current study

compares LibraryThing social tags with LCSH descriptors

that have been applied to each book's title. This paper

shows that all 100 (100 %) books have at least one tag

(treated as social tag) which is available in their titles and

the other hand out of 100 books 57 books have one term

Figure 3: Title wise comparison between social tags and

LCSH descriptors

3 Overlapping of terms

At first overall LCSH descriptors and LibraryThing social

tags were compared to identify the common terms which

were used by both domain experts and general users. For

this purpose 183 LCSH descriptors and 1662

LibraryThing social tags were compared.

LCSH

descriptors

9


No. of Titles

40

30

20

10

0

0%

33

≥ 10

0

≥ 20

22

Number

of

terms

183

≥ 30

10

≥ 40

Overlapping

51

Percentage

27.86%

Social tags 1662 3.06%

4

≥ 50

17

Percentages

≥ 60

Table-1: Distribution of overlapping terms

1

≥ 70

6

≥ 80

2 0

≥ 90

100%

5


In case of overlapping (as displayed Table: 1) out of these

LCSH descriptors and social tags only 51 terms were

overlapped i.e. these 51 terms used by both experts and

general users in whole collection. Thus, it appears that the

overlapping terms cover only 3.06% for social tags and

27.86% for LCSH descriptors. In other words it can be say

that a large portion (100%-3.06%=96.94%) of the social

tags are not available in the LCSH descriptor, but in

contrast, about 28 % of the LCSH descriptors are likely to

be accepted by users as social tags.

4 Spearman’s Rank Correlation of overlapping

terms

Furthermore, the study attempts to show the frequency of

usage of the overlapping terms when they are used as

LibraryThing tags and as LCSH descriptors. For this

purpose the overlapping terms were ranked as frequency

wise in both datasets (highest to lowest). Spearman's rank

correlation was used to perform the task.

The formula of Spearman’s correlation coefficient as

follows:

6Σd 2

r = 1-

--------------------

n(n 2 – 1)

In this study Spearman’s correlation coefficient of the two

sets of terms rankings is 0.83 that shows there is a strong

relation between them. It also concludes that when an

overlapping word is used as subject headings by experts,

users have an 83 percent chance of using it as a social tag.

5 Top ten used social tags & LCSH descriptors

This section focused on the comparison between the top

ten frequent LCSH descriptors and LibraryThing social

tags in both dataset.

Quantum

physics

14 Magnetism 5

Reference 12 Fluid mechanics 3

Particle

physics

11

Quantum theory-

Popular works

Table-2: Top 10 (ten) frequent social tags & LCSH

descriptors relating to Physics

This study attempted to measure subject oriented terms

(particularly for this domain i.e. physics) and non-subject

oriented terms (not related to particular this domain, but

subject element) within the top frequent terms in both

datasets. Above Table-2 shows that LCSH descriptors

contains ten (10) purely subject-based terms whereas

LibraryThing social tags contains six (06) purely subjectbased

terms and remaining four (04) personal terms (e.g.:

non-fiction, textbook, reference and to-read). Above table

also shows that out of both set of terms only two (02)

terms are common, which are Physics and Mathematical

physics. These three terms used by both domain experts

and users (bold in the above table). From the frequency

analysis it is also clear that the word 'Physics' has the

highest frequency (98) in the social tag vocabulary and

also in the LCSH vocabulary with 16 frequencies. It can

be saying that the term ‘Physics’ is used in 98 titles out of

100 titles by taggers (users) whereas used in 16 titles by

experts. Next the word ‘Mathematical physics' was used in

22 titles in the tag vocabulary and 8 in the LCSH

vocabulary. On other hand not similar but very close, the

term 'Relativity' was used in 28 titles in the social tag

vocabulary and the word 'Relativity (Physics)' 11 titles in

the LCSH descriptors. This means that most users use

general topic or subject-based terminologies rather than

expertise.

6 Social tags compared with LCSH subdivisions

(as per MARC tag)

2

Social tags

Frequency

LCSH

descriptors

Physics 98 Physics 16

Science 72

Relativity

(Physics)

non-fiction 67 Physics textbook 10

textbook 37

Mathematical

physics

Relativity 28 Nuclear physics 8

Mathematical

physics

to-read 21 Thermodynamics 6

Frequency

11

8

In MARC 21 bibliographic format 650 field known as

Subject added entry-Topical term. This study compares

LibraryThing social tags with all subfields under MARC

21 field 650 that have been used in selected books. This

comparison helps to know the ratio of used subfields by

both users and experts. For this study, Subfields

considered under field 650 are: $a - Topical term or

geographic name entry element, $d - Active dates, $v -

Form subdivision, $x - General subdivision, $y -

Chronological subdivision and $z - Geographic

subdivision.

In case of comparison of social tags with LCSH

22 Mechanics 7

descriptors from MARC subfield’s point of view table-3

explores that under field 650, subfield $a used for the all

titles (100) and remaining are as follows $x (21), $v (10),

$z (7) and $d (1) by the domain experts. In case of social

tags, terms were (at least one) matched with LCSH $a

10

subfield in 49



books, $v subfield in 5 books, $x subfield in 4 books, and

$z subfield in 3 books. There is no matching seen under

subfield $d and $y. From comparison given in the table 3

below, it can be concluded that the subfield $a are most

famous to the users and the popularity of other subfields

are as follows $v, $z, $x.

Number of books/records = 100

MARC Subfields used in LCSH

(N=100)

$a $x $v $z $d

Number of titles with this subfield in LCSH

descriptors

100

100%

21

21%

10

10%

7

7%

1

1%

Number of titles which have at least one

49 4 5 3 0

matching with LCSH subfield terms

Percentage 49% 19.04% 50% 42.85% 0%

Table 3: Comparison of social tags with LCSH descriptors from MARC subfield’s point of view

7 Similarity and distance measurement based on

Jaccard similarity coefficient

In this study top frequently used social tags and top

frequently used LCSH descriptors were analyzed in order

to identify if any similarities and distances exist at the

level of use. For this purpose Jaccard similarity index was

used. “The Jaccard Index, also known as the Jaccard

similarity coefficient, is a statistic used in understanding

the similarities between sample sets. The measurement

emphasizes similarity between finite sample sets, and is

formally defined as the size of the intersection divided by

the size of the union of the sample sets”. This is a measure

of similarity for two sets of data, with a range from 0% to

100%. When the percentage is higher, that means more

similarities can be found between the two populations

(Statistics How To, n.d.).

The formula is as follows:

Jaccard Index = (the number in both sets) / (the

number in either set)

In details steps are:

“Count the number of members which are shared between

both sets.

Count the total number of members in both sets (shared

and un-shared).

Divide the number of shared members by the total

number of members.

Multiply the number you found in by 100 (This will

produce a percentage measurement of similarity between

the two sample sets)” (Statistics How To, n.d.).

We know the formula is:

Jaccard Index = (the number in both sets) / (the

number in either set)

The same formula in notation is:

J(X, Y) = |X∩Y| / |X∪Y|

[Where X= Social tags and Y= LCSH descriptors]

For this study both data sets are as follows:

X= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 21, 22, 28, 37, 67,

72, 98}

Y= {1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 16}

So,

J(X, Y) = |X∩Y| / |X∪Y|

11


J(X, Y) =|{1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11}| / |{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,

10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 21, 22, 28, 37, 67, 72, 98}|

J(X, Y) = 7/21 = 0.3333

We know if the results would be closer to 100%, that

means high similarity presents (e.g. 90% is more similar

than 89%). If results would be 0%, that means no

similarity presents.

This study also shows the Jaccard distance between them.

“The Jaccard distance, is a measure of how dissimilar two

sets are. It is the complement of the Jaccard index and can

be found by subtracting the Jaccard Index from 1”

(Statistics How To, n.d.).

The formula is as follows:

D(X, Y) = 1 – J(X,Y)

Here, Jaccard distance is = 1- 0.3333 = 0.6667

In this study, Jaccard similarity index becomes 0.3333 or

33.33 (0.3333*100 = 33.33%) which indicate a little

similarity between social tags and descriptors. Jaccard

distance shows that the top frequent social tags used by

users and top frequent LCSH descriptors used by domain

experts are dissimilar.

Suggestion and Conclusions

Overall comparison between social tags and LCSH

descriptors provides many results regarding the

functionality and usability of social tags in the library.

Overlapping of terms makes it clear that the vocabulary of

the social tags is larger than the LCSHs database. Out of

total LCSH descriptors and social tags only 51 terms were

overlapped i.e. these 51 terms used by both experts and

general users in whole collection. Those overlapping terms

cover only 3.06% (very small portion) for social tags and

27.86% for LCSH descriptors. This means that users

mostly use controlled terms as tags to describe books, but

experts rarely use social tags as descriptors. In terms of

overlapping words, Spearman's rank correlation suggests

that when the word is used as a tag (here used as

LibraryThing tag), as a descriptor there is 83 percent

chance of using it. However it is clear that there are

vocabulary differences between the two datasets.


This study shows that most users use general topic or

subject-based terminologies rather than expert's

vocabulary. Forty nine percent (49%) of books

bibliographic records where experts and users use at least

one common vocabulary for describing the books. In case

of comparison between different subfields of MARC 650

field and tags it was found that subfield $a are most

famous to the users and the popularity of other subfields

are as follows $v, $z, $x. This study also shows that users

are more focused on title base keywords rather than

experts for describing the book's catalogue. Jaccard

similarity coefficient between two data sets shows that

very little similarity (33.33%) presents between social tags

and descriptors.

metadata analysis in the Field of Economics. DESIDOC

Journal of Library & Information Technology. 34(4): 145-

151.

Sarkar, A. & Bhattacharya, U. (2019). Social Cataloguing

Sites: Features and Comparison in

Relation to ISBD. SRELS Journal of Information

Management. 56(5): 257-260.

Statistics How To. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/jaccar

d-index/

Further, the study shows that users are more focused on

title base keywords. My suggestion is that the addition of

title based keywords for describing a book catalogue can

enhance users' overall library experience. If the social tags

are more subjects oriented, it could improve the subject

access of book in libraries; but it cannot substitute the

controlled vocabulary like Library of Congress Subject

Headings.

About Authors

References

Bogers, T. & Petras, V. (2017). Supporting book search: a

comprehensive comparison of tags vs.

controlled vocabulary metadata. Data and Information

Management. 1(1): 17–34.

Chowdhury, G. G. & Chowdhury, S. (2003). Introduction

to Digital Libraries. London: Facet

Publishing, 182-183p.

Lee, D. H. & Schleyer, T. A comparison of mesh terms

and CiteULike social tags as metadata

for the same items. In IHI ’10: Proceedings of the 1st

ACM International Health Informatics Symposium. New

York, NY, USA, 2010. Pp 445–448.

Library of Congress. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/searchKeyword?editSearchI

d=33598

Library Thing. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.librarything.com/

Lu, C., Park, J. R. & Hu, X. (2010). User tags versus

expert assigned subject terms: a comparison

of LibraryThing tags and Library of Congress Subject

Headings. Journal of Information Science. 36(6): 763–779

Metadata. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://techterms.com/definition/metadata.

Metadata. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/metadata.

Samanta K. S. & Rath D. S. (2019). Social tags versus

LCSH descriptors: a comparative

Arindam Sarkar is a Librarian of Indian Institute of

Liver and Digestive Sciences (A Unit of Liver

Foundation, WB), Sonarpur. After doing his B.Sc.

(Hons.) from University of Calcutta and MLIS

(Digital Library) in 2017 from Jadavpur

University, he is currently a research scholar at the

Department of Library and Information Science,

Jadavpur University. His email ID is

infoarindam83@gmail.com. He can be contacted at

7980389501

Prof. Udayan Bhattacharya is working as Professor

in the Department of Library and Information

Science, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal

since more than twenty five years. He has obtained

BLIS, MLIS and PhD from Jadavpur University. He

has published many articles in National and

International Journals and authored four books. His

area of interest is information Science, digital

reference, information retrieval, library

classification and application of artificial

intelligence in LIS. Email: E-mail:

udayanbhattacharya1967@hotmail.com; Phone No:

9433469618

12



Title and Publication Details Tags as per LibraryThing 650 MARC Tag

Details

Subject(s) as per

LCSH

1 A college textbook of physics, by Arthur L. Ki

mball.

New York, H. Holt and Co. [c1923]

(PhysComp)

General

physics

textbook

650_0 |a Physics. Physics.

2 A textbook of nuclear physics, by C.M.H. Smit

h.

Oxford, New York, Pergamon Press[1965]

3 Physics of waves / by William C. Elmore,

Mark A. Heald.

New York : Dover Publications, 1985, c1969

Annexure:

Examples of few data for the domain of Physics

nuclear physics

physics

science

2020; Box 43; classical methods;

DH donated 3/21/2016; E

electromagnetism

Fs giveaways gone loot

Math; non-fiction

OPTICS&DISPLAYS

Philosophy; phys; physics

Poetry; quantum; read

Science; softcover

SR; symmetry

Text / Reference; textbook

Unread; used; wave mechanics

waves

650_0 |a Nuclear physi

cs

650_0 |a Waves.

650_0 |a Wave-motion,

Theory of.

Nuclear physics.

Waves.

Wave-motion,

Theory of.

4 Modern elementary particle physics / Gordon

Kane, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY,

USA : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

5 Facts and mysteries in elementary particle phys

ics / Martinus Veltman, MacArthur Emeritus

Professor of Physics, University of Michigan,

Ann Arbor, USA and NiKHEF, Amsterdam,

the Netherlands.

New Jersey : World Scientific, [2018]

6 Modern particle physics / Mark Thomson,

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York :

Cambridge University Press, 2013

Borrowed; Box 58 General

high energy physics

leptons; non-fiction

particle physics; particles

physics; QFT; quantum field

theory; quantum mechanics

quantum physics; quarks

science; standard model

Storage Box 27; strong

interactions; textbook

to-read; weak interactions

Astrophysics; book currentlyreading;

ebook; ecat2;

elementary ; elementary particle;

gift; gug

history of science

Kosmos deeltjesfysica HOVO

location-yum; Nicholas

NoISBN2; non-fiction

nuclear physics; NWT-WB

ohiolink; particle physics

physics; Physics - May 2019

popular physics; popular science;

quantum; quantum field physics;

Quark science

to-read ;unsorted ISBN

Hep; math-phys; May 2015

nuclear physics; ohiolink

phys-math-astro physics

science; STEM; to-read

650_0 |a Particles

(Nuclear physics)

650_0 |a Standard

model

(Nuclear physics)

650_0 |a Quarks.

650_0 |a Leptons

(Nuclear physics)

650_0 |a Particles

(Nuclear physics)

650_0 |a Particles

(Nuclear physics) |v Te

xtbooks.

Particles

(Nuclear physics)

Standard model

(Nuclear physics)

Quarks.

Leptons

(Nuclear physics)

Particles

(Nuclear physics)

Particles

(Nuclear physics)--

Textbooks.

13



7 Nuclear physics, by W. Heisenberg.

New York, Greenwood Press [1969]

8 Nuclear forces; introduction to

theoretical nuclear physics.

Translated by Irving Kaplan.

Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press [1968]

9 Methods of mathematical physics, by Har

old Jeffreys ... and Bertha

Swirles Jeffreys ...

Cambridge [Eng.] The University press,

194

10 Theory of heat. By J. Clerk Maxwell

London, Longmans, Green, and co.,

1872.

539.7 Hei @bsmtphys

atomic theory fission

Kindle; Nobel Laureate

Nobel Laureate (Physics)

non-fiction; nuclear

nuclear forces; nuclear

physics; nuclear reactions

physics; radioactivity

science; scientific method

shelves

539 (natureza física da

matéria); engineering

Hardcover; nuclear

nuclear physics; particle

physics; physics reference

science; study; textbook

to-read

B53; Box 57; ER gone

hb-ruski:vž ;math

mathematical physics

mathematics (subject)

mathematics reading list

mathematics/18-307-integralequations-spring-2006

(course); MIT OCW

physics; R3

School of Science (school)

Science; uploaded cover

$Annapolis; $St. John's

bookstore; 0.0_Physics

@; @Annapolis

classici della scienza moderna;

Dover Thrift

dover:kos; heat; LBC15

LS42; new; Penn State Office;

physics

physics/astronomy

s49d1b4; science; science

oldie; Shelf02Ext

Shelf:H02; St. John's

650_0 |a Nuclear energy.

650_0 |a Nuclear physics

650_0 |a Nuclear forces

(Physics)

650_0 |a Mathematics.

650_0 |a Mathematical phy

sics.

650_0 |a Heat. Heat.

Nuclear energy.

Nuclear physics.

Nuclear forces

(Physics)

Mathematics.

Mathematical phy

sics.

14


UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


Use of College Libraries under Vidyasagar University: a

study through Garrett Ranking technique


30 th August 2021


7 th September 2021


6 th October 2021


10 th October 2021

Avisek Chaudhuri & Dr Durga Sankar Rath

ABSTRACT:

Avisek Chaudhuri

Librarian, Panskura Banamali

College, Purba Medinipur,

West Bengal

E-mail:

chaudhuriavisek@gmail.com

Dr Durga Sankar Rath

Professor,

DLIS, Vidyasagar University,

Paschim Medinipur, West

Bengal

E-mail:

dsrath@mail.vidyasagar.ac.in

Introduction: To give quality education, the library plays a vital role in teaching and

learning. The library is used mainly by the students, teachers/ faculty members, and

research scholars in higher education institutions. To offer quality services, the library

should have a regular assessment to maintain and to upgrade the quality to meet the

users' needs at the highest level. Library quality assessments can be made with user

feedback as they best judge the quality of the library. It helps identify the effectiveness

of the services provided to library users.

Purpose: The library is the place where the users can think, read or work

independently. There is no other inducement in their decision-making. Their selflearning

ability helps them long way to go. That is why the authors want to categories

the reasons why they visit the library. After analysis the reasons we come to know

which are the solid reasons and in which side library should give importance to

enhance the services.

Research problem: Whenever the users visit the library physically, we can understand

their particular needs, their views on current library services and make them aware of

other services. So, we need to analyze their reasons behind the library visit to know

their views, which helps us evaluate the library services because the library's ultimate

goal is to satisfy the user. Here in this paper authors studied the Reasons for users'

visits to College Library under Vidyasagar University.

Objectives: This study aims to know the users' perception about the reasons behind the

college library visits, and from their perception, we can know the present scenario of

the libraries..

Methodology: The data were collected from 1988 users of 56 general degree College

libraries under Vidyasagar University. The Garrett Ranking technique is applied to

rank the Reasons for users' visits. Garrett's ranking method dictates a change in the

numerical score of the factors. The advantage of this ranking techniques is that the

factors are organized based on their importance from the respondent's point of view.

Findings: The result shows that library staff's behaviour of helping attracts more users

to visit the library. The systematic arrangement of books on the shelf, up-to-date

catalogue of books also the influencing factors for the library visit by the users of the

college libraries under Vidyasagar University.

KEYWORDS:

Library use, Garrett ranking test, College library, Users’ behaviour

15


Choudhury & Rath: Use of college library …

Introduction

The library is the central part of educational institutions.

To give quality education, the library plays a vital role in

the teaching and learning process. The library is used

mainly by the students, teachers/ faculty members, and

research scholars in higher education institutions.

Nowadays, the library can provide services remotely.

However, it is challenging to know whether they are

consuming properly or not. If we only see the statistics

(like webpage visits), we cannot understand their mind or

think about library services. Whenever the users visit the

library physically, we can understand their particular

needs, their views on present library services and make

them aware of other services. Besides this, the library is

the third place (first home and second their office or

classroom) where they can think or work independently.

There is no other inducement in their decision-making.

Their self-learning ability helps them long way to go. That

is why we want to categories the reasons why they visit

the library. After analysis the reasons we come to know

which are the solid reasons and in which side library

should give importance to enhance the services.

"Academic libraries are meant for providing services to its

users' community. To provide quality-oriented services,

the library should have a periodic assessment to maintain

and to improve the quality to meet the users' need at the

highest level. Assessment of the quality of a library can be

done by getting feedback from users because users are the

best judges of the quality of the library. It helps to identify

the performance of the services provided for the library

users." [Hussain, A and Abalkhail, Abdulwahab M.

(2013)].

There are 56 general degree colleges under Vidyasagar

University located mainly in rural areas. Maximum

students are coming from rural villages. So, the libraries

have to fulfil the needs of the users (mainly students).

From this paper, we tried to evaluate the library facilities

from the users' view. First, we asked the users about the

reasons for their college library visit and collected the

possible reasons from them. Then we request them to rank

the possible reasons for their library visit.

In this paper, the significant factor about the reason for

library visits by the users of college libraries under

Vidyasagar University is identified by applying Henry

Garrett's ranking technique for ordering method to

determine to rank. Henry E. Garrett (1894) was an

American Psychologist. In 1946 he was the president of

the American Psychological Association. He wrote a book

named "Statistics in Psychology and Education" (1926).

There he described a ranking technique based on mean

score. However, Professor Clark Hull devised this formula

and the method built around it in his article "The

Computation of the Pearson r from Ranked Data" (Journal

of Applied Psychology, 1922, 6, 385). In this article,

Professor Hall told "The proposed method is, in brief, to

convert the series of ranks into an array of scores on a

16


convenient linear scale, the linear scores then to be used in

the computation of r in the ordinary way. In translating the

ranks into linear units, it is assumed that the ability in

question is distributed according to the Gaussian law. It

then becomes easy with the aid of a table computed from

that of Sheppard to tell the percent of cases falling

between the various successive points of the scale.". Later,

Henry E. Garrett described the method in detail in his

book. In the book, he said "It is often very desirable,

especially in the calculation of coefficients of correlation,

to be able to transmute measures arranged in order of

merit into measures in units of amount or 'scores' on some

linear scale. This can easily be accomplished by means of

tables, provided we can assume "normality" in the trait for

which the ranking has been made." (Page number- 111).

This technique is mainly used for psychological factors

analysis and to analyze the rank greater than ten (10)

factors. Here we analyze the user's psychosocial

perception about the reasons behind their library visit,

which helps us evaluate the library services because the

library's ultimate goal is to satisfy the user.

Literature review

o Sridhar, M S (1989), in his case studies at the ISRO

Satellite Centre (ISAC) based on library visits, library

traffic, user movements, and personal observations of the

Indian Space Research Organization's (IST) stay as a user

of the primary library. This study shows the relative use of

different service areas of the library, the internal use of

library documents, and the intensity of library use by the

IST. The user's knowledge of real-time interactions and

behaviours helps to plan and evaluate the library's physical

layout and understand the user's information behaviours,

but the study of the user's physical interactions with the

library is complete. We conclude that it is lacking.

o Banwet, Devinder K. and Datta, Biplab (2002) in their

paper the quality of service observed in the library was

investigated within a designated period. Attribution-level

quality of service, importance, satisfaction, and post-visit

intent was measured twice every six months. Studies have

shown that the quality of service for most features has

declined for six months, and the importance of features

has not changed significantly over the same period. The

material impact of quality of service on post-visit

objectives was investigated within a causal framework.

The results tentatively show that quality of service and

consequent satisfaction will change the impact of service

performance and satisfaction on future inspection

objectives.

o Nilsen, Kristi (2004), in this research paper, describes

the methodology and reports preliminary results of a study

investigating the concept of users of digital reference

services. This is part of a library visit survey, a long-term

research project conducted at Western Ontario University

in three phases for over a decade. Stages 1 and 2 examined

the perceptions of users asking reference questions to the

library's physical reference desk. The third step in the

study is to consider the reference encounters at the virtual

reference desk and compare the user experience at the

physical reference desk with the experience at the virtual

reference desk. Research shows that virtual reference

desks have the same problems as physical reference desks

from a researcher's point of view. Generally, satisfaction is

judged.

o Salauddin, Nazia (2015)surveyed the visit of the

undergraduate and post-graduate students in the Central

Library at the Jahangirabad Institute of Technology in

Barabanki. Users are an important element of any

information system. It is widely recognized that quality of

service and consumer satisfaction are essential to

retaining existing consumers and attracting new ones.

Access to relevant information is very important in library

services and can provide the right users with a new

direction for research and the development of accurate

information. Today, all teachers and researchers have

immediate access to online resources, but the role of

traditional documentation remains important. The goal of

this research treatise is to achieve this goal. Librarians,

information personnel, and document personnel need to

understand library users, how they communicate with the

system, and related requirements.

o Dhanavadan S. (2016), in his paper, discussed the

Garrett ranking techniques in detail. The author took an

example of an E-Resource accessed by the faculty. In this

paper, Garrett's ranking technique was analyzed, and the

author briefly discussed the ranking calculation. Finally

showed that how the most significant factors can be

identified with this ranking technique.

o Hmedat, W., Ali, M., &Muthuraman, B. (2017) showed

in the paper that the institutions of Higher education

sectors play a vital role in improving the quality of

education in the country. Curriculums developed or

approved by the ministry, a major national institution,

directly impact the outcome of the education system.

This research treatise seeks to critically evaluate the

initiatives invented by students pursuing the MBA

program. In this paper, the survey data analysis is done by

using percentage analysis and Henry Garrett's ranking

method to achieve the purpose of the study. The study

results show that most students following an MBA

program are ready to start their own business to build a

career.

o Tamilselvi, M (2019), in her paper, showed that

electronic marketing is a significant revolution in the age

of globalization. Over the last decade, most companies

have experienced technological changes. Online shopping

is the use of technology (such as computers) to improve

marketing performance. Moreover, retailers are devising

strategies to meet the needs of online shoppers. They are

busy studying consumer behaviour in online shopping and

examining consumer attitudes towards online shopping.

That is why we decided to investigate consumer attitudes

towards online shopping, especially the factors that

influence consumers' online shopping. Garrett's ranking

strategy is used to find respondents' preferences for online

products.

o Geetha, C, and Prabhu, Mohan S (2020) made a ranking

analysis test to explore the complex challenges of

maintaining the college's facilities. They had collected the

primary data from 1000 respondents. The authors used the

Garrett ranking technique as a tool of ranking analysis. In

this paper, according to the ranking, the library facility is

the essential factor for the quality of the education system.

17



o Angayarkanni, R. (2021), in the research paper he

systematically analyzes and rate the job satisfaction issues

of teachers employed in private schools. Impacts need to

be prioritized to identify significant flaws that affect

teacher satisfaction. Therefore, researchers used Garrett's

ranking method to identify the order of subjects that most

affected teacher job satisfaction.

o Dhingra, Meenakshi, and Kundu, Subhash C. (2021), in

this research paper, assess students' acuities of the level of

campus placement events of higher education institutions

(HEI) and determines the order of significance of the

various issues that students perceive concerning employer

selection criteria. The research conducted in the Indian

metropolitan area, twenty-nine HEI analyzed response

data from 621 students by using statistical tools such as

mean, student's t-test, and Garrett ranking. The results of

the T-test show that students' perceptions differ

significantly among the five demographics under study. In

addition, Garrett's ranking method reveals that students

consider performance as the most important factor in an

interview that influences an employer's choice or refusal

to set up a campus.

o Hemalatha, V. (2021)discussed in this survey paper is to

know about the work stress problems of university

teachers, know the teacher's personal causes and levels of

stress, and provide valuable advice for overcoming work

stress. The collected data was analyzed using statistical

measures such as percentages, Garrett's ranking strategy,

and the chi-square test.

In the literature review, we have reviewed the various

papers about the library visit by the users of different

academic libraries. Library visit surveys help the library to

know the users' needs, behaviour and also help to improve

the library service accordingly. We also review the papers

Henry Garrett's ranking used to analyze the data to get the

ordering result. We can see the Garrett ranking techniques

used in many fields like education, technological, and

psychological areas and also in agricultural, medical, and

marketing research. It is also used to analyze the big

surveyed data to know the most significant factor by

ordering method.

Objective

The main objective of this study is to know the users’

perception about the reasons behind the college library

visits (under Vidyasagar University). Moreover, the

secondary objective is to understand the overall situation

of the libraries like the library services, environment,

behaviour of the library staff, etc.

Methodology

The survey method is adopted to conduct the research.

The First Pilot study has been conducted to know the

users' possible reasons to visit the library, i.e., Students,

Faculty members, Research Scholars of the college

libraries. After that, all the possible reasons were collected

and analyzed. In the question about the reason for Library

visits, the top 13 possible factors have been included as

options, and the respondents (users of these college


libraries) are asked to rank the factors according to their

knowledge or preference. Data was collected from all the

56 General Degree colleges under Vidyasagar University.

The judgment sampling technique has been adopted to

select the users from students, faculty members/ teachers,

and research scholars. 20 students from each college, 15

faculty members from each college, and 7 Research

Scholars from the 4 research centers are studied. Total

1988 users' responses were collected; among them, 1120

(20*56) are students, 840 (15*56) are faculty members/

teachers, and 28 (7*4) are Research Scholars. After

collecting the data, the Garrett Ranking technique has

been applied to rank the users' possible reasons for library

visits. Here the method of Garrett ranking technique

facilitates the preferential ordering of the reasons users

visit the college libraries, which will, in turn, throw light

on the decision-making perspectives by the college library

authority.

Percent Position = 100 (Rij – 0.5) / Nj Where-

Rij = Rank given for thei th variable by the j th respondent

Nj = number of variables ranked by thej th respondent

In the above formula, the Percent Position is first

calculated. Then the calculated Percent position is

converted into the score value according to Garrett's

Table. After that, for every factor, the score value of the

individual is added, and after addition, the total score

value and the score of the mean value are calculated. The

highest mean value factor represents the most significant

factor among all factors of a specific problem.

Henry Garrett Ranking Technique

Garrett ranking technique is used to rank the factors

according to the respondent's preference for a particular

problem. The researcher asked the respondent to rank the

various factors involved in a specific problem according to

their preferences or choice. The researcher collected the

information about ranking from the respondent, and by

using the following formula, the rank assigned by the

respondent is converted into the score value.

Table 1: Preference and Ranking of Reason for Library visit by the Users of the Studied College Libraries

18



Application of Garrett Ranking

techniques

The preference and Ranking of Reasons for Library Visit

by the Users in College libraries under Vidyasagar

University are shown in Table 1

We observe in this table 1 that the 294 users said that the

staffs are helpful, 293 points out the arrangement of books

on the self are systematic, and 261 said that the catalog is

up to date. So, we need to know the factors according to

their ranking.

The Garrett ranking is calculated by using the appropriate

Garrett Ranking formula. Based on the Garrett ranks, the

garret value is calculated. The Garret tables and scores of

each factor are in the above table and multiplied to records

scores in table 2. Finally, by adding each row, the total

Garret score is calculated.

Percent Position and Garret Value

Position 100 (Rij-0.05)/ Nj Calculated Value Garret Value

1 100*(1-0.5)/13 3.85 84

2 100*(2-0.5)/13 11.54 74

3 100*(3-0.5)/13 19.23 67

4 100*(4-0.5)/13 26.92 62

5 100*(5-0.5)/13 34.62 58

6 100*(6-0.5)/13 42.31 54

7 100*(7-0.5)/13 50 50

8 100*(8-0.5)/13 57.69 46

9 100*(9-0.5)/13 65.38 42

10 100*(10-0.5)/13 73.08 38

11 100*(11-0.5)/13 80.77 33

12 100*(12-0.5)/13 88.46 26

13 100*(13-0.5)/13 96.15 16

Table 2: Percent Position and Garret Value

The calculation of Garrett value and ranking of the reasons for Library visits by the users in the college libraries under

Vidyasagar University is shown in table 3.

Table 3: Calculation of Garrett value and ranking


Findings of ranking analysis

Fig.1. User Preferences for Library visit using Garret Value Ranking

The individual user ranks the reason for visiting the

library. Data was collected and put in the1st table. 13

reasons were there, and users rank the 13 reasons

according to their choice. The total number of

respondents is 1988. Henry Garrett's ranking technique

is used to analyze the rank of their preference. Percent

Position is calculated value is converted with the Garret

Table value. Next, each position value is multiplying by

the garrote table value. The total score is calculated after

each position's multiplication. Lastly, the mean score is

calculated from the Total score of each reason / Total

number of respondents. According to the Mean score,

the rank is assigned. According to the preference of the

reasons of the visit to the library are ranked as following

- 1. Staffs are helpful, 2. Arrangement of books on the

shelf is systematic, 3. Catalogue is up to date, 4.

Librarian is user-friendly, 5. Library provides conducive

environment, 6. Library possesses all relevant

information, 7. Back volumes of subject journals are

maintained 8. The library has Internet, 9. New arrivals of

books are displayed without delay, 10. Library has

communication facilities, 11. To know the most relevant

documents in the concerned subject, 12. Proximity to

home, 13. Journals are properly displayed

Conclusions

out or locate the documents in the library. Moreover, we

come to know that the arrangement of books is good,

catalogue of the documents is mostly up to date,

Librarians are friendly. However, the journal section is not

so good for these college libraries. Many libraries have

Internet facilities but are not sufficient for the users.

However, the library environment is good as per users'

preferences. Garrett's ranking method identifies the

significant factor among all factors and also identifies the

present scenario of the college libraries under Vidyasagar

University in this study. It will assist in developing the

libraries and their services.

In this paper, we analyze the users who came to our

library and used the library materials. We tried to

understand the reasons for their visit to the library, and

from their perception, we evaluate the library services.

However, we need to study the non-users of the library in

future studies or research. We have to evaluate the reasons

behind their non-visit the library. In the feature, if we can

conduct such a study, we can only know the weak side of

library services completely and upgrade the library system

and services.

In this paper, the Garrett ranking strategy deals with the

reasons for library visits by the users of the college

libraries. This is significantly due to the Garrett ranking

method, which keeps the highest value, indicating an

important factor in the study. Using this method, we got

the result that most users visit the library because the

library staffs are accommodating; they help the users find

References

20


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16/082021]

About Authors

Mr Avisek Chaudhuri is a Research Scholar of

Department of Library & Information Science,

Vidyasagar University, currently working as

Librarian in Panskura Banamali College

(Autonomous), Panskura, Purba Medinipur, West

Bengal from 2014. He completed his Graduation in

Sanskrit in 2009 from Midnapore College. He has

obtained MLISc, and BLISc, both from Vidyasagar

University. He has qualified NET with JRF in June

2012. His area of interest is ICT in LIS, library

classification and resource sharing .The present

study is part of his doctoral research.

Dr Durga Sankar Rath is a Professor in the


Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal

since December 2012. He has obtained PhD &

M.Com from Vidyasagar University and ADIS from

DRTC, Indian Statistical Institute. He has more than

twenty articles published in National and

International Journals and authored four books. His

area of interest is Computer application in LIS,

library classification and application of artificial

intelligence in LIS. The present study has been

conducted under the guidance of Professor Durga

Sankar Rath.

21



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750

Role of Professional Association in the Development of

Community Information Centre in Bangladesh: An analytical

study


30 th August 2021


7 th September 2021





Dr Md. Azizur Rahman &

Dr Subrata Biswas

ABSTRACT:

Dr Md. Azizur Rahman

Additional Librarian

Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam

University

Trishal-2224, Mymensing ,

Bangladesh

Email: azizknu74@gmail.com

Dr Subrata Biswas

Central Library

University of Kalyani

Kalyani, West Bengal, India

Email:

subratakucl@gmail.com

Introduction: The Community Information Centre (CIC) is a place for dialogue, open

thinking about education, experiences and acquire to global knowledge and

multimedia. This service has been developed in various sectors in Bangladesh,

including government and non-governmental organizations.

.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase community information service

facilities for the rural people through various community information service provided

by the Community Information Centre (CIC) and how to do better services the future

needs of society.

Research problem: In the study, the gap between service and user information needs

and the stakeholders and providers were identified.

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to discuss the current activities of the

community information centre, identify problems of providing the community

information centre and discuss the important role of professional associations in its

development.

Methodology: In the study was adopted both survey and interview method. Also the

supplementary data was collected from their website and published an annual report.

Findings: The community information centres in Bangladesh provides information

services for its rural people. It also mentioned that professional associations dedicated

to the development of information services are working in different fields, such as

short-term training, publicity, awareness, information literacy and promotion of

professional activities.

KEYWORDS:

Community Information Service; Community Information Centre;

Professional Association- Bangladesh

22


Rahman & Biswas: Role of professional associations …

Introduction

In Bangladesh the rural community comprises about

60.6% of the total population of 16, 66,623,425

people and has its domain in 68038 villages spread all over

the country of 1, 30, 170 sq. km. The majority people lives

in rural areas of Bangladesh and facing a lot of problems

to getting proper information. Libraries are run by their

very nature, the centres for the spread of knowledge and

information and they can play a vital role in the rural

development in Bangladesh.

According to the research of Uddin (2005), the result

shows that the rural people need support and assistance for

i) better health, water supply and sanitation ii) to find out

about government policy iii) how to produce better crops

iv) prevention and control of environmental pollution v)

test books and teaching aids vi) sports facilities vii)

prevention and control of social problems. Above the

motioned the factors can be met up only the help of rural

libraries in each and every villages of Bangladesh.

The study of Raihan (2007) shows that Bangladesh one of

the least developing countries in the world. Disparity

exists between urban and rural people in terms of access to

information and communication facilities along with other

socio-economic and cultural factors. But it is not possible

to make any development ignoring the large number of

rural people. A number of non government and

government initiative have been taken in Bangladesh to

minimize the digital divide and to uplift the livelihood of

rural people. Community Information Service (CIS) have

been set up in different names and different villages for the

rural people such as Ganokendra, Knowledge Centre,

Multipurpose Community Learning Centre (MCLC),

Community Information Centre (CIC), Mobile Library,

Knowledge Centre (KC), Pallitathya Kendra, Youth

Community Multimedia Centre (YCMC), Rural

Knowledge Centre (RKC), and lastly introduced Union

Digital Centre (UDC) etc. As many organizations and

individual are ready to launch CIS in their own locations it

is important to map current CIC and offer the comer a

wide choice of alternatives in terms of ownership,

technology , focus, services and sustainability models and

discuss later what services these centre are providing for

the rural people.

It can be said in this context the community information is

that information which helps to solve their day-to-day

problems related to survival such as health, education,

housing, legal protection, sound-economic development,

political rights etc and also to participate in social,

political, cultural, legal and economic progress of the

society either individually or collectively. This service is

very much important but those who are conducting these

services are not educated in library and Information

Science. Since Information services and activities are

related to this programme, the Professional Association

should think many works for its development.

Background of the Study

Rahman & Jana (2015) found in his study that the concept of

community information centre (CIC) is very much well known

to the Bangladeshi Society; however the same concept is being

tried different organizations, in different names and

programme. List of familiar Community Information Centres

and their functions, services are given in Table-1. Some

important CICs are briefly described below.

Name of the

Organizations

Dhaka Ahsania

Mission

(DAM)

Practical

Action

Bangladesh

(PAB)

Bangladesh

Rural

Advancement

Committee

(BRAC)

The

Grammenphon

e (GP)

Bishwo

Shahitto

Kendro (BSK)

Est.

Year

Website

1958 www.ahs

aniamissi

on.org.bd

1966 www.pra

cticalacti

on.org

1972 www.bra

c.net

1994 www.gra

meenpho

ne.com

1999 www.bsk

bd.org

Amader Gram 2001 www.am

adergram

.org

Development

Research

Network (dnet)

Young Power

in Social

Action (YPSA)

Bangladesh

NGOs Network

for Radio and

Communicatio

n (BNNRC)

23


2005 www.dne

t.org.bd

2005 www.yps

a.org

2006 www.bn

nrc.net

Functions and Services

Education, Technical & Vocational

Education Training (TVET),

Economic development, Health,

WASH, Agriculture, Right &

Governance, Climate change &

DRR.

Energy, agriculture, food crop

processing, live stock etc.

Social development

(Education), Social Enterprises,

Investment, University.

Internet surfing, health, agriculture,

e-governance, GP value added

services, video conferencing,

telemedicine Services, multi media

education for children.

Reading habit development

programme, mobile library for

community people, Reading books

for primary school teachers,

Breast cancer identifying & treating

project, Data base program,

Knowledge center, literacy for

livelihood, monitoring & evaluation

rural news online.

Education, health care,

Entrepreneurship, Women

empowerment and

entrepreneurship, citizen rights etc.

Health, economic empowerment,

Human rights and governance,

Environment, Climate change &

Disaster management, Education.

Advocacy to contribute in

community media development,

Community radio, Family planning,

Climate justice and Resilience,

Inspiring rural community in

creating Dialogue on RTI, Human

Right etc.

Provides various types of services

Union Digital 2010 www.a2i.

Centre (UDC)

gov.bd such as Birth, Death, Exam

Registration, Computer compose,

Photocopy, Photography, Internet,

Job searching, Electric bill etc.

Table-1: Familiar Community Information Centres and their functions and services

1 Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM): Dhaka Ahsania

Mission was established as a welfare-oriented organization

in 1958. At present, it has been widely acclaimed as a

pioneer development organization in Bangladesh. The

main motto of DAM is divine & humanitarian services.

They are working their different activities around the

country. While working with people at grassroots level,


DAM realized that the silent majority needs an

organization of their own like Ganokendra.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission launched first community learning

centre, locally known Ganokendra or Community

Learning Centres (CLCs) across the country since 1992.

The Ganokendra or CLCs have since become focal points

for the provision of needs-based non-formal education

(literacy and life skills training programmes) to out-ofschool

children, youths and adults in the country. The

CLCs are also used as community libraries and are

therefore stocked with a variety of easy-to-read materials

for community members of all age-groups. In addition, the

CLCs also provide facilities for public meetings and sociocultural

and economic activities which are necessary for

cultural preservation and for promoting peaceful

coexistence, community development and social

empowerment (www.ahsaniamission.org.bd).

2 Practical Action Bangladesh: Practical Action is a

pioneering international development organization putting

creative ideas to work so people in poverty may change

their world. The main aims to help people tackle some of

the world’s toughest problems. It has established

knowledge centre in Bangladesh about energy, agriculture,

food crop processing, live stock etc to reduce poverty and

improve the quality of life of people living in remote urban

areas (www.practicalaction.org).

reading books programme for primary teacher, Mobile

library, cultural enrichment programme, allover school etc.

Besides of them mobile library so called ‘Bhrammaman

library’ (www.bskbd.org).

6 Amader Gram : Amader Gram is an ICT4D program

of Bangladesh Friendship Education Society (BFES). The

scheme is mostly centered and based on the village society

and it is planned to build up as a demonstrative social

innovation. Since 2009 with our sister partner Amader

Gram Communications they have developed special model

in IT education which called Knowledge Centre. The

centres are being used for the skill enhancements of rural

youths in computer and aided knowledge, breast cancer

screening services and for rural database program

(www.amadergram.org).

7 dnet: dnet is a non-profit social organization for

empowerment of marginalized communities with special

emphasis on women and children focusing on technology

and access to information and knowledge. dnet, through its

activities, envisages contributing towards building a social

economy. dnet launched the functional Pallitathya Kendra

(village information centre) model in September 2005.

Dnet conducted on identification of information needs of

the rural poor and their current information seeking pattern

(www.dnet.org.bd).

3 Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC):

BRAC is the top level nongovernmental organizations and

they have many admirable activities in the world. BRAC

Education Program has set an up Multi Purpose

Community Learning Centres (Ganokendros) from 1995 to

till now. They are conducting about reading circle, mobile

library for aged persons, children corner, life skill training

programme, computer literacy, English proficiency, self

defenses and others programs. Besides, by running the

libraries and learning centres and helping to create a

supportive environment for the use of these facilities, the

community plays a leading role in the implementation of

these programme areas (www.brac.net).

4 The Grammenphone (GP): The Grammenphone has

launched Community Information Centre (CIC) for the

rural people of our country. They may access a wide-range

of state of art services such as Internet, voice

communications, video conferencing and other

information services. This service started in February 2006

with 16 CICs; today the activities have been increasing

over the country. In the long-run Grameenphone plans to

enhance the number of CICs substantially so that

especially CIC can support the information needs of four

contiguous villages (www.grameenphone.com).

5 Bishwo Shahitto Kendro (BSK): BSK is a non

profitable institutions and its motto to promote reading

habits, enlightenment and progressive ideas among

students and general people. BSK has organized different

types of programme such as nationwide enrichment

Programme, reading habit development programme,

24


8 Young Power in Social Action (YPSA): YPSA

launched in 2005. The centres are providing computer

training, different types of form fill up service, multi

media to different programme, ICT Fair, Volunteer

workshop for community Radio and etc. The centre also

uses loudspeakers to dissemination useful information to

the community. Bulletin boards are also used for

information dissemination (www.ypsa.org).

9 Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and

Communication (BNNRC): BNNRC has established

Rural Knowledge Centre (RKC) through networking

member. RKC is information and communication

technology (ICT) based service centre in the remote parts

of the country where Computer, Phone, Mobile phone,

Lamination Machine, Digital Camera, Internet etc. are

available. The village people can use these facilities

according to their localized demands The RKCs have

attracted great attention in the community within a short

period of time. The rural knowledge centres provide the

community with free access to a range of resource

materials including educational posters, journals, periodic

and books (www.bnnrc.net).

10 Union Digital Centre (UDC): UDC is newly

established one-stop service outlets operating at all 4554

Union Parishads (UP, lowest tier of local government) of

the country. These are a great achievement of

government’s digital Bangladesh vision which envisages

using them to provide all public and private services to the

rural citizen. UDC is able to bring various types of

information related to government, livelihood and private


services to the door step of citizens in rural areas of

Bangladesh. It ensures services providers and users to save

time, cost and has made operations hassle free

(www.a2i.gov.bd).

poverty, educating the underserved and underprivileged on

information-based services etc. At present, the

organization is running 500 CICs in rural areas, spreading

over 450 Upazillas. The CICs also provides health,

agriculture, chatting, video conferencing, commercial

mobile call, e-governance services; GP value added

services such as Flexi Load, ring tones downloading etc

(www.grameenphone.com/about/corporateinformation/corporate-responsibility/communityinformation-center).

Table-2: Community Information Centres in Bangladesh

Table-2 depicts the Ganokendra is a non-formal,

intergenerational and integrated educational programme

for out of school children, youths and adults living in rural

and urban slum community of Bangladesh. The

Ganokendra provides participants with skill training

opportunities in the fields of literacy, livelihood skills

training and support to establish income generation

activities, health awareness campaigns, environmental

conservation and civic education. Ganokendra is organized

and managed by the groups of users in collaboration with

the local community and back-up support from DAM.

Currently it has set up 1169 Ganokendras, scattering over

ten districts of Bangladesh

(www.ahsaniamission.org.bd/ganokendra-dam)

Practical Action Bangladesh has set up a knowledge centre

from 1966 with a view to providing about energy,

agriculture, food crop processing, live stock etc to reduce

poverty and improve the quality of life of people living in

remote rural and urban areas. The knowledge centre also

work includes improvements to farming practices that help

the poorest farmers thrive in the most challenging

conditions and collaboration at local and national levels to

transform the lives of people in city slums and refugee

camps

(www.practicalaction.org/knowledgecentre/resources).

The BRAC, an NGO has established Multipurpose

Community Learning Centre (MCLCs), locally named as

Ganokendra. The MCLCs are creating an opportunity to

develop a habit of reading from very early age which

facilitates higher consciousness, humanity and self

awareness among the rural people. These CLCs are

providing access to information and to increase the literacy

and learning skill of rural disadvantaged people

(www.brac.net/program/education).

The Grameenphone is providing Community Information

Centre (CIC) to access for the rural people, alleviating

25


Under the Mobile Library, books reach the doorsteps of all

kinds of readers as the libraries on wheels travel in rural

and urban areas. The aims of the programme are increase

book lending facilities in different locations of the country.

This programme started in 1999, at present a total of 1900

mobile library units is covering 250 Upazillas of the 58

districts of Bangladesh (www.bskbd.org/mobile-library).

The Amader Gram project established a village

communication, information and learning centre in April

2001 at Bagerhat of Bangladesh. The Knowledge Centre

was designed to develop participatory monitoring and

learning system at the village level. The Knowledge

Centre is disseminating information on health, sanitation,

education and livelihood opportunities for rural people

(www.amadergram.org/knowledge.php).

The Development Research Network (dnet) established

four “Pallitathya Kendra” in 2005 of four remote villages

of Bangladesh, located in Nilphamari, Netrokona,

Noakhali and Bagerhat on a pilot basis to capture the

process of learning and replication. The Pallitathya Kendra

provides livelihood information service for rural people

such as agriculture, health, legal and human rights,

education, appropriate technology, awareness, disaster

management and rural employment etc. The Pallitathya

Kendra also provides necessary ancillary service such as

soil test, water test, photography, height and weight

measurement, composing, printing, CV writing,

commercial mobile phone, blood pressure measurement,

use of internet to the poor rural community

(www.dnet.org.bd/page/programs).

Youth Community Multimedia Centre (YCMC) is located

in Sitakund Upazilla of Chittagong district. Young power

in social action (YPSA) launched the centre in 2005. The

YCMC aims to reduce poverty through ensuring digital

opportunities for the rural economically poor, especially

disadvantaged youths and adolescents. Youth Community

Multimedia Centre uses the local network for content

dissemination, reaching about households in Sitakund. The

YCMC provides participants with skill training

opportunities in the fields of health, economic

empowerment, human rights and governance,

environment, climate change, disaster management,

education etc (www.ypsa.org/youth-communitymultimedia-center-ycmc).


Rural Knowledge Centres (RKC) has been emerged

through which villagers can ensue towards poverty

improvement by increasing their household income. RKC

is information and communication technology (ICT) based

services centre in the integral parts of the country where

the services or facilities computer education, internet, e-

mail, mobile phone having internet connection, laminating

and photocopy facilities etc are available. The rural

knowledge centre provides resource materials for the

community, including educational posters, journals, books

etc (https://bnnrc.net/rural-knowledge-centre).

Union Digital Centres (UDCs) are one-stop service centre

has set up in Bangladesh with a view to providing all sorts

of government digital services and ICT facilities to the

doorsteps of every citizen at the rural area of the country.

These are a hallmark achievement of the government’s

Digital Bangladesh vision, which envisages using them to

provide all public and private services to rural people. The

most popular public services in UDCs are birth

registration, health related information, agriculture

oriented information, examination results, citizen

certificates, online university admission, e-government

service, registration for migrant workers etc. The UDCs

also are providing private services such as mobile financial

services, insurance, computer, vocational training etc. This

programme started in 2010, at present a total of 4554 onestop

service units is covering 4554 Union of Bangladesh

(www.a2i.gov.bd/publication/union-digital-centres).

The problems of providing Community

Information Centre in Bangladesh

As communities change, so do the information needs of

the people. A Community Information Centre can’t

continue to be a focus for users without tailoring

information and resources to meet the needs of the

community.

I. Gap between services and information needs of

users

II. Lack of understanding

III. Information not reach user

IV. Lack of organizational structure

V. Lack of community information literacy

VI. Lack of reading culture

Role of Professional Association

The Professional Associations (PA) is closely associated

with the growth of librarianship as a profession. According

to Mujumder & Roy Choudhury (2015) study, the Library

and Information Science Professional Associations have

the responsibility to play a vital role in fulfilling the goals

of providing community information services. The

professional association of Bangladesh is working as a

bargaining agent for the improvement of community

centres or information centres. The Professional

Association (PA) may give some steps:

1. At present CIS services are offered in the rural

areas at public and private level but many people

don’t have any idea about the CISs. So PA can

arrange advocacy campaign programme to

promote awareness of CIC.

2. PA may take a leading role in the present

situation. Libraries/ information centres now need

to make a paradigm shift from their existing

strategy of acquiring of knowledge to a strategy

of access of knowledge.

3. PA may think try to create information helping

cadre consisting of educated peoples including

students for the improvement of socio economic

conditions of rural people.

4. PA can arrange a meeting along with government

high officials, decision makers, and NGO

representative for the establishment and

importance of CIC.

5. PA can help the library professionals in locating

acquiring analyzing and linking information.

6. PA can arrange user education or training

programme according to the need of the users

seeking CIS

7. PA can motivate the librarians/ library

professionals of the community Information

Centre to change their attitudes, to maintain in

their values and ethics.

8. PA can the help library professional in keeping

peace with constantly changing technology and

organize seminars, conference, workshops for

training//refresher courses professionals and staff

about upgraded services.

9. PA can take an initiative to establish a network.

All community libraries or information centre

will be covered by this network.

10. Those working in these centres are not educated

in library and Information Science. So LIS

professional can be involved in all these centres. In

this case PA can request the concerned department

and regulatory body so that they have employment

opportunities.

Suggestion

I. PA should arrange to prepare a manual of CIS

incorporating therein a list of all the possible

types and verities of information qualities and

II.

III.

IV.

26


services which can be offered to the users.

PA should take a leading role of ensure better

community services to the users and also

improved professional performances.

PA can play a vital role in the framing of a code

of conduct for LIS professional which is essential

needed in the current situation.

PA should organize a planned and continuous

capacity and skill development training

programme for librarian or library personnel

engaged in public libraries and community

information centres for users and administrators

at all level. The importance of networking and

access to other information sources should be

included in the training programmes.


V. PA should take a most important role to ensure

that the services of the public libraries and the

CIC must be available to all.

PA should advocacy for modernization and

modification in the curriculum of LIS education

at different levels to meet the current demand of

the users at different level.

VI.

Conclusion

Community Information Centre’s (CICs) have been

launched in Bangladesh for decades. The CIC service

activities were initially started on a private level. Now the

Community Information Centre’s (CICs) are managed by

Government, Non-government organization (NGO) and

International aid agencies, but the Union Digital Centre

(UDC) activities at the government level are becoming

more and more popular. Through this centre, more than

150 public and private services have been running all

times which is a unique achievement for the rural people

of Bangladesh. Apart from the government private sector

can also requires the active participation regarding this

issue. In this forms of the CICs can be an advantage to less

developed regions all over the third world. CICs show how

e-governance has become a cutting-edge tool for

development. CICs can be supported to continue providing

invaluable service to the local community of the

Bangladesh. The community itself will be able to express

its opinion and approach, which will also contribute to the

difficult task of community empowerment and

enlightenment. The professional association of active

members composed of well-trained library personnel can

teach, help, suggest common people and can also negotiate

with the government on various improvement in this field.

Information Centre: Role of Professional Associations. In

IASLIC 30 th All India Conference, 28-31 December, 2015,

Ahmedabad, India, edited by Chatterjee, A… [et al],

2015, pp. 163-169

Practical action: https://practicalaction.org/knowledgecentre/resources/

Retrieved on 10.08.2021

Rahman, Md. A. & Jana, S. Community Information

Services in Bangladesh and Role of Library Association of

Bangladesh. In IASLIC 30 th All India Conference, 28-31

December, 2015, Ahmedabad, India, edited by Chatterjee,

A… [et al], 2015, pp. 170-177

Raihan, A. (2007). Community access points or telecentre

movement in Bangladesh, available at:

http://bangladeshictpolicy.bytesforall.net Retrieved on

12.08.2021

Rural Knowledge Centre (RKC): https://bnnrc.net/ruralknowledge-centre/


Uddin, Md. H. (2005). A Book on some selected libraries

in Bangladesh, The Role of the rural libraries in the rural

development of Bangladesh, Rajshahi: Fouzia prokashoni,

pp. 35-47

Union Digital Centre: https://a2i.gov.bd/publication/uniondigital-centres/


World Literature Centre: http://bskbd.org/mobile-library


Youth Community Multimedia Centre (YPSA):

https://ypsa.org/youth-community-multimedia-centerycmc/


About Authors

References

Bangladesh Population live:

https://www.worldometers.info/worldpopulation/bangladesh-population/

Retrieved on

10.08.2021

BRAC Education: http://www.brac.net/program/education/


Community Information Centre:

https://www.grameenphone.com/about/corporateinformation/corporate-

responsibility/communityinformation-center


Dhaka Ashania Mission:

http://www.ahsaniamission.org.bd/ganokendra-dam/


Dnet’s Programs: https://dnet.org.bd/page/programs


KT4D Knowledge Transfer at Amader Gram

http://www.amadergram.org/knowledge.php Retrieved on

20.08.2021

Mujumder, K & Roy Choudhury, S. K. Community

Information Services through public libraries and

27


Dr Md. Azizur Rahman is working as Additional

Librarian of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam

University, at Trishal, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. He

has received his B.S.S.(Hons) in the Department of

Library and Information Science from University of

Rajshahi, Bangladesh (1996), MSS (1998) and Ph.D.

(2018) Degree from University of Kalyani, Nadia,

India . He has published near above fifty

articles/papers in National and International

Journals, Seminar, Conference Proceeding, Books

etc. He is also working as Guest Teacher in the

Institute of Library & Information Science under

National University and some other Private

University in Bangladesh. His domains of interest

mainly are in LIS education, Information literacy,

Knowledge management, Digital library, Public

Library etc. He has completed eight professional

training Courses from Bangladesh and India. He is

the resource persons of professional training courses

for National Academy for Primary Education

(NAPE), National Libraries of Bangladesh (NLB),

Bangladesh National Scientific and Technical


Documentation Centre (BANSDOC), National

Academy for Educational Management (NAEM) and

achieved twenty two years experiences of this field.

Dr. Rahman is the Life Member of Professional

Association such as LAB, BALID (Bangladesh), BLA,

IASLIC, CGLA ( India).

Dr Subrata Biswas is working as library

professional in the Central Library, University of

Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India. The author has

completed Ph.D from University of Kalyani and has

public library, community information service,

lifelong learning and women empowerment as one of

the interesting field. He has many publications and is

presently working on many more papers. More than

10 national and international conferences have been

attended by the author.

28



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


30 th August 2021


7 th September 2021





Assessment of newspaper reading habits among the Khas

community of Kalimpong District, West Bengal

Binoy Sharma & Dr Prabin Karkee

Binoy Sharma

Librarian, Cooch Behar

College, Cooch Behar,

West Bengal.

Email:

binoy.sharma@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Newspaper is a primary source of information which carries knowledge and

current events. People prefer to read printed newspaper since centuries but the trend of e-paper

is also on the rise at present.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the newspaper reading habit of Khas community

peoples of Kalimpong district.

Research problem: In the study, the types of news and newspaper reading habits among Khas

community were identified.

Objectives: The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the consumption of information by

reading newspaper by the Khas community people of Kalimpong district.

Methodology: This study adopted survey with questionnaire cum interview methods to collect

data from randomly selected subjects from the various rural as well as urban areas.

Dr Prabin Karkee

Assistant Professor,



University of Gour Banga,

Malda, West Bengal.

Email:

prabinkarkee10@gmail.com

Findings: Result shows that most of the respondents read newspaper daily and they prefer to

read newspaper in local language. Social and community related news have relatively high

priority among the community people. The need of community newspapers is also speak out by

39.4 % of total newspaper readers.

KEYWORDS:

Newspaper; Newspaper reading habits; Khas community- Kalimpong

29


Sharma & Karkee: Assessment of Newspaper reading …

Introduction

Information technology has shrunken the world into a

global village, and it is analogous to the fact that electronic

mass media has dramatically reduced distance and

isolation in a communities. One of the key parameter to

measure the contemporary society in this technologically

advanced era is “information”. Information-rich or

information-poor have become the new identities of

richness and poorness today. Newspaper is considered as

one of the carrier of primary source of information. It acts

as a mirror of a society, contributing to sustenance of the

democratic system of a nation. It is inevitable that

newspaper is a very effective tool for information diffusion

into a community. “Newspapers are one of the tools of

communication and they have a significant role in the

dissemination of news, promoting communal participation

and development, community integration and inclusion ”

(Franklin, 2013). Moreover Nielsen (2015) added that

locality based “community newspapers” are more effective

in community development than the bigger national level

urban newspapers, since they raise the local issues and

provide balanced and critical reports of issues and

happenings in a community. Fuller (2016) in his article

depicted that inherent participatory approach of a

community newspaper and community radio provides the

opportunity to the people to contribute in their inclusive

development of the community.

Reading habit and effective reading is other facet in this

scenario, which actually meet the purpose (becoming an

information rich society) of mass media. Morni & Sahari

(2013) rightly stated that “A great awareness of why

reading is important is that it does not contribute only to an

individual well-being, self-development and progress but

also to the whole nation and the world”. The conscious,

aware and passionate reading ignites the fuel of quest for

the knowledge and helps ones’ to sharpen the intellect and

thus leading towards the arena of wisdom. A study was

conducted by Owusu-Acheaw, Micheal (2014) in

Koforidua Polytechnic College situated in the Eastern

Region of Ghana, to analyze the reading habits among the

students and their effects on their academic performance.

It is found that reading creates a positive impact on their

academic performance.

Khas Community

One of the oldest aboriginal tribes of Indian sub-continent

is the Khasas who display a distinctive culture and

tradition, different from the other mainstream society.

Originally from Central Asia, the Khasas tribe migrated to

the northern Himalayas, centuries ago in search of food

and fodder for their cattle. Later on the Khasas settled in

the various pockets of the Himalayan Mountain ranges

stretching from Kashmir to Bhutan (Uttarakhand,

Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, Darjeeling Hills and Sikkim) in

30


different period of the Himalayan history (Atkinson,

1884). Though living in the modern world the khasas till

this day follow most of their primitive culture, lifestyle,

and traits and chose to live in harsh isolation in hills due to

illiteracy and poverty. “Modern-day Khas people adopted

a new title (surname) named as Khas Brahmin (commonly

called as Khas Bahun), Khas Rajput (commonly called

as Khas Chhetri), and Khas Dalit” (Hitchcock, 1978) due

to negative perception associated to the word “khas”

meaning “degraded/lowered” in Nepali language (Subba,

1985). The “Nepali (Khas-Kura) of 1931 and 1911 and

Eastern Paharia (Khas) of 1921 have been taken as Nepali”

in census, 1961 (Ray, 1964).

Literature Review

Mabawonku, (2006) discussed that most of the Nigerian

women’s information needs are related to governance,

education, job performance, religion, family and domestic

matters. Newspapers, magazines, newsletters, radio;

television, library collections etc are the major sources of

information. A study carried out by Murugan (2015) on

“A Study on Reading Habits of students in University

VOC College of Engineering Anna University

Thoothukudi Campus Library users. The survey reveals

that most of the under graduate students daily read

Kannada and English newspapers [11]. The researcher

Kumar, Singh, and Siddiqui (2011) observed that

average 96.61% of students use Hindi for newspaper

reading, whereas 67.57% use English, and 3.25% students

use Urdu in Chaudhary Charan Singh University. Another

study conducted by Sharma & Saini, (2019) depicts that

the Punjab Kesari and Dainik Bhaskar are the most

popular and widely circulated newspapers among the

respondents of Kurukshetra University. A study conducted

by Asokan & Dhanavandan (2013) in engineering

professionals and found that they used the newspapers to

improve their general knowledge and they preferred to

read newspaper in Tamil language. The popularity of

newspaper published in native language along with

English language is seen among the students’ community

of studied areas in India. The local language newspapers

always have higher possibility of local community news

coverage. The Nielsen (2015) in his study stated the

importance of local coverage of news “the community

newspapers are able to act as catalysts in improving

people’s living standards, more so as they are locally

based newspapers, with a potential to disseminate

information and news aimed at the betterment of the

society”.

As the numbers indicate that, “in United States, about 97%

of newspapers are classified as "community" newspapers,

with circulations below 50,000. An American journalist

Penny Abernathy in her book “Saving Community

Journalism”, argues that most newspapers under 100,000

should consider themselves community newspapers


because their reason for being is service to a community or

a group of communities” (Wikipedia, 2020)

According to Metula & Osunkunle (2019) community

newspapers are characterized by its five attributes and they

are: “localism, diverse participation, storytelling,

deliberation and empowerment”. The “Khabar Lahariya”,

is an award-winning (Deutsche Award) weekly newspaper

first published in the year 2002 in rural Uttar Pradesh and

Bihar in local languages and it is collectively run by 40

rural women journalists. The jury of the award said that

"The newspaper is a shining example that a functioning

democracy is dependent on access to information for all

people”. In India this is a perfect example of community

newspaper providing access of rights, resources, and issues

of rural women among the community and thus it helps

them to develop their skills by acting as medium of

information production and dissemination Rahme, (2014).

Similarly, “Mahila Dakiya” (1993) is considered to be the

first community newspaper in India” to empower and to

aware the women in rural areas of Utter Pradesh but it was

closed during year 2002 due to shortage of funding Das

(2020). The Jagaran Prakashan Group also launched

community newspaper in compact size weekly newspaper

named as “Jagran CityPlus” and introduced its e-paper

version also (Saraiya, 2011, August 17) to target the rural

communities for their betterment.

There had been a long history of newspapers in Darjeeling

hills since 1901 when first Nepali newspaper Gorkhe

Khabar Kagat had been published and then series of

newspapers like Chandrika (1918), Adarsha (1930),

Nepali Sahitya Sammelan Patrika (1932), Nebula (1935),

Khoji (1940), Gorkhali Rabi (1935), etc, were published

for Darjeeling and Kurseong and Himadri, Gaum Sundar

Patrika etc., were published from Kalimpong (Ghising,

2021, June 19).

Objectives of the Study

The study was conducted with following objectives:

1. To assess the consumption of various categories

of information by reading the newspapers

2. To know the purpose of reading newspapers

3. To know the most preferred newspapers and its

medium of language among the community

4. To study the frequency of reading a newspapers

5. To study the peoples’ interest on community

specific information.

Methodology

For the present study a survey method has been adopted to

assess the newspaper reading habits of ‘khas’ community

of Kalimpong district. The questionnaire cum interview

method is perused to collect the data. A well-structured

180 questionnaires were distributed, out of which 172

properly filled questionnaires were received and the rest 8

participants responded carelessly and ruined the

questionnaires of the survey, and hence excluded from the

study. The simple

random sampling method was adopted to pick the sample

from the population irrespective of their age, sex,

occupation and qualifications to generalize the outcome of

the study. Some of the statistical formulas are being used

to interpret the data to draw a meaningful conclusion.

Limitation

This study is focused to assess the reading habits of ‘khas’

community residing in the Kalimpong -1 block. The

Kalimpong town and its adjacent 5 different villages are

taken into the consideration for the purpose of the study.

Therefore the outcome depicted in this study can be

generalized for the Kalimpong district. The respondents

who were reading the printed and online news portals (for

e-newspapers) are considered for the present study.

Data Analysis and Discussion

The respondents who do not read any newspaper at all in

any means is not taken into consideration (whenever it is

necessary) while preparing some graphs, tables and data

analysis; to eradicate the spurious data of the respondents

for the study.

The table-1 shows that 83% of total respondents do have

newspaper reading habit prevailing discrete pattern

frequencies of times of reading a newspaper in a week.

The 17 % of respondents do not have newspaper reading

habit at all. The percentages of reading newspaper are

higher among the age group of 31 -50 years compared to

other age group of respondents. The chi square value is

found to be X (F=5, N=172) = 18.39; p = < 0.5, which

seems to be statistically significant. So, it can be said that

there is some association between the variables i.e., age

distribution and reading newspapers habit.

‘Do have’ or ‘do

not have’ reading

habit of

newspaper

Do have

Do not have

Age group distribution of respondents (n=172)

10 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 - 60 60 +

13

(59.1%

9

(49.9 %)

32

(88.9 %)

4

(11.1 %)

29

(93.5 %)

2

(6.5 %)

33

(91.7 %)

3

(8.3 %)

22

(81.5 %)

5

(18.5 %)

Chi-Square value = 18.39

P-Value = .002495 Degree of freedom (F) = 5

Critical Value = 11.07

Table 1: Analysis of age distributions and of newspaper reading habit

31


13

(65 %)

7

(35 %)

Total % of

frequency

distribution

142

(83 %)

30

(17%)

172

100 %


executed by sorting the frequencies from the chosen

variables and the graph is prepared. The above graph

illustrates the fact that, the geographical factors hiders the

most is ranked as 1; lack of time is ranked as second most

factors; lack of interest to read newspaper is ranked as 3;

lack of internet connectivity is ranked as 4; and Illiteracy is

a least significant factor that hinders the respondents to

read newspaper and is ranked as 5.

Graph 1: Rank analysis of the barriers to newspaper

reading

*Multiple selections of variables are permitted (n=172)

The study of barriers to the reading newspapers is

performed with the rank analysis technique and is

One of the respondents stated that: I cannot effort to go to

the market daily which is 7 K.M away spending Rs.80 for

transportation to bring newspaper. It is not only time

taking, it’s costly too. (Translated from Nepali)

Purpose Age group distribution of respondents (n=142) Total

To update oneself 3

(23%)

For job related

info.

To built general

knowledge

10 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 - 60 60 + Total %

2

(15.4%)

4

(30.8%)

For recreation 3

(23%)

Hobby 1

(7.8%)

13

(100%)

5

(15.6%)

13

(40.6%)

4

(12.5%)

6

(18.8%)

4

(12.5%)

7

(24.1%)

8

(27.6%)

7

(24.1%)

4

(13.9%)

3

(10.3%)

11

(33.3%)

3

(9.1%)

6

(18.2%)

8

(24.2%)

5

(15.2%)

32

(100%)

29

(100%)

33

(100%)

Table 2: Purpose of reading newspaper

6

(27.3%)

2

(9.1%)

2

(9.1%)

9

(40.9%)

3

(13.6%)

22

(100%)

2

(15.4%)

0

(0%)

2

(15.4%)

8

(61.5%)

1

(7.7%)

13

(100%)

34

(23.9%)

28

(19.7%)

25

(17.7%)

38

(26.8%)

17

(11.9%)

142

The table 2 indicates that 30 % among youth (10 -20 age)

respondents read newspaper to improve general knowledge

and 23 % use newspaper to update themselves. The 40 %

of respondents aged between 21 – 30 years browse

newspaper to get job related information and 31 – 40 years

aged group respondents mostly prefer to read job related

information (27.6 %), to update oneself (24.1%) and for

general knowledge (24.1%), in balanced manner. The

(33.3 %) age group between 41 to 50 years of respondents

are mostly interested in updating themselves using

newspapers. Lastly the percentage of respondents aged

between 51 to 60years

and above read newspaper for recreational purpose is

correspondingly 40.9% and 60.5 %.

The data of table 3 depicts that, about 91.5 % of

respondents prefer the printed newspaper and rest 8.5% of

prefer the e-newspapers. The inter-age group comparison

of preference of medium for newspaper reading shows

that, the higher age group people do not at all read e-

newspaper than compared to middle age and teenage group

of people. Only few people from teenage and middle age

group prefer reading the e- newspaper.

Preference of

medium


Total

10 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 - 60 60 + Total %

Printed 11

(84.6%)

E- newspaper 2

(15.4%)

Age group total 13

(100%)

27

(84.3%)

5

(15.6%)

32

(100%)

25

(79%)

4

(13.8%)

29

(100%)

32

(97%)

1

(3%)

33

(100%)

22

(100%)

13

(100%)

130

(91.5%)

0 0 12

(8.5%)

22

(100%)

13

(100%)

Table 3: Preference of medium of accessing newspaper

*The respondents who do not read any newspaper in any means are not taken into consideration

32


142


Choice of

Language


Total

10 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 - 60 60 + Total %

Nepali 4

(30.8%)

Hindi 0

(0%)

English 9

(69.2%)

13

(40.6%)

0

(0%)

19

(59.4%)

18

(62.1%)

0

(0%)

11

(37.9%)

24

(72.7%)

1

(3%)

8

(24.3%)

18

(81.8%)

0

(0%)

4

(18.2%)

12

(92.3%)

0

(0%)

1

(7.6%)

89

(62.7%)

1

(0.7%)

52

(36.6%)

Others - - - - - - -

Age group total 13

(100%)

32

(100%)

29

(100%)

33

(100%)

22

(100%)

Table 4: Choice of language in reading newspaper

13

(100%)

142

It is seen from the above table that, 62.7% of the

respondents prefer to read the newspapers in their own

native language i.e. Nepali; 36.6% of the respondents

usually reads in English language and 0.7% prefer to read

Hindi newspaper by the peoples of Khas community in

studied area.

As shown in the table-5, 60.5 % of respondents self -

subscribe or read the free e- newspaper to meet their daily

Information need. The public library plays a very crucial

role in information dissemination among the social

communities and newspaper is a primary information

product which is commonly made available to the users by

public libraries. But it is seen that there is only 12.7% of

the readers avail the newspaper facility from a public

library; 16.9% of respondents read newspaper in their

respective work places, institutions etc., and 9.9 % often

borrow the same from friends, neighbours, relatives etc


Total

Sources

10 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 - 60 60 + Total %

Public Library 1 3 2 4 7 1 18

(12.7%)

Self-

2 15 18 25 14 12 86

Subscription/free e-

(60.5%)

newspaper

Lending 3 2 6 2 1 0 14

(9.9%)

Others (institution, 7 12 3 2 . - - 24

work place etc.)

(16.9%)

Age group total 13 32 29 33 22 13

142

(100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)

Table 5: Source of newspapers

Graph 2: Rank analysis of preference of newspaper content among different age groups

*Multiple selections of variables were permitted (n=142)

33



The graph shows the ranks (1 to 8) the preference of

categories of newspapers’ content among the different age

groups of the Khas community. The most of the

respondents prefer to read ‘social and political news’ is

ranked 1, followed by ‘local community news’ is ranked in

second place; ‘education’ is ranked 3 rd sports related news

is ranked in 4 th place; ‘economy and business’ related

category is in 5 th place in rank; ‘editorial’ news is in 6 th

rank; ‘advertisement’ and ‘entertainment’ is in 7 th and 8 th

rank respectively in priority ranking of preference.

One of the respondents stated that: I mostly prefer to

follow local news in local television channel K.T.V which

covers the local news in better way. It is sufficient for me. I

sometimes bring newspaper when I go to the market.

(Translated from Nepali).

The above data presented in the Table 6, reveals the fact

that 56.34 % of the respondents do have daily reading

habit of newspaper; 20.42 % of respondents read 4 to 6

times a week; only 14.79 % of respondents read

newspaper 1 to 3 times a week; 8.45 % of the respondents

very rarely read the newspaper in any means. It is seen that

the middle aged (31 to 50) group of people are having

higher frequency of reading habit of newspapers. A chi

square test of independence is calculated comparing

between age distribution and frequency of reading

newspaper. The value of chi square is found to be X

(F=15, N=142) = 26.84; p = < 0.5, which is statistically

significant. Therefore it is inferred that there is a

relationship between age distribution and frequency of

reading newspapers.

Frequency of

reading

newspaper

7 times a week

(Daily)


10 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 - 60 60 +

3

(23.08 %)

14

(43.75 %)

17

(58.62 %)

21

(63.64 %)

16

(72.73 %)

Total % of

frequency

distribution

9

(69.23 %) 56.34 %

4– 6 times a week 2

(15.38 %)

10

(31.25 %)

5

(17.24 %)

7

(21.21 %)

3

(13.64 %)

2

(15.38 %)

1 – 3 times a 3

6

6

3 2 1

week (23.08 %) (18.75 %) (20.69 %) (9.09 %) (9.09 %) (7.69 %)

Very Rarely 5

2

1

2 1 1

(38.46 %) (6.25 %) (3.45 %) (6.06 %) (4.55 %) (7.69 %)

Chi-Square value = 26.84 P-Value = 0.030067 Degree of freedom (F) = 15

Critical Value = 24.99

Table 6: Analysis of relationship between age distributions and frequency of reading

20.42 %

14.79 %

8.45 %

100 %

Purpose


Total

10 – 20 21 – 30 31 – 40 41 – 50 51 - 60 60 + Total %

Yes 3

(23.1%)

10

(31.3 %)

13

(44.8 %)

16

(48.5 %)

9

(40.9 %)

No 3

9

6

5

8

(23.1 %) (28.1 %) (20.7 %) (15.2 %) (36.4 %)

Not Sure 7 13 10 12

5

(53.8 %) (40.6 %) (34.5 %) (36.4 %) (22.7 %)

13 32 29 33 22

(100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)

Table 7: Opinion for need of community newspaper

5

(38.5 %)

5

(38.5 %)

3

(23.1 %)

13

(100%)

56

(39.4%)

36

(25.4%)

50

(35.2%)

142

The table- 7 exhibits the opinion regarding the need of

community newspaper. It was seen that about 39.4 % of

respondents felt the need of community newspapers for

socio –cultural enhancement; 35.2 % of are not sure and

25.4% of respondents do not opined the need of such

newspaper.

One of the respondents stated that: It is necessary to have

such newspaper which reports the ethnic culture, traits,

tradition, activities, etc, of khas community. (Translated

from Nepali)

Another respondent stated that: the local newspaper like

should send their reporters to collect the news from

34


villages also and report community’ cultural, traditional

programmes. . (Translated from Nepali)

Findings

1. The study investigated the newspaper reading habit

and behavioural pattern of the khas community of

Kalimpong district. In analysis table 2, it is observed

that reading habit of the respondents found higher in

middle aged group and relatively lower in youth

below 20 years and old age people above 60 years.

2. The rank analysis is computed to understand the

hindrances, which affecting reading habit among the

community. It is observed that, geographical hardship

is the prime factor followed by lack of time, lack of

interest, internet connectivity and so on. All this

factors either hiders the reading habit or de-


motivating the potential readers resulting low ratio of

newspaper readers.

3. The most of respondents (91.5 %) prefer the

traditional printed newspaper. Only the few

respondents use read e- newspaper. The e- newspaper

would inculcate the reading habits and eradicates the

geographical, financial, time barrier etc., provided the

skill and internet connectivity should be present.

4. It exhibits that the social and political news is

habitually preferred by the most of the respondents,

which is followed by Local community related news;

education; sports; economy and business and so on.

The majority of people of the community prefer to

read Nepali (62.7%) newspaper and English (36.6 %)

newspapers are in the second priority.

5. It is observed that the very less number of respondents

(12.7 %) visit to the public libraries to read the

newspaper and most of them subscribe (60.5 %) the

same or use in institution (16.9 %) where they are

associated with.

Conclusion

The newspapers are the most trusted source of information

for any society. This study is attempted to analyze the use

and reading habits of newspaper among the khas

community. It is also depicted in the findings that the

teenagers and old age people have lesser newspaper

reading habit. The several factors especially geographical

adversity, motivation, lack of internet etc., may have

affected the frequency of reading newspaper. Most of

respondents’ information need is associated with local

social, political and cultural entities. Some of the

respondents also expressed their interest in more focused

and exclusive community newspapers. The community

newspapers are focused to reflect the local social

problems, cultural actives, crimes and makes aware to the

community.

The study of Alice community in Eastern Cape Province

of South Africa exhibits that the Idikelethu the community

newspaper has been able to explore the issues and

empower the local citizens among the community (Metula

& Osunkunle, 2019). The Tibetan newspaper ‘The Mirror

– News From Various Regions’ first published in 1925 in

Kalimpong by Tibet mirror press, which usually reports

the cultural and social issues like impact of Chinese

aggression into the Tibet and Tibetans community etc.

Later in 1963 the newspaper ceased its publication due to

financial constrains (Hackett, 2008). The commercial

newspapers have some limitations in context of coverage

at micro level; it is more evident in case of national level

newspapers. The need for community specific newspaper

was felt which gave rise to the community newspaper like

Mahila Dakiya, Khabar Lahariya (2002) in India.

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Western Provinces of India, (Vol. II). Allahabad: North-

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India. The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media,

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doi:10.1002/9781119429128.iegmc133

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wspaper-publications-in-colonial-darjeeling-hills/

Hackett, Paul G. (2008). Kalimpong, Gergan Dorje

Tharchin, and his MIRROR newspaper. Retrieved from

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locations/eastasian/Mirror_Hackett.pdf.

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the Nepali Caste System. In James F. Fisher

(Ed.). Himalayan Anthropology: The Indo-Tibetan

Interface, 116 – 119p.

Kumar, Devendra, Singh, Rajkumar & Siddiqui, Jamal.

(2011). Newspaper Reading Habits of University Students:

A Case Study of Chaudhary Charan Singh University,

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Readers’ Perception Study of Idikelethu Newspaper in

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Students in University VOC College of Engineering Anna

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Tauris.

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Community_journalism&oldid=995989204

About Authors

Binoy Sharma is currently a Librarian at Cooch

Behar College and a guest faculty and coordinator in

the Department of Library and Information Science,

Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University. He was

a former librarian at North Bengal St. Xavier

College Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. He has obtained his

bachelor & master degree in Library and

Information Science from University of North

Bengal. His area of interest in the discipline of

Library and Information science are User Studies,

Academic Library, Library Automation and Human

Resource

Management.

Dr Prabin Karkee is an Assistant Professor,


University of Gour Banga, Malda. He is M.A. (NBU),

M. Lib. I. Sc. & Ph.D. (JU), Gold Medalist in both M.

Lib. I. Sc. and B. Lib. I. Sc. from Jadavpur University

and University of North Bengal. He is a recipient of

Saugata Roy Choudhury Memorial Gold Medal and

Ajay Ranjan Chakraborty Medal. He had served

Siliguri College, Darjeeling as Librarian for five

years and Sikkim University, Gangtok as Assistant

Librarian for one year seven months prior to joining

the present assignment. He has to his credit one book

and more than thirty publications in national and

international journals, conference proceedings and

book chapters. His area of interest are knowledge

organization, public library system and services,

community information, management of library and

information centers, application of ICT in libraries,

NLP etc

36



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


10 th July 2021


7 th July 2021


30 th August 2021



Information Management in e-Governance: Role of Metadata

Dr Sainul Abideen P

ABSTRACT:

Dr Sainul Abideen P

Library Head

Indian Institute of Science

Education and Research

Thiruvananthapuram,

Maruthamala PO, Vithura,

Thiruvananthapuram-695

551, Kerala, India.

Email: sainul@iisertvm.ac.in

Introduction: Information management is the primary responsibility of the librarians

and they have been managing huge data in libraries and information systems in the

form of bibliographic information or metadata pertaining to the information resources

like books, journals and other sources. The library science theories and skills used in

libraries have become more significant in managing and retrieving the information in

various fields including in electronic governance.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the possibilities of metadata in

managing information in the e-governance domain, that produces large quantum of

public information. This paper describes the need for metadata in the e-Governance

domain and identifies the role of metadata in e-governance information management.

The significance of metadata in e-governance, its role in interoperating between e-

governance systems are also discussed.

Research problem: In a computerised environment description of resources using

metadata helps both human and more significantly to machine to retrieve the

information very quickly. Identification of globally accepted metadata framework is

important in this context.

Objectives: The objective of the study is to illustrate the implementation of metadata

standards for e-governance in various countries and understand its relationship with

electronic information management.

Methodology: This study has surveyed implementation of e-governance metadata

standards in countries like United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and

India.

Findings: The study shows that there is an inter-relation between electronic

information management and the e-government information management. It is

observed that major e-governance metadata standards adopted in different countries

are evolved from the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, that is prominently used in

electronic information management especially in digital library systems. It shows that

the principles of library science are getting wider acceptance in other fields.

KEYWORDS:

Metadata; Information Management; e-Governance; Metadata

Standards; Interoperability;

37


Sainul: Information Management …

Introduction

Metadata is structured information that describes, explains,

locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or

manage an information resource. According to Riley

(2017) metadata is often called data about data or

information about information.

Metadata plays a crucial role in information retrieval.

Librarians have been pioneering in managing information

mainly in libraries and bibliographic information systems.

The principles and techniques that are used in managing,

analyzing, and disseminating a wide range of bibliographic

information can also be used in various fields that are

information rich, including that of electronic-governance

(e-Governance).

Metadata

Andrew & Aagaard (2003) define metadata as a 'structured data

about data' or, in other words, information that describes other

information. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C., 2001)

defined metadata as machine-understandable information for the

web.

In libraries, librarians describe the book with its authors,

publisher, title, keywords, ISBN, etc. these bibliographic

elements constitute metadata about the book. According to

Andrew & Aagaard (2003) 'metadata is an Internet-age term for

information that librarians traditionally have put into catalogues,

and it commonly refers to descriptive information about web

resources'. Describing the resources using metadata, helps both

men and machines retrieve the information very quickly; at the

same time, it permits the computing systems to process it very

effectively.

Need for Metadata

Metadata describes, organizes, and communicates the

unseen information to the computing systems and

search engines. Metadata is useful for resource

discovery, which is most important in the context

of e-governance data and services. In general,

metadata provides:

Description about information assets or

services

Makes the content findable and manageable by

computers

Easier information processing for

computational tools

Electronic Governance

Electronic governance is commonly known as e-

Governance. Backus, (2001) describes it as a 'process of

automating the government's operations and its interaction

with stakeholders like citizens and other businesses using

information technology. It is the application of electronic

means in (a) the interaction between government and

38


citizens, and government and businesses, as well as (b) in

internal government operations to simplify and improve

democratic, government, and business aspects of

governance'.

The use of information technology for facilitating the

government services and to exchange information are

becoming increasingly popular (Goswami, Y., Agrawal,

A., & Bhatia, A., 2020). Due to advancements in the

internet technology, the citizens are in demand for services

on the finger-tip, including that of the government

services. Accordingly, number of e-governance projects

and services has been implemented by the governmental

agencies. The number of such e-governance systems is

increasing and the information or data generated is

overgrowing. Management and making public information

or services available through internet for the citizens are

essential. The library science theories and skills used in

libraries have become more useful for managing the e-

governance information.

Role of Metadata in e-Governance

Metadata keeps the required information in order and

allow retrieving it effortlessly and more precisely (Irion,

2021). Andrew & Aagaard (2003) envisage the role of

metadata in e-governance as following:

For classification and categorization of the

government information and services.

For intelligent identification of government

services and information.

For easier exchange of the information within and

between government departments.

For increasing the visibility, and accessibility of

government services over the Internet.

Based on the user requirement in the current

technology-driven environment, it requires

efficient management of the government

information and joined-up systems and policies,

and services.

'Metadata makes it easier to manage or find

information, be it in the form of web pages,

electronic documents, paper files, or databases.

For metadata to be effective, it needs to be

structured and consistent across organizations

e-Governance Metadata Standards

Davies et al., (2008) describe standards as ‘the means by

which electronic government can achieve interoperability

across departments and agencies, improve their

management of supplier contracts, and ensure that key data

remains accessible over time'.

According to Booth (2002) 'metadata standard sets out

rules on how to describe items. It generally includes how

the elements are implemented, which fields or elements

can or should be used, which content formats and

controlled vocabulary lists of information must be used'. It

requires the use of uniform policies, rules, procedures,


standards, etc. across various government set up in order to

describe the information and services of the government.

Madalli, D, P. (2007), highlighted the role of metadata and

data standards (MDDS) in e-governance, need for

interoperability in e-Governance in Indian context. She

also discussed a conceptual model towards achieving

semantic level interoperability of e-governance systems

with the help of metadata and data standards.

Alasem (2009) illustrates that number of national and

international metadata standards are evolved to describe

government information and services. So that they can be

used across the public information systems and sectors in

those countries.

Various e-governance services and applications need to

exchange information that are required for providing

services to people, organizations, and other government

divisions and offices. Such a data exchange requires a

consistently perceived set of vocabularies, having the same

meaning or semantic content among all clients or for

applications (Abideen P. S., 2011). Thus before

performing any e-governance program, it is imperative to

have information/data normalization just as the

normalization of the information elements and

resources/assets.

Governance exercises are information-driven, and

government divisions and different partners of the policy

implementation framework receive, produce, and utilize

enormous quantum of information. For successful use of

these information produced in the administration, both at

the national and regional level, it should be adequately

deployed by defining metadata for different information

sources in the government. Such data description enables

speedy, relevant, and timely retrieval of the e-governance

information. This is taken care of by the metadata

frameworks, standards, and specifications. Metadata

assists citizens to dive through a huge quantum of e-

governance data sources (Abideen P. S., 2011).

In a government system, information is received at various

stages of administrative activities like during submission

of application by the people, while processing the

application, during policy formulation of the government,

or while providing the service to the people. These

information/data to be standardized for a uniform pattern

for machine processing and interoperability between

administrative framework and services (Abideen P. S.,

2011).

Communication calls for a commonly understood set of

vocabularies having the same semantic content among all

these users. Therefore, it is critical that data

standardization and standardization of information

elements and resources be performed in e-Governance

programs. The standardization will also help in reducing

redundancy, enhancing clarity and will facilitate

interoperability and to reuse data elements across all

departments.

39


1. Significance of Metadata Standards in e-

Governance

The e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) brought

out by the Cabinet Office, (2006) summarises the

significance of e-Governance standards, which include:

Better use of official information.

Joining-up of government systems, policies, and

services which designed to meet the needs of citizens.

Easy accessibility of government information

from common centralized portals.

Device new systems for handling government

information.

Manage or find information which may be in the

form of web pages, electronic documents, paper files

or databases.

Achieve consistency of data across systems.

According to Tambouris et al., (2007) 'metadata can

facilitate the discovery of e-government resources, by

identifying resources, bringing similar resources together,

distinguishing dissimilar resources, and giving location

information.

2. e-Governance Metadata Standards:

Global Scenario

A review of the literature shows that the need for metadata

standardization in e-governance has been realized at the

global level. Different studies and surveys conducted by

Booth (2002), Tambouris, E and Tarabanis, K (2004),

Madalli, D. P. (2007), SuKantarat, W (2008), Alasem

(2009), Abideen P. S., (2011), Mahajan (2014), Milic et al.

(2021) etc. illustrate various e-Governance metadata

initiatives in several parts of the world. Backus (2001)

performed an analysis of e-government initiatives in

developing countries and explained the technical features

of e-governance. The Dublin Core is a fifteen element

metadata element set intended to facilitate the discovery of

electronic resources (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative,

2021). The Dublin Core being a prominent metadata

standard for information management, a survey on its use

and adoption in e-governance information management

was undertaken by Andrew & Aagaard (2003).

Tambouris, E and Tarabanis, K (2004) conducted a

comparative study of metadata initiatives across the world

and reviewed various national metadata standards. These

were compared with Dublin Core and presented a metadata

element set, that was proposed by the European

Committee for Standardization. SuKantarat, W (2008),

conducted a study on use of metadata in the digital

initiatives in Thailand, and the study reveals that the

Dublin Core metadata is being followed in these

initiatives.

Alasem (2009) also provided an overview of e-

Government Metadata Standards and initiatives based on

Dublin Core. Alasem (2009) demonstrated various


metadata standards taken up by different countries like

Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, etc.

that are used for describing e-governance information in

those countries. Abideen P, S. (2011) discussed major e-

governance metadata standardization efforts at the global

level.

Studies show that countries like Australia, Ireland, New

Zealand, United Kingdom, US, Canada, India, etc. have

realized the need for standardization of the e-Governance

information and services and began adopting national

standards for metadata in the e-governance domain.

Prominent among them include Australian Government

Locator Service (AGLS) in Australia (National Archives

of Australia, 2021), Irish Public Service Metadata

Standard (IPSMS) in Ireland (Government of Ireland,

2002), New Zealand Government Locator Service

(NZGLS) in New Zealand ("State Services Commission",

2002 & Barham, 2002) and e-Government Metadata

Standard (eGMS), (Cabinet Office, 2006) in the United

Kingdom. Apart from these standardization initiatives,

GILS in the US (GILS, 2021),TBITS 39:Treasury Board

Information Management Standard Government Online

Metadata Standard in Canada (Library and Archives

Canada., 2020), Finnish Dublin Core extension for

government publications, Minnesota Metadata Guideline

for Dublin Core Metadata (The Foundations Project,

2006)., etc. are also worth mentioning. Abideen P. S.,

(2011,2013) proposed a metadata framework model,

namely Indian e-Governance Metadata Set Model (I-GMS)

for standardization of e-governance information in the

Indian context. Milic et al. (2021) in their study presented

an overview and analysis of metadata models used in

contemporary e-government open data platforms and

proposed a metadata quality assessment model. Their

study also ‘examines how metadata structure is oriented

toward the provision of valuable information assets needed

for the utilization of open government data’.

2.1 e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS)

e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) is the UK

government's e-governance metadata standard (Cabinet

Office, 2006). It is envisaged to enable the public domain

information of the UK government more findable,

manageable, and that can be shared across the UK e-

government systems. It illustrates how to describe the

public sector contents like e-government web sites and

services.

The e-GMS standard consists of formal definition of the

element, and obligations applied to each element, purpose,

notes on additional information, refinements for making

the meaning of an element narrower or more specific,

examples, HTML syntax, encoding schemes used to

regulate the value of elements, Dublin Core element, and

list of elements in other metadata schemes that are mapped

to e-GMS element (Cabinet Office, 2006).

e-GMS consists of mandatory fields (Creator, Date,

Subject, Title) mandatory if applicable (Accessibility,

40


Identifier, Publisher) apart from 16 optional and three

recommended fields (Cabinet Office, 2006). The Data

Standards Authority (GOV.UK., 2020) is established to

improve how the public sector manages data by

establishing standards to make it easier and more effective

to share and use data among government’s stakeholders.

2.2 New Zealand Government Locator Service

(NZGLS)

The New Zealand government has come up with a crossdomain

resource description standard consisting of 19

elements called the New Zealand Government Locator

Service (NZGLS) in order to catalogue government

information and services using a common set of terms, or

'metadata elements'. The circular issued by the Department

of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, (2011) states that

NZGLS’s function is analogous to the function of a library

catalogue. The State Services Commission of New

Zealand has the responsibility of maintaining the NZGLS

and the National Library-Archives New Zealand acts as

custodian for the thesauri that are part of the Standard

(Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2011).

NZGLS is capable of describing both offline (people and

organization, information, objects, and services) and

online resources (Barham, 2002). Out of the 19 elements,

five elements such as creator, function, subject, title, type

(with category refinement) must be present in any NZGLS

record for any type of resource.

Three elements such as availability, identifier, and

publisher are mandatory for some types of resources.

Availability is mandatory for agency, service, or offline

documents. But it is optional for online documents.

Identifier is mandatory for online resources. Publisher is

mandatory for all documents and not used for service or

agency resources.

Five elements, such as audience, date, description,

language, and mandate are recommended. All other

elements are optional.

2.3 Irish Public Service Metadata Standard

The Government of Ireland, (2002), also has introduced an

e-governance metadata standard, namely Irish Public

Service Metadata Standard (IPSMS) that is also based on

the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set. It contains three

types of elements, such as Mandatory, Conditional, and

Recommended. Mandatory elements such as title, creator,

subject, publisher, date, and identifier must be present for

a metadata record to be IPSMS compliant. But, the

conditional elements are mandatory only in certain

circumstances. The type element is a conditional element.

Recommended elements such as description, contributor,

format, source, language, relation, coverage, and rights

should be included when its use improves the


discoverability or helps determine suitability or

accessibility of a resource.

2.4 Australian Government Locator Service

(AGLS)

Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) metadata

standard is an Australian standard for cross-domain

resource description, consisting of nineteen elements

(National Archives of Australia, 2021). AGLS is also

based on the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set with 4

additional elements to describe the resources more

effectively. It contains different element qualifiers to

facilitate it to describe more categories of resources.

AGLS, which is interoperable and is entirely compatible

with the Dublin Core metadata element set. In order to

have resource compliance with AGLS standard, five

metadata elements such as creator, title, date, identifier

OR availability, subject OR function must be present.

The 'identifier' field is mandatory if the resource is in

online mode and 'availability' field is mandatory if the

resource is available only in offline mode. AGLS requires

'publisher' element to describe the information resources,

except for transactional services. All other elements are

optional, and all elements are repeatable (Abideen P. S.,

2011).

2.4 Indian Scenario

The Government of India also has taken initiatives in

metadata standardisation in India. The first working group

meeting constituted for ‘metadata and data standards for e-

Governance application domains’, was held in the

Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC),

Bangalore in June 2006.

Over a period of time, the Government of India has

notified domain-specific e-Governance related metadata

standards (e-Governance Standards Division, Govt. of

India, 2021).

Prominent among them include:

Metadata and Data Standards for Health Domain

Metadata and Data Standards for Panchayati Raj

Metadata and Data Standards for Rural Drinking

Water and Sanitation

Demographic Metadata and Data Standards

Biometrics Standards for Face image data,

Fingerprint image data and Iris image data.

Based on the study undertaken on the globally accepted e-

Government metadata standards, Abideen P. S., (2013)

proposed a model metadata framework for India, namely

Indian e-Governance Metadata Set Model (I-GMS)

'consisting of 18 elements with four mandatory fields such

as Creator, Date, Title, Subject, and three fields such as

Availability, Identifier and Publisher are mandatory based

on the types of resource. The remaining 11 elements are

optional. All elements are repeatable, and many elements

have qualifiers to specify the context of the data. The

model proposed by Abideen P. S., (2013), is compatible

with the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set.

41


Metadata Interoperability

Interoperability is ‘the ability of two or more organizations

or systems to be engaged in the process of ensuring that

the organizations or systems exchange information and reuse

the information, internally or externally’ (Martins, P.

V., & Da Silva, A. R., 2008). The interoperability of e-

governance services are very important, in order to feel the

convenience of application of technology in the day today

life of the citizens. Different studies conducted by Madalli,

D. P. (2007), Bountouri et al., (2008), Charalabidis &

Askounis, (2008), Saekow & Boonmee, (2009), Ojo et al.,

(2009, 2010) are mainly pointing to the importance of

metadata standardisation for interoperability in e-

governance. Initiatives at the global and national level in

metadata standardization is a positive direction in e-

governance interoperability.

General issues in interoperability especially in the context

of India is being highlighted by Madalli, D. P., (2007).

These include:

Requirement for specific type of data sets, and

varying forms of interaction and delivery of services.

Variations in e-governance method form department

to department.

Disparity as different departments adopted e-

governance at different times and following the

standards and technologies that were available at that

time.

Disparity of cultural influences in approach to

information and its representation.

India having multi-lingual communities that warrants

cross lingual retrieval.

All of these reasons warrant that measures of

interoperability be implemented in e-governance system

(Madalli, D. P., 2007).

Since metadata schemas define the structure of the

metadata description, the data input to the e-governance

systems needs to be interoperable. It is being facilitated by

using the data encoding systems, which specify the rules

for vocabulary control, like in the case of an authority list

in a library database. Encoding schemes help remove

inconsistency in data entry by reducing the chance of using

variant or incorrect forms of the same data. Abideen P. S.,

(2011) illustrated a detailed description of encoding

systems used for metadata interoperability in various

countries. Once the standardized data is available, it will

be useful for the computers to analyze it, using various

technologies, including that of the semantic web.

Conclusions

Analysis of the budget documents of India (Ministry of

Finance, 2021) shows that government of India and state

governments are earmarking crores of rupees year after

year on e-governance projects in order to ensure

efficiency, transparency, and a better citizen-friendly

interface. To exchange data between these e-governance


systems and services, it requires standardization at

metadata level.

This study emphasized the need for metadata

standardization in the e-governance domain and analysed

the features of prominent e-government metadata

standards.

The study shows that there is an inter-relation between

electronic information management and the e-government

information management. It is observed that major e-

governance metadata standards are evolved from the

Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, that is prominently

used in electronic information management especially in

digital library systems. It shows that the principles of

library science are getting wider acceptance in various

other fields, and libraries are being engaged in managing

such vast information.

Acknowledgement

This paper is based on the thesis submitted by the author to

the University of Pune. Author acknowledge the

contributions of Prof. ARD Prasad, and Prof. Devika P

Madalli for their continues guidance while undertaking the

research studies. Author is thankful to the DRTC

Bangalore and the University of Pune for providing

research facilities.

References

Abideen P. S. (2011). A study of Interoperable e-

Governance Metadata Model (Ph.D). Savitribai Phule

Pune University.

Abideen P. S. (2013). Model for Indian E-Governance

Metadata Set for Information Management and

Interoperability. Journal of Knowledge & Communication

Management, 3(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5958/j.2277-

7946.3.1.001

Alasem, A. (2009). An Overview of e-Government

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About Author

Dr Sainul Abideen is currently heading the Library

of IISER Thiruvananthapuram. He has more than 22

years of experience in prestigious libraries including

the ones at the IISER Thiruvananthapuram, IIT

Kharagpur, IIITM-K Thiruvananthapuram, C-DoT,

Bangalore and ARCI, Hyderabad.

Dr. Sainul is a VLIR Scholar in Scientific and

Technological Information Management offered by

Flemish Inter-University Council, Belgium and was

an invitee to the 3 rd Word Congress for Information

Systems held in Rio De Janeiro, with travel grant

from the UNESCO. Dr. Sainul is a member

(Representing Asia/Pacific) in the International

Coordination Committee (ICCI) constituted by

UNESCO. Sainul has served as the Joint Coordinator

of the IISER Library Consortium and an alumni of

DRTC, Bangalore.

43



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


12 th August 2021


26 th August 2021


8 th September 2021



Mapping and visualization of Scholarly Publications on

Cancer: A Bibliometric Review

Samima Khatun & Dr Sibsankar Jana

ABSTRACT:

Samima Khatun

Research Scholar (M.Phil)


Information Science


West Bengal, India

Email:

samima88khatun@gmail.com

Dr Sibsankar Jana

Assistant Professor

Department of Library &

Information Science


West Bengal, India

Email: sibs_jana@yahoo.com

Introduction: Treatment of cancer is a burning issue throughout the world and people are

very much worried about the development of a vaccine or medicine or reliable treatment

process in cancer. From primitive times and even now, thousands of scientists and doctors

are doing their research on it and are publishing their works every year across the globe.

Purpose: Nowadays, it is essential to quantify various aspects of the scientific publications

to judge the qualities as well as outcomes of it. The present study made an attempt to

analyse the scholarly publication on cancer using bibliometrics tools and techniques.

Research problem: What are the present and future trends of the cancer research

publications and the impact of the scientific publications on cancer is the main research

questions to be solved in this paper.

Objectives: Main objectives are to illustrate the authorship pattern and the degree of

collaboration of the scholarly publication on cancer.

Methodology: The data have been collected from the Web of Science (WoS) database. For

searching the data, these keywords have been used i.e. "cancer" or "cancerous" or

"carcinoma" or "carcinogen" or "Carcinogenic" or "leukaemia" or "lymphoma" or

"malignancy" or "malignant growth" or "oncology" and time period covered form 1999 to

2020. In this connection, a total of 2,780,830 data available on the web of science database

as of 14th December 2020. Later we filtered these enormous amounts of data using

document type: article; access type: open access; publication place: India etc and ultimate

got 19147 bibliographic data.

Findings: It was found that 362 are single-authored papers and 18,785 articles by multiauthors

(i.e. 133,562 authors). Total 16277 articles contributed by the Indian authors

(14573 SCP and 1704 MCP), USA 1185 publications (14 SCP and 1171MCP), United

Kingdom 182 (1 SCP and 181MCP), China164 (all are MCP), etc. Here, it is also proved

that medical science is the discipline where most of the authors publish their scientific

production in a collaborative manner.

KEYWORDS:

Authorship Pattern; Bibliometrics Study; Cancer Research; Collaborative

Research

44


Khatun and Jana: Mapping and Visualization of …

Introduction

Cancer is one of the evil health hazards throughout the

world for ages. Cancer is such a danger that extended the

scope of the human experience. In July 2016, the South

African Journal of Science published an article that

described the evidence of cancer in a hominid fossil that

lived 1.7 million years back (Strauss, 2016). In 2017, an

international team of researchers from the University of

Granadan, Spain, headed by Prof. Miguel

CecilioBotellaLópez, Professor of the Department of Legal

Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology,

discovered two mummies with cancer those who were the

members of the Egyptian royal families. They conducted

CT scan of both the mummies and analyzed breast cancer

(Women) who died around 2000 B.C. and another (man)

who died with multiple myelomas around 1800 B.C.

(Science Daily, 2017). Even, many Egyptian and Greek

physicians mentioned cancer at various times in earlier

literature. So, cancer is an old enemy for humankind. Even

now, it has been deceiving human civilization with all its

might. According to the National Cancer Registry

Programme Report 2020 (Released by the Indian Council

of Medical Research (ICMR)), India’s cancer burden is

likely 13.9 lakh in 2020 and it will 15.7 lakh in 2025. The

report further states that the cases of breast cancer are

increasing and uterine cancer are decreasing (Sirun, 2020).

According to the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the

European Commission, the cancer burden is like to

increase in 2.7 million and 1.3 million deaths in the

European Union (EU) countries. Here also the female

breast cancer is the commonly diagnosed cancer in the EU

(Joint Research Centre, European Commission, 2020).

Recently, the American Cancer Society Journal published

a paper and presented that approximately 1.8 million new

cases will be diagnosed and more than 6 lakh people will

die due to cancer in 2020 in the USA (American Cancer

Society , 2020). According to the World Health

Organization (WHO), one in every five people will be

diagnosed with cancer in the future days. WHO also

mentioned in its Cancer Report 2020 that in 2018, the

Global cancer burden was 18.1 million and 9.1 million

people died and it will likely to rise 29.4 million in

2040(World Health Organization, 2020). So, it is widely

believed that cancer is a deadly disease that has been

rampant all over the world. Simply, thousands of scientific

articles published every year on cancer research.

Nowadays, it is essential to quantify various aspects of the

scientific publication to judge the qualities as well as

outcomes of it. In this regard, bibliometrics analysis is

essential to know the various aspects of the publication i.e.

authorship pattern, collaboration, citations etc.

Bibliometrics is an emerging tool for analyzing the

statistical and quantitative aspects of research publications.

So, it is used to analyze to confirm the present and future

trends of the research publications. Since the last decades,

bibliometrics has been widely used to analyze the cancer

research in various aspects i.e. application of medicine in

cancer treatment, cancer rehabilitation, Cancer Research in

India, oncology research etc. Generally, cancer as well as

cancer research is a hot topic among the researchers for

present days. So, it is very interesting to represent the

qualities and impact of the scientific publications on

cancer. Therefore, the present study has made an attempt

to mapping and visualizing the scholarly publication on

cancer.

Literature Review

45


A literature review is one of the important facets of any

kind and type of research. It represents the past, present,

and future of the study. Alan Pritchard, first used the term

bibliometrics in 1969 in his paper entitled “Statistical

Biography or Bibliometrics?”. Actually, bibliometrics is

the combination of two terms i.e. Greek word “biblion”

meaning book, and the German word “metron” meaning

measure (Bibliometrics, 2018). According to Pritchard,

bibliometrics is "The application of mathematics and

statistical methods to books and other media of

communication" (Pritchard, 1981). He also mentioned

bibliometrics as “metrology of the information transfer

process and its purpose is analysis and control of the

process” (Drake, 2003). In 1969 Fairthorne described

bibliometrics as “quantitative treatment of properties of

recorded discourse and behaviour appearing to it.

Bibliometric is also explained as quantitative analysis of

bibliographic features of body of literature”

(Bibliometrics, 2018). Bibliometrics is used to measure

research performance on the basis of two central elements

i.e. (i) A number of publications and (ii) Citation count.

Statistical data on a number of publications mainly

represent the quantitative output of the scholarly activity.

On the other hand, citation count reflects how many times

cited the paper and by whom as well as it reflects the

impact factors of the journals (Diem & Wolter, 2013).

Bibliometrics parameters are very important to assess

academic productivity. These parameters help to analyze

authors ((publication count, citation count, h-index, h-

index, e-index, g-index, etc.) and journals (impact factor,

Eigenfactor, article influence score, SCImago journal rank,

source-normalized impact per paper, etc.). The available

bibliometrics tools effectively help to assess academic

productivity, including readiness for promotions and other

awards. Moreover, bibliometric parameters are very much

effective to evaluate the individual or groups of authors,

institutions, and articles as well as journals also (Choudhri,

Siddiqui, Khan, & Cohen, 2015). Velmurugan analysed

the authorship pattern and their collaboration of the Annals

of Library and Information Studies Journal. He

represented a total of 203 articles published during 2007-

2012. Out of 203 articles, 72(35.46 %) were singleauthored

and 131(64.54 %) articles were multiple-authored

contributions. In the case of authors affiliation, authors of

167 (82.26 %) articles from Academic Institutes and 12


(5.92%) from Special Institutions. The Ranges for the

degree of collaboration for the journal of Annals of

Library and Information Studies is 0.57 to 0.82 for the

year 2007-2012 (Velmurugan, 2013). Patra &

Bhattacharya analysed the cancer research in India where

they downloaded 6408 articles from 686 journals from the

Pub Med database. This study clearly showing that the

cancer research in India is increasing, with a marginal

decrease in the year 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 2003.

Authorship pattern shows a close conformity with the

original Lotka’s law, where 58.59% of Indian authors have

single publication, 14.97% publish two articles, 7.72%

publish three articles. 19 most productive authors are

identified who had published more than 50 articles (Patra

& Bhattacharya, 2005). Cancer is a global burden and the

proportion of all deaths due to cancer has increased

steadily over the past few years: 7.3% in 2011, 7.8% in

2012 and 8.3% in 2013. According to the most recent

South African National Cancer Registry statistics, there

were 55 385 new cancer cases in 2008, with an age

standardised incidence rate of 113.2 and 101.1 per 100 000

in males and females, respectively (Moodley, Singh,

Kagina, Abdullahi, & Hussey, 2015).

Objectives of the study

The present study has been conducted to achieve the

following objectives

broaden the search to include maximum results on cancer

research. In this connection, a total of 2,780,830 data

available on the web of science databaseas of 14th

December 2020.

This is an enormous amount of data. Therefore, data have

been filtered primarily on the basis of “Document Type”

i.e. Article (1,689,099), and then it has been filtered on the

basis of “country.” For the present study, only “Indian”

publications have been selected. This is also a huge

number of publications. Finally, the data have been filtered

on the basis of “Open Access” and a total of 19231 data

available in the WoS as open access publication. After

downloading all the required data, again it is filtered in the

biblioshiny platform, and a total of 84 early accessed

articles excluded and finally, 19147 articles have been

considered for the present study.

Lastly, the analysis of data is much more important to

represent the real value of cancer research in society. To

analyze the data, some bibliometrics tools have been used

i.e. BibExcel (BibExcel , 2017), VOSviewer (VOSviewer,

2021), biblioshiny (biblioshiny, 2016), etc.

Data Analysis and Result

1 Annual Scientific Productions

i. To illustrate the authorship pattern of the

scholarly publication on cancer

ii. To identify the most productive author

iii. To identify the degree of collaboration

Methodology

A threefold methodology has been adopted for the present

study. Firstly, the selection of a topic is very much

important and that should be judicious. So, in the selection

of a topic, we emphasized such a topic that has a realistic

value in society, and that can give a real picture of present

research and development. In this regard, cancer is a

burning issue throughout the world and all people are very

much worried about the development of vaccines or

medicine or reliable treatment process in cancer. So, if we

can analyse the research and development on cancer as

well as the scientific publication on it and represent the

present status, it will be helpful for researchers as well as

general people.

Figure1: Annual scientific production on cancer

Figure 1 represents the annual scientific production on

cancer. It is clearly showing the scientific production of

cancer from the year 1999 to 2020. In this period, the

highest number of scientific articles published in the year

2019 i.e. 2211and the second-highest articles produced in

the year 2018 i.e. 2180 and respectively 2017 (2162), 2016

(2060), 2015 (1932), 2014 (1772), 2020 (1699),

2013(1311), 2012 (1013) and so. Here, the lowest number

of articles published in the year 2001 is 33.

Another important issue is the collection of data. For the

collection of data, various databases have been consulted

and purposefully data have been collected from the Web of

Science (WoS) database. For searching the data, these

keywords have been used i.e. "Cancer" or "cancerous" or

"Carcinoma" or "Carcinogen" or "Carcinogenic" or

"Leukaemia" or "lymphoma" or "Malignancy" or

"Malignant Growth" or "Oncology" and time period

covered form 1999 to 2020. Here “or” operator is used to

2 Top 20 Prolific Authors

46


Table 1 and figure 2 show the top 20 authors in the field of

cancer research in Indian journals. Here, the top authors

have been measured based on their number of

contributions in the journals over time. S. Kumar is the top

author who published a total of 416 articles in various

Indian journals on cancer research.


Authors Articles

Articles

Fractionalized

KUMAR S 416 77.39

KUMAR A 353 67.68

GUPTA S 311 50.22

KUMAR P 268 46.88

SINGH S 238 44.98

SINGH A 219 40.10

SHARMA S 198 36.46

SHARMA A 189 33.65

GUPTA A 173 33.14

KUMAR P 163 26.06

KUMAR V 163 32.03

DAS S 157 27.88

GUPTA R 146 21.96

GUPTA N 145 27.21

KUMAR M 142 25.53

SINGH R 133 27.15

GHOSH S 132 23.70

SHARMA R 130 25.24

KUMAR N 128 24.13

BANERJEE S 126 22.07

Table 1: Top 20 prolific authors

Figure 2: Top 20 prolific authors

3 Top Authors’ Production over the time

The duration1999-2020 has been considered as the time

period for the present study. So, in this time period, several

authors have been contributed their scientific publications

in various scholarly journals related to cancer as well as

medical science. Over this period, S. Kumar is the author,

who contributed the highest number of publications in this

field. Figure 3 reveals that the scientific publications of the

top 20 authors from 1999 to 2020. Here, the publication of

S. Kumar, was started in the year 2004. He published the

highest number of articles in the year 2015 i.e.75and

received TC 835 and TCpY 139.167 and respectively in

the year 2019 i.e. 74 articles (TC 219 and TCpY 109.5),

2018 (74 articles, TC 468 and TCpY 156), 2017 (62

articles, TC 459 and TCpY114.75), 2016 (59 articles, TC

526 and TCpY 105.2), 2014 (56 articles, TC 820 and

TCpY 117.143), 2020 (55 articles, TC 230 and TCpY

230.00), 2013 (52 articles, TC 934 and TCpY 116.75),

47


2012 (28 articles, TC 94 and TCpY 110.444), 2011 (24

articles, TC 444 and TCpY 44.4), 2010 (26 articles, TC

417 and TCpY 37.909), 2008 (11 articles, TC 216 and

TCpY 16.615), 2007 (8 articles, TC 153 and TCpY

10.929), 2004 (5 articles, TC 131 and TCpY 7.706), 2005

(4 articles, TC109 and TCpY 6.813) and in 2006 (4

articles, TC 101 and TCpY 6.733).

4 Collaborative Research

Interaction among the scientific community is an

important part of scientific practice. In any scientific

observations, scientists search for the matters, reading

some books or articles, taking notes, and always discuss

each other to get a highly acceptable and standard solution.

Interaction among the scientist not only help to seek

solutions but also enhance scientific productivity in a

collaborative manner (Melin & Persson, 1995). Therefore,

a collaboration between the authors or collaboration

among the institutions or among the country not only

increases the productivity of the scientific research but

also enhances the quality and impact of the research.


4.1 Author(s) Level Collaboration

Figure 4 displaying the network visualization of

collaborative authors. We know that the collaboration

among the authors is a highly essential practice to produce

quality scientific publications. In the present study, a total

of 19147 articles have been considered and among them,

only 362 articles contributed by the single author and the

rest 18,785 articles by multi-authors (i.e. 133562 authors ).

So, it is very simple that the authors came in a

collaborative platform to make cancer research more

valuable and reliable for the general people as well as to

enhance productivity and quality for the sake of

humankind. Here, Each circle under the cluster is

associated with a color and each color carries a weight. In

figure 4, 9 colors have been used to cluster the circle. In

this regard, red color corresponds with the maximum item

density and gray correspond with the minimum item

density.

Figure 4: Network visualization of collaborative authors

Figure 5 showing Kumar, Alan Prem and his collaborative

authors of the present study. Kumar, Alan Prem

contributed total 353 publication over the time. He

published his highest number of publication i.e. 43 in the

year 2016 as well as 2018.

Figure 6 representing Gupta, Sudeep and his collaborative

authors. Here, Gupta, Sudeep contributed total 311

research articles on cancer in Indian Journals. He started

his publication in the year 2004 and in 2018 he published

highest number of publications i.e. 41.

Figure 7 also visualizing Kumar, Prabhash and his

collaborative authors. Kumar, Prabhash is in the fourth

position in terms of number of publications contributed

over the time. He contributed total 268 publications on

cancer research.

Figure 5: Kumar Alan Prem and his collaborative authors

48



Figure 6: Gupta, Sudeep and his collaborative

Figure 7: Prabhash Kumar and his collaborative authors

49



4.2 Institutional Level Collaboration

Figure 8: Network visualization of institution level collaboration

Nowadays, collaboration has been increasing among

various institutions in scientific productions. Basically, it

varies over disciplines. It has been noted that in medical

science, the trends of collaboration is increasing day-byday

in a tremendous way (Gazni, Sugimoto, & Didegah,

2012). Figure 8 representing the network visualization of

institution level collaboration where 11983 institutions

from 139 countries contributed their publications in a

collaborative manner on cancer researchin India-based

journals.

Figure 9: All India Institute of Medical Science and their Collaborative Institutions

50



On the basis of the figure 9, All India Institute of Medical

Science, India is the highest contributor. Total 1595

articlesare contributed by the authors from All India

Institute of Medical Science for that they hace received

total 11448 citations.

Tata Medical Hospital, India (Figure 10) is in the second

positionand they have contributed total 1186 articles and

received 27867 citations. Respectively, Post Graduate

Institute of Medical Education and Research, India (642

articles), Manipal University, India (500 articles),

Christian Medical College and Hospital, India (420

articles), Banaras Hindu University, India (404 articles),

Indian Institute of Science, India (400 articles), Johns

Hopkins University, USA (374 articles), King Saud

University, Saudi Arabia (324 articles), The University of

Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA (206 articles),

etc. So, it has been noted that various institutions across

the globe contributed their scholarly articles in a

collaborative manner.

Figure 10: Tata Medical Hospital and their Collaborative Institutions

4.3 Country Level Collaboration

It was found that a total of 19147 articles contributed from

139 Countries. Figure 11 shows the world collaborative

map. Earlier, we have discussed in the methodology that

the data have

been filtered based on the country i.e. “India” so that only

Indian journals have been considered for the present study.

In general, anyone from anywhere in the world can publish

their article in Indian journals

Figure 11: Visualization of world collaborative map

51



Figure 12: India and its’ Collaborative Countries

Figure 12 simply showing that India is the highest

contributor. Total 16277 articles contributed by the Indian

authors and among them, 14573 is the Single Country

Publications (SCP) which means all the authors belonging

from India, and 1704 is the Multiple Country Publications

(MCP) which means these articles published in a

collaborative manner with Indian authors and authors from

other countries.

Figure 13: USA and its’ Collaborative Countries

52



Figure 13 displaying that USA is in the second position

with 1185 publications (14 SCP and 1171 MCP),

respectively United Kingdom 182 (1 SCP and 181 MCP),

China164 (all are MCP), etc. Here, we can also mention

some of the highest collaborative countries i.e. India and

USA 2321 articles, the United Kingdom and India 611

articles, India and Saudi Arabia 496 articles, India and

China 488 articles, India and Australia360 articles, Canada

and India 326 articles, India and Japan 320, India and

Korea 296 articles, India and Malaysia 224 articles, India

and Netherlands 182articles, etc. (Simisaye & Osinaike,

2010).

Conclusions

The field of cancer research is very old and from the

primitive age, researchers and scientist started their work

on cancer. Nowadays, the whole world is busy finding out

the solution to cancer. India is also one of them. The

growth of publication in Indian journals is very interesting

but in 2020, the growth of publication slightly decreased

probably due to the pandemic situation. We all know that

Covid-19 dangerously stops all the activities throughout

the world. Simply, it affected the academic publication

field also. It is also important that the authors from various

counties (USA, UK, French, Canada, Australia,

Switzerland, Brazil, Spain, Russia, China, etc.) contributed

their scientific production in Indian journals. The authors

from the world famous universities and research

institutions have contributed their research outputs in

Indian journals (i.e. International Agency for Research on

Cancer, France (68 papers and 20,219 citations),

University of Oxford, UK (25 papers and 17,683

citations), Johns Hopkins University, USA (127 papers

and 7,812 citations), University of Michigan, USA (58

papers and 5,983 citations), Harvard University, USA (61

papers and 4,539 citations), National University of

Singapore, Singapore (95 papers and 3,518 citations),

King Saud University, Saudi Arabia (206 papers and 2950

citations), University of Queensland, Australia (28 papers

and 2580 citations), University of Toronto, Canada (69

papers and 2553 citations), National Taiwan University,

Taiwan (17 papers and 2133 citations), University of

Pittsburgh, USA (61 papers and 2022 citations) University

of Indonesia, Indonesia (13 papers and 1794 citations),

University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (21 papers and

1663 citations), University of Colorado, USA (35 papers

and 1518 citations), University of Washington, USA (39

papers and 1424 citations), The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg

School of Public Health, USA (13 papers and 1092

citations), Karolinska Institute, Sweden (29 papers and

1011 citations), King's College London, UK (35 papers

and 1005 citations) etc.). In this study, it is a very

interesting fact that most of the foreign authors and

institutions contributed very few papers but they have

received more and more citations. Actually, they have

contributed very quality scientific productions in a

collaborative manner. They collaborated with Indian

authors and authors from other countries to snatch out the

best result on cancer research. Collaborations among

authors, organizations, or countries extend the possibilities

of discovery of new ideas and motivate the researchers to

maintain a relation and develop a scientific network

(Dusdal & Powell, 2021). So, the primary advantages of

collaboration are sharing and transferring of skills and

knowledge as well as research equipment, development of

a worldwide scientific network, more and more visibility

of scientific output (Gazni, Sugimoto, & Didegah,

Mapping world scientific collaboration: authors,

institutions, and countries, 2012), encourage in creativity,

it widens to access a wider array of techniques for

research, deeper research, higher impact of publications

etc. (Global Academy Jobs.com, 2020). So, it is always

accepted that only collaborative research can give more

and more satisfactory results and quality production. And

again, it is proved that medical science is the field, where

most of the authors do their research in a collaborative

way.

References

53


American Cancer Society. (2020). Cancer Facts & Figures

2020. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from

https://www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics/allcancer-facts-figures/cancer-facts-figures-2020.html.

BibExcel . (2017). Retrieved September 29, 2021, from

https://homepage.univie.ac.at/juan.gorraiz/bibexcel/

Bibliometrics. (2018, November 29). Retrieved December

21, 2020, from LIBRARY AND INFORMATION

SCIENCE

NETWORK:

http://www.lisbdnet.com/bibliometrics/

biblioshiny. (2016). Retrieved September 29, 2021, from

biblioshiny

Home:

https://www.bibliometrix.org/Biblioshiny.html

Bibliometrics. (2018, November 29). Retrieved December

21, 2020, from Library and Information Science Network:

http://www.lisbdnet.com/bibliometrics/.

Choudhri, M. A., Siddiqui, M. A., Khan, M. N., & Cohen,

M. H. (2015). Understanding Bibliometric Parameters and

Analysis. RadioGraphics. 35 (3): 736-746.

Diem, A., & Wolter, S. C. (2013). The Use of

Bibliometrics to Measure Research Performance in

Education Sciences. Research in Higher Education. 54.

Ding, Y., Zhang, G., Chambers, T., Song, M., Wang, X.,

& Zhai, C. (2014). Content-Based Citation Analysis: The

Next Generation of Citation Analysis. JOURNAL OF THE

ASSOCIATION FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY , LXV (9), 1820-1833.

Drake, M. (Ed.). (2003). Encyclopaedia of Library and

Information Science (2nd Edition ed., Vol. I). New York:

Marcel Dekker.


Dusdal, J., & Powell, J. J. (2021). Benefits, Motivations,

and Challenges of International Collaborative Research:A

Sociology of Science Case Study. Science and Public

Policy , XLVIII (2), 235–245.

Gazni, A., Sugimoto, C. R., &Didegah, F. (2012).

Mapping world scientific collaboration: authors,

institutions and countries. Journal of the American Society

for Information Science and Technology. 63 (2): 323-335.

Global Academy Jobs.com. (2020). Retrieved October 2,

2021, from Collaboration, Networking:

https://blog.globalacademyjobs.com/20-benefits-ofcollaboration-as-a-researcher-you-cannot-afford-to-ignore/

Joint Research Centre, European Commission. (2020, July

24). 2020 Cancer Incidence and Mortality in EU-27

Countries. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from

https://www.esmo.org/oncology-news/2020-cancerincidence-and-mortality-in-eu-27-countries.

Melin, G., & Persson, O. (1995). Studying Research

Collaboration using Co-Authorship. Scientometrics. 36

(3): 363-377.

Moodley, J., Singh, V., Kagina, B. M., Abdullahi, L., &

Hussey, G. D. (2015). A bibliometric analysis of cancer

research in South Africa: study protocol. BMJ , 5, 1-4.

Patra, S. K., & Bhattacharya, P. (2005). Bibliometric

Study of Cancer Research in India. DESIDOC Bulletin of

Information Technology , XXV (2), 11-18.

Pritchard, A. (1981). Bibliometrics: a bibliography and

index. Watford, UK: ALLM Books.

About Authors

Samima Khatun presently engaged as a research

scholar (M.Phil.) in the Department of Library and

Information Science, University of Kalyani. She has

received her M.A (2010), B.Ed. (2012), MLIS (2015)

degree from University of Kalyani. She has published

near about ten research articles in various journals,

and conference proceeding. Her domains of interest

mainly are Bibliometrics, and Scientometrics study.

Dr.Sibsankar Jana is working as Assistant Professor

in the Department of Library & Information Science,

University of Kalyani. He has passed MLIS (Gold

Medalist) from J.U. in 2001. Later he has also

completed PGDDLM (Standing 1 st in merit list) and

Ph.D. from J.U. Earlier he passed M.Sc (Geology)

from C.U. He has written 5 books and near about

125 research articles published in reputed journals,

conference proceeding, book chapters etc. He has

also delivered/presented invited lectures and papers

in different forums. His domains of interest mainly

are Knowledge Organization, Scientometrics, Digital

Resource Management, E-learning etc.

Science Daily. (2017, December 14). CT scans of

Egyptian mummies reveal oldest known cases of breast

cancer and multiple myeloma. Retrieved December 18,

2020, from Science Daily:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/17121410

1215.htm.

Simisaye, A. O., &Osinaike, A. B. (2010). Citation

Analysis of Journal of Library and Information Science

(2004-2009). Brazilian Journal of Information Science.

4(1): 35-60.

Sirun, S. (2020). 27.1% of India’s all cancer cases in 2020

will be tobacco-related, ICMR report estimates. Retrieved

December 19, 2020, from https://theprint.in/india/27-1-ofindias-all-cancer-cases-in-2020-will-be-tobacco-relatedicmr-report-estimates/484724/.

Strauss, M. (2016, July 28). Earliest Human Cancer Found

in 1.7-Million-Year-Old Bone. Retrieved December 18,

2020, from National Geographic:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/07/oldesthuman-cancer-disease-origins-tumor-fossil-science/

Velmurugan, C. (2013). Bibliometric analysis with special

reference to Authorship Pattern and Collaborative

Research Output of Annals of Library and Information

Studies for the Year 2007 - 2012. International Journal of

Digital Library Services. 3

54



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


30 th August 2021




5 th October 2021


10 th October 2021

110 years influence of literary warrant on controlled

vocabulary and standard: A case study of DDC, LCSH, and

Z39.19

Sandip Majumdar

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Almost 110 years back Edward Wyndham Hulme introduced the concept of

Literary Warrant which simply is the topics around which a literature has become

established. The Principle of Literary Warrant has its application and influence on different

controlled vocabularies especially since the second half of twentieth century.

Purpose- The purpose of the present study is to try to understand the extent of influence of the

Principle of Literary Warrant in shaping Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system,

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and ANSI/NISO Z39.19 during its 110 years

of journey.

Research problem: The changes in structure and applicability of DDC, LCSH, and Z39.19

need in-depth study with reference to the influence of literary warrant as guiding principle.

Objectives: The main objective is to examine different editions of DDC and LCSH, and

different revisions of Z39.19 in order to assess changes, if any, and corroborating the same in

the light of applications of literary warrant principle.

Methodology: In order to fulfil the aforementioned purpose and meet the objective, case study

method has been adopted and extensive literary exploration has been carried out on different

editions of DC including 23 rd , literature on history and principles behind LCSH, and Z39.19

through Internet Archive (https://archive.org/index.php) and google scholar platforms.

Findings: Outcome of the study divides different editions of DDC into two distinct groups:

one in which only veiled references to literary warrant were found corroborating Dewey’s

thinking about applicability of different consensus angle and the other where declared

references to the concept by Editorial Policy Committee were encountered. On the other hand

it is found that LCSH took its shape mainly based on Library of Congress (LOC) collection

and hence bears all the advantages and disadvantages due to literary warrant at LOC. Study

of the different revisions of Z39.19 showed the importance of literary warrant in terminology

selection for different controlled vocabularies such as classification schemes, taxonomies,

ontologies and so on.

Sandip Majumdar

Assistant Professor


Information Science

University of Gour Banga

Malda-West Bengal

E-mail:

times_sandip@yahoo.com

KEYWORDS:

Literary warrant; Controlled vocabulary; Decimal Classification; Library of

Congress; ANSI/NISO; Z39.19

55


Majumdar: 110 years influence of …

Introduction

Almost 110 years back Edward Wyndham Hulme, an

alumnus of Oxford University and librarian of British

Patent Office (renamed as Intellectual Property Office), for

the first time challenged the then practice of information

professionals and classificationists in their tendency to

align classification works with order of science as well as

on philosophical and theoretical foundation which most of

the times resulted into futile efforts in enumerating all

possible or potential topics in the universe of knowledge

by ignoring topics in existing literature. Hulme was of the

opinion that book classification is simply “a mechanical

time-saving operation for the discovery of knowledge in

literature” (Hulme, 1950 ) and formulated the concept of

literary warrant in the year 1911 and included it in his

work Principles of Book Classification, published in a

series of articles in the Library Association Record

between 1911 and 1912. According to him “a class

heading is warranted only when a literature in book form

has been shown to exist, and the test of the validity of a

heading is the degree of accuracy with which it describes

the area of subject-matter common to the class” (Hulme,

1911). Hulme served British Patent Office in different

capacities, initially as higher division clerk, then as

assistant librarian, and, finally, from 1894 until his

retirement in1919 as librarian (Dousa, 2017). Although he

published a number of books and articles, his contribution

towards theories of knowledge organisation chiefly

remains in the Principle of Literary Warrant which

according to Beghtol is the topics around which a literature

has become established (Beghtol, 1995). Apart from that

Hulme may be considered as the pioneer of bibliometric

studies as he, as Sandars Reader in Bibliography at the

University of Cambridge in May 1922, for the first time,

proposed to apply statistical techniques in bibliographic

data to quantify progress of science (Hulme, 1923). The

potentiality of application of literary warrant in different

subject access systems has seen its acceptance across a

number of control vocabularies. The present article is an

effort to understand the one hundred and ten years of

influence of the Principle of Literary Warrant in shaping

different control vocabularies and one standard for

thesaurus construction through a case study of the Decimal

Classification (DC) system devised by Melvil Dewey,

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and

Z39.19. As a part of the study, extensive literary

exploration was carried out on different editions of DC

including 23 rd , literature on history and principles behind

LCSH, and Z39.19 through Internet Archive

(https://archive.org/index.php) and google scholar

platforms.

Decimal Classification Scheme

student library assistant encountered ‘the confusion of the

contents of the Amherst College Library in 1872’(Custer,

1958) which engaged him in studying classification of

knowledge as conceived by Aristotle, Bacon, Locke, and

other philosophers together with classifications of

Schwartz and Harris. After a great deal of study and visit

to a number of libraries, he was convinced about the

futility of the then ‘almost universal practice of arranging

books alphabetically by their authors’ names or by size or

accession or even color’ and decided to introduce a

scheme of arrangement of books by subject based upon

Harris’s inversion of the Baconian order of History, Poesy,

Philosophy. Amherst College adopted the plan in 1873

(Dewey, 1876) and finally after necessary refinements, 1 st

edition of Decimal Classification Scheme was published

anonymously from Amherst, Massachusetts in the year

1876 with the title “A Classification and Subject Index for

Cataloguing and Arranging Books and Pamphlets of a

Library” (OCLC), thus abandoning absolute location of

books on shelves by shelf and book number.

Melvil Dewey, during his life time, never allowed any

modification of the Scheme solely driven by theoretical

requirements as he apprehended that in doing so the

Scheme would be detracted from its practical usefulness.

His sincere efforts to make classification as minute as

possible had drawn him towards Charles Ammie Cutter’s

Rule 161 for specific subject heading when in the first

edition of DC he wrote:

The content or the real subject of which a book

treats, and not the form or the accidental wording

of the title, determines its place. Following this

rule, a Philosophy of Art is put with Art, not with

Philosophy (Dewey, 1876).

According to him “the predominant tendency or obvious

purpose of the book, usually decides its class number at

once” and existing literature and its specific representation

were given utmost importance in notational expression at

each level of exactness. Here, we find surprisingly great

similarity between Dewey’s view on philosophical theory

of classification and Hulme’s viewpoint on the tendency of

philosophical classification to obscure the nature and

purpose of classification. Hulme decisively argued that the

source for our authority in classifying a book should be the

book itself instead of a preconceived classification system

with its ‘ideological’ preferences (Rodriguez, 1984). Apart

from the subject of a book, growth of subsections of a

subject was addressed by Dewey with addition of figures

to the original three figure subject representation and not

vice-versa. That means growth of literature would warrant

addition of figures for subsections and to arrive at close

classification and limitless expansion of the scheme. In

Dewey’s words:

Melvil Dewey, the chief architect of Decimal

Classification and Relative Index, while working as a

56


The apparent difficulty in such cases is entirely

obviated by the use of a fourth figure, giving nine

sub-sections to any subject of sufficient

importance to warrant close classification . . .

Should the growth of any of these sub-sections

warrant it, a fifth figure will be added, for the

scheme admits of expansion without limit

(Dewey, 1876).

Coming back to the issue of influence of the Principle of

Literary Warrant upon DC, an unmistakable signature of

literary warrant was found in the 11 th edition’s discussion

of accommodating new subjects in the scheme wherein a

ground (i.e., important enough) for allotment of new

number by addition of another decimal to already existing

allied topics was prescribed by Dewey:

A new topic is always closely related to sum

existing hed. If there is no blank number availabl

it is combined with the hed nearest allyd, and,

when important enuf, distinct provision for the

new cumr is made by ading another decimal

(Dewey, 1922).

In the beginning of 1960s, the scenario was changing

slowly as the researchers were infusing new attention to

literary warrant although many a time with projection of

other factors in combination with literary warrant or

comparative superiority of other factors. As for example,

Farradane (1961) advocated consideration of a combined

approach of literary warrant and user’s point of view for

specialised classification (Farradane, 1985). It may be

argued that Farradane might not be the pioneer in this

regard as almost ten years back the importance of user

angle was documented in forwarding words to revised 15 th

edition of Dewey Decimal Classification & Relative

Index:

Since in all probability there will never be a

“last” edition of DC, we earnestly request all

users to give us the benefit of their criticism in

order that sometime our successors may actually

bring out “the perfect book” (Ferguson, 1951).

While digging the past, veiled references to literary

warrant were found to surface in the forwarding words of

Milton James Ferguson, the then Chairman and Editor of

revised Standard (15th) edition of Dewey Decimal

Classification & Relative index:

Our location in the Library of Congress has

enabled us to use its vast resources in books and

print and to estimate approximately the volume of

literature falling into any class; for it is obvious

that a number without a book is wasted effort

(Ferguson, 1951).

Following which, the numbers without literature were

omitted from the schedule. The change of location of DC

editorial office in the Library of Congress (LC) in the year

1927 could be viewed as watershed moment as it divided

religious and cultural bias towards western hemisphere

specially north American (Comaromi & Satija, 1985) as

observed in different editions of DC, into two distinct

57



pattern; one in which there was overwhelming influence of

western literature in DC upto 14 th edition. The other is

related to the relocation of DC editorial office in LC. As a

result, members of the editorial committee were exposed

to enviable collection of LC which might have resulted

into strong commitment to the idea of literary warrant on

their part specially since the publication of the 16 th edition

in 1958 (Fox, 2019). The LC collection was further

enriched with the establishment of LC overseas offices in

Asian and African countries in 1962 (Goel, n.d.). With the

arrival of Asian and African literature in LC, DC editorial

committee had to look beyond WASPish (White, Anglo-

Saxion, Protestant) (Satija, 2017) confines to

accommodate Afro-Asian literary warrant. This trend has

become a continuous process and reflected in further

reduction of Christian bias in the 200 Religion schedule

that was initiated in DC edition 21 and completed in DC

edition 22 (Mitchell, 2004). The Principle of literary

warrant has so far consistently been applied to different

editions of DC since its documented application from

edition 15. Indeed, the explicit editorial rule of seeking

twenty (arbitrary number) published literature on a topic

before accommodating a new number against the topic has

been the de facto guideline of choice for editing DC

schedule which effectively eliminated personal bias of the

editors (Fox; Mitchell, 2004). Intriguingly DC 20 th edition

slightly departed from the policy of eliminating numbers

without literature with the inclusion of standing room

numbers for topics carrying insufficient literature with

them (and hence do not qualify to have their own assigned

number) but incapacitating the numbers by denying feature

of either addition of standard subdivisions with them or

other number building techniques. The editorial

introduction corroborates as follows:

Standing room numbers provide a location for

topics with relatively few works written about

them, but whose literature may grow in the future,

at which time they may be assigned their own

number. (Comaromi, 1989)

The concept of topics in standing room could be viewed as

one of the finest application of literary warrant, for, the

concept may be used to monitor growth of literature in a

particular domain of interest, to identify emerging areas of

interest among scholarly communities, and to provide

scope for future expansion of the schedule. Going back to

veiled reference to literary warrant, the same was found to

have application in selection and use of form or style such

as philosophy, theory, dictionaries, essays, etc., which are

as important as subject matter and applicable to any class,

division, section, or subsection only when sufficient

literature warrants such division. DC 18 th edition was very

much close to declaring the concept of literary warrant

when Frances Hinton, the then Chairman of Decimal

Classification Editorial Policy Committee wrote in the

preface:

The terminology of the classification scheme

reflects the terminology used by the literature

being classified (Hinton, 1971).

However, it is only from DC 19 th edition that explicit

mention of literary warrant has been noticed with special


reference to expansion of a section in the schedule. The

glossary that accommodated literary warrant for the very

first time in this edition defined it as:

Justification for various provisions of a library

classification system based not on theory but on

the existence of actual works and their probable

acquisition by libraries.( Dewey Decimal

Classification and Relative Index, 1979)

Edition 21 deserves special mention as it is the first edition

which was prepared with online access to the OCLC

Online Union Catalogue for guidance on literary warrant

(Mitchell, 1996). The latest DC edition, i.e., 23 rd devoted a

considerable part of its explanation towards applicability

of literary warrant in enriching the Relative Index:

The relative Index is primarily an index to the

DDC as a system. It includes most terms found in

the schedules and tables, and terms with literary

warrant for concepts represented by the

schedules and tables. (Mitchell, 2011)

Thus, literary warrant has been the single most important

guiding principle for the DC editors to judge whether or

not a number in the schedule needs to be removed,

expanded or changed (Schroeder, 2003) together with

inclusion of concepts in the Relative Index as represented

by the schedules and tables (OCLC, n.d.). With the

publication of Electronic Dewey in 1993 and subsequent

introduction of Dewey for Windows and WebDewey in

the year 1996 and 2000 respectively (OCLC, n.d.), DC

entered the digital era for World Wide Web presence

which facilitates delivery of frequent updates and

provision of thousands of relative index terms but the

underlying editorial application of literary warrant remains

unchanged.

The Library of Congress Subject

Headings (LCSH)

The library of Congress (LOC) adopted the dictionary

form of catalogue in 1898 and abandoned alphabeticoclassed

catalogue in order to be able to secure a position

from where it could cooperate with the largest possible

number of American libraries. The development and

growth of the LCSH list kept a close connection with the

library’s collection (Chan, 1978). Viewed as a subject

authority list, it flourished with the speed with which

enrichment of collection of LOC occurred. The preface to

the second and third editions stated the policy of literary

warrant as follows:

The list covers subjects in all branches of

knowledge so far as the cataloguing of the

corresponding classes of books in the Library of

Congress progressed. (The Library of Congress,

1928, p. iii).

In contrary to the traditional practices of establishing

theoretical foundation and philosophical principles a priori

to development of any controlled vocabulary system,

neither the list was conceived at the outset nor was

developed with an underlying code of rules (Hoerman &

58


Furniss, 2000). This was admitted in the introductory

section of fourth edition of subject heading list by Haykin,

the then chief of subject cataloguing division of the LOC:

There was not to begin with, a scheme or skeleton

list of headings to which additions could be made

systematically, completing and rounding out a

system of subject headings for a dictionary

catalog. Such a scheme could not have been

devised at the time the Library’s dictionary

catalogs were begun, because there was no solid

body of doctrine upon which it could be based;

the guiding principles which were then in print

for all to read and apply were very meagre and

concerned themselves with the form of headings

and their choice. They did not provide the

theoretical basis for a system of headings (The

Library of Congress, 1943, p. iii).

The initial approach established a strong connection and

has similarity with Hulme’s view of emphasizing on the

actual published literature as the basis for classification

and not concepts in the universe of knowledge or any

abstract philosophical idea (Chan, Richmond, &

Svenonius, 1985). Heykin’s introductory comment in fifth

edition echoed the above view:

The list includes only the headings adopted for

use in the dictionary catalogs of the Library of

Congress in the course of cataloguing the books

added to the Library’s permanent classified

collections, and is not, therefore, a list of

headings equally complete in all fields of

knowledge. Neither is it a skeleton or basic list

which could be completed in the course of years

of cataloguing (Chan, 1986, p.10).

With the beginning of work on new subject catalogue and

printing of the first author cards in July 1898 at the LOC, a

pressing need was felt to begin an authority list for subject

headings. Accordingly, the ALA List of Subject Headings

for use in Dictionary Catalogs (1895) was considered as

the base and other authoritative works such as Decimal

and Expansive classifications, the Harvard list of subjects,

the New South Wales subject index, Forescue’s subject

index, other catalogues, bibliographies, encyclopaedias

and dictionaries were also consulted. The first edition was

published in 1914 under the title Subject Headings used in

the Dictionary Catalogues of the Library of Congress and

in the year 1975 the title was changed to Library of

Congress Subject Headings at the eighth edition (Chan,

1986, p.8). LCSH is now running into its 43 rd edition and

perhaps is the most sought after subject indexing language

in the world and has been translated in many languages. It

has been maintained since 1898 to catalogue collections of

LOC and has been continually updated since its first

printed appearance. Until 1950 only LOC cataloguers were

allowed to propose addition of new headings or to bring

changes in existing headings but today proposals are

sought from libraries and other institutions through Subject

Authority Cooperative (SACO) programme and

suggestions from general public are also welcome (The

Library of Congress, n.d.). One significant milestone

achieved by LOC in 1984 when it published Subject

Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings for the first time

and the latest updated 5 th edition was unveiled in 2008

with the title Subject Headings Manual (The Library of

Congress, 2014). The manual not only guides the

cataloguing staff of LOC regarding procedures and

practices but also provides substantive explanations and

understanding of subject cataloguing policy. The Subject

Headings Manual (SHM) defines literary warrant in its

instruction on establishment of a new topical subject

heading as follows:

Establish a subject heading for a topic that

represents a discrete, identifiable concept when it

is first encountered in a work being cataloged,

rather than after several works on the topic have

been published and catalogued (The Library of

Congress, 2013; Olson, 2000).

When establishing a new heading for which no consensus

has been developed among authorities in a particular field,

the SHM advocates conducting authority research as

follows:

Proposed subject headings and their associated

“used for” references should reflect both the

terminology used in current literature on the

62

topic in question, and the system of language,

construction, and style used in Library of

Congress Subject Headings (The Library of

Congress, 2020).

This would be followed by “intuitive judgment based on

available evidence (in some cases only the work being

cataloged) by selecting elements that will allow the

heading to express what is intended and at the same time

serve as a retrieval term in the system” (The Library of

Congress, 2013). Thus , “the topics that are represented in

LCSH on the basis of literary warrant are more or less the

topics that are represented in published materials received

and catalogued by the Library of Congress” (Olson, 2000,

p.57).

ANSI/NISO Z39.19

Z39.19, one of the most influential national standards ever

developed for the library and information field, deals with

the structure, construction, and use of thesauri. The first

edition of this standard was prepared by Subcommittee 25

on Thesaurus Rules and Conventions of the American

National Standards Committee Z39 on Standardization in

the Field of Library Work, Documentation, and Related

Publishing Practices and was published in 1974. The

standard was revised by Madeline Henderson and a new

edition was released in 1980. The 3 rd revision was

undertaken under the leadership of Dr. Bella Haas

Weinberg and a significantly expanded standard, taking

into account variations in approach, was released in 1993

59



with the title Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and

Management of Monolingual Thesauri (Crawford, 1991).

During those days printed documents such as journal

articles, technical reports, newspaper articles, etc. were the

mainstream information resources and accordingly display

methods were described. With the emergence of new

information storage and retrieval systems in electronic

environment and increased population of non-traditional

documents such as patents, chemical structures, maps,

music, videos, museum artifacts, and many other types of

materials, the inadequacy of the standard to deal with

rapidly evolving electronic environment was felt by review

committee. As a preparatory stage for new revision, NISO

organized a national Workshop on Electronic Thesauri,

held on November 4–5, 1999, to investigate the

desirability and feasibility of developing a standard for

electronic thesauri. The workshop identified a number of

weak points of 1993 edition such as unfriendly to nonlexicographers,

limited to post-coordinate retrieval,

confined to document indexing applications, limited to

printed products and recommended revision to include

different types of controlled vocabularies, extension to

cover neodocuments, inclusion of web application,

inclusion of interoperability among controlled

vocabularies, etc. (Fayen, 2007). 4 th edition came into

being in 2005 with the title Guidelines for the

Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual

Controlled Vocabularies and this was followed by 2010

reaffirmation (NISO, 2010).

Z39.19 recognises literary warrant as the main tool for

vocabulary selection along with user warrant and

organisational warrant. This standard defines literary

warrant as “Justification for the representation of a concept

in an indexing language or for the selection of a preferred

term because of its frequent occurrence in the literature”

(National Information Standards Organization, 1993, p.36;

National Information Standards Organization, 2005, p.6).

1993 revision of Z39.19 recommended literary warrant as

the guiding principle for selection of a descriptor and

preferred form of a descriptor as follows:

Words and phrases drawn from the literature of

the field should determine the formulation of

descriptors. When two or more variants have

literary warrant, the most frequently used term

should be selected as the descriptor (National

Information Standards Organization, 1993, p.7).

The fourth revision added two more warrants namely user

warrant and organisational warrant with the existing

literary warrant for selection of terms (National

Information Standards Organization, 2005, p.16). But no

clear indication was given as to how to use the three

warrants to select terms—in combination or

indiscriminately.

Also, except in case of literary warrant, “terms whose

meanings overlap in general usage, and homographs, i.e.,

terms with identical spellings but different meanings,


should be avoided as far as possible in the selection of

descriptors” (National Information Standards

Organization, 1993, p.2; National Information Standards

Organization, 2005, p.20). Literary warrant for spelling of

words and compound terms have also been suggested.

Data Analysis

Dewey passed away in 1931 and although there is no

documentary evidence that Dewey had taken any note of

the concept of Literary Warrant or had exchanged his

views with Hulme, it may be argued that Dewey had a

certain intuition about the value of existing literature on a

topic for the justification of its inclusion in schedule

fuelled by his experience during Amherst College days. As

the DC Editorial Committee took over the responsibility of

revision of DC and its eventual relocation to LC, the

exposure to colossal collection of LC has definitely been 63

the most influencing factor for allowing literary warrant to

take the centre stage for revision of DC both print as well

as web version as reflected in the recent editions. Most

interestingly the concept of “topics of standing room”

from DDC 20 th edition has its counterpart in the form of

“provisional/candidate terms” in Z39.19 as in both the

cases concepts or concept representing terms with

insufficient literature are kept separate as terms with

special symbols or other mechanism until sufficient

literature warrant their inclusion into vocabulary. Literary

warrant partially helped to prepare larger context and

applicability of Z39.19 which is evident from the change

in the title of the standard that included monolingual

controlled vocabularies instead of monolingual thesauri so

as to make the standard suitable for different controlled

vocabularies such as classification schemes, taxonomies,

ontologies, thesaurus, etc. Coming back to LCSH, the

overwhelming influence of literary warrant on LCSH

seems to have its negative effects as “literary warrant

introduces a decidedly US bias to LCSH simply because of

the collection developed through legal deposit—

understandable, but unfortunate and with far reaching

consequences” (Olson, 2000, p.57). On the other hand,

“marginal presses are not always represented in the

Library of Congress’s collection, especially if they are

published outside of the United States without even legal

deposit to assist in their collection” (Olson, 2000).

elementary method like counting as a terminology

selection procedure for incorporating a term into a

classification schedule. In-spite-of all the difficulties,

literary warrant has proved its mettle time and again and

its applications are being reengineered not only in

traditional knowledge organisation practices but also in

semantic web and related ontologies for domain analysis

and domain delimitation.

References

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Classification and Relative Index, Edited by JP Comaromi.

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Indianization of the Dewey Decimal Classification. Libri.

35(1): 1-20.

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Boston, Massachusetts, 220-222p.

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Decimal Classification and Relative Index, Edited by BA

Custer, v.1, 16 th edn, Forest Press, New York, 1958, 5.

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by BA Custer, v.1, 19 th edn, Forest Press, New York,

1979, lxxx.

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cataloguing and arranging the books and pamphlets of a

library, Amherst College Library, Amherst, Massachusetts,

1876, 9.

Conclusions

Through 110 years journey, Hulme’s literary warrant has

seen inconsistent acceptance among scholars and

classificationists. Literary warrant could arguably be seen

to be too futuristic and advance principle for its time and

as Hulme established it as a basic notion without explicit

detailed explanation, so the principle was left to scholars

to interpret in their own ways. As a result, there exist

instances where original meaning has seen expansion,

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(Barite, 2016). Critiques of literary warrant were sceptical

about it as a principle and questioned the validity of

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Dewey, M. (1922). Decimal Classification and Relativ

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immediate reference books, pamphlets, clippings, pictures,

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New York, 1922, 14.

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of the attributes of books: On an early model of a core

bibliographical entity, Knowledge Organisation, 44(8):

592-604.

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Farradane, JEL. (1985) Fundamental fallacies and new

needs in classification, In: Theory of Subject Analysis, Ed

by LM Chan, PA Richmond and E Svenonius, Libraries

Unlimited: Littleton, Colorado, 1985, 199-209.

Fayen, E. G.(2007). Guidelines for the construction,

format, and management of monolingual controlled

vocabularies: A revision of ANSI/NISO Z39.19 for the

21st century. Information Wissenschaft & Praxis, 58(8):

445-448.

Ferguson, MJ. (1951) Forward to Standard Edition. In:


by MJ Ferguson, 15 th edn, Forest Press Inc.: New York,

1951, v.

Ferguson, MJ. (1951) Forward to Standard Edition. In:


by MJ Ferguson, 15 th edn, Forest Press Inc.: New York,

1951, vii.

Fox, V. (2019) How do the editors decide which concepts

get a Dewey number? An explainer. Retrieved from

https://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2019/10/how-do-theeditors-decide-

which-concepts-get-a-dewey-number-anexplainer.html

(Accessed on 17 July 2021).

Fox, V. (2019) Why are the 200s so heavily focused on

Christianity? An explainer. Retrieved from

https://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2019/11/ (Accessed on 16

July 2021).

Goel, A. (n.d.) Library of Congress overseas offices.

Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/acq/ovop/ (Accessed

on 5 July 2021).

Hinton, F. (1971) Preface. In: Dewey Decimal

Classification and Relative Index, Edited by JP Comaromi,

v.1, 18 th edn, Forest Press: New York, 1971, 7.

Hoerman, H. L., & Furniss, K. A.(2000). Turning Practice

into Principles: A Comparison of the IFLA Principles

underlying Subject Heading Languages (SHLs) and the

Principles underlying the Library of Congress Subject

Headings System. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly.

29(1/2): 31-52. Doi: 10.1300/J104v29n01_03.

Hulme, EW. (1950) Principles of Book Classification.

Association of Assistant Librarians: London, 1950.

Hulme, EW. (1923) Statistical bibliography in relation to

the growth of modern civilisation: Two lectures delivered

in the University of Cambridge in May 1922. Grafton and

Co.: London, 1923.

Hulme, EW. (1911) Principles of Book Classification:

Chapter III: On the definition of class headings, and the

natural limit to the extension of book classification.

Library Association Record, 13 (1911): 444-449.

Mitchell, JS. (2004) DDC 22: Dewey in the world, the

world in Dewey. Advances in Knowledge Organization, 9:

139–145. Retrieved from https://www.ergonverlag.de/isko_ko/downloads/aikovol09200424.pdf

(Accessed on 17 June 2021).

Mitchell, JS. (2011) Introduction to the Dewey Decimal

Classification: the Relative Index, In Dewey Decimal

Classification and Relative Index, Ed. by JS Mitchell, v.1,

23 rd edn, OCLC, Dublin, Ohio, 2011, lxvii-lxx.

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Mitchell, JS. (1996). New features in edition 21, In Dewey

Decimal Classification and Relative Index, Ed. by JS

Mitchell, v.1, 21 st edn, Forest Press, New York, 1996, xix.

Mitchell, JS. (2004). DDC 22: Dewey in the world, the

world in Dewey. Advances in Knowledge Organization, 9:

139–145 Retrieved from https://www.ergonverlag.de/isko_ko/downloads/aikovol09200424.pdf

(Accessed on 12 July 2021).

National Information Standards Organization. (1993).

Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management

of Monolingual Thesauri (p. 36). Retrieved from website:

https://webstore.ansi.org/previewpages/NISO/preview_ANSI+NISO+Z39.19-1993.pdf



of Monolingual Thesauri (p. 7). Retrieved from website:

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of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies (p. 6). Retrieved

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website:

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s/NISO.pdf




from

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s/NISO.pdf




from

website:


s/NISO.pdf

NISO. (2010). Guidelines for the Construction, Format,

and Management of Monolingual Controlled

Vocabularies. Retrieved from NISO website:

https://groups.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/1

2591/z39-19-2005r2010.pdf

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from

https://www.oclc.org/en/dewey/resources/timeline.html

(Accessed on 19 June 2021).

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https://www.oclc.org/en/dewey/resources/ timeline.html

(Accessed on 17 May 2021).

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Classification. Retrieved from

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nt/intro.pdf (Accessed on 17 May 2021).

Olson, H. A. (2000). Difference, culture and change: The

untapped potential of LCSH. Cataloging & Classification

Quarterly. 29(1/2), 53-71. Doi: 10.1300/J104v29n01_04.

Rodriguez, RD. (1984). Hulme's Concept of Literary

Warrant, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly. 5 (1): 17-

26. DOI: 10.1300/J104v05n01_02

Satija, MP. (2017). Reviews of concepts in knowledge

organisation: Colon Classification, Knowledge

Organisation. 44(4): 291-307.

Schroeder, D.(2003). DDC 22 - Dewey Decimal

Classification edition 22 – just what you need to know.

TechKNOW. 9(3): 1–4. Retrieved from

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July2003.pdf (Accessed on 17 May 2021).


The Library of Congress. (2013). When to Establish a New

Topical Subject Heading H 187 (p. 1). Retrieved from

website:

https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeSHM/H0187.pdf

The Library of Congress. (2013). When to Establish a New

Topical Subject Heading H 187 (p. 1). Retrieved from

website:


The Library of Congress. (2014, January 10). About the

Subject Headings Manual PDF Files. Retrieved August 2,

2021, from www.loc.gov website:

https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeSHM/freeshmab

out.html

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Subject Heading Proposals H 202 (p. 1). Retrieved from

website:


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Revising Library of Congress Subject Headings. Retrieved

July 1, 2021, from www.loc.gov website:

https://www.loc.gov/aba/cataloging/subject/lcshprocess.html

The Library of Congress. (1928) Subject Headings used in

the Dictionary Catalogs of the Library of Congress. 3 rd ed.

edited by Mary Wilson MacNair, Washington:

Government Printing Office, 1928, iii.

The Library of Congress. (1943) Subject Headings used in

the Dictionary Catalogs of the Library of Congress. 4 th ed.

edited by Mary Wilson MacNair, Washington:

Government Printing Office, 1943, iii.

About Author

Sandip Majumdar received Master of Library and

Information Science degree with gold medal from

Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata in 2009 and

undergone traineeship in Birla Industrial and

Technological Museum, Kolkata. He served as

assistant Librarian (on contract) in the library of

Bhairab Ganguly College, Belgharia, Kolkata. He

moved to Delhi and joined IGNOU Library &

Documentation Division as Semi-Professional

Assistant. After qualifying UGC NET in 2012, he

joined Sammilani Mahavidyalaya, Baghajatin,

Kolkata as librarian through West Bengal College

Service Commission. At present, he is serving the

University of Gour Banga, Malda as Assistant

Professor in the Department of LIS since 2016.

62



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


12 th August 2021


26 th August 2021


8 th September 2021



Generalities Class (000) of Dewey Decimal Classification

schemes: an analytical study

Satarupa Saha & Dr Sudip Ranjan Hatua

Satarupa Saha

Librarian, Surendranath

Evening College, Kolkata

&

Senior Research Fellow


Information Science


Kolkata

satarupash888@gmail.com


Associate Professor


Information Science


West Bengal, India

Email: s.r.hatua@rbu.ac.in

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme in one of the pioneer tools used over

centuries to organize knowledge in the Library. It’s 1 st edition published in 1876 by Melvil

Dewey and 23 rd edition of DDC has been published in 2011.

Purpose: The aim of this article is to make a depth analysis of the Class ‘000’ –i.e

‘Computer science, information & general works’ along with its divisions, sections from 1 st

to 23 rd edition.

Research problem: What are the facets have included in this Class and over time among them

which have potentiality to introduce as new Class or may be identified as new broad subject?

Objectives: The objectives of the present study is to measure the development of the entries

over time in the ‘Computer science, information & general works’ Class in different editions

of DDC.

Methodology: This is a survey method that has followed the exhaustive study of the DDC

‘Generalia Class’ from its 1 st to 23 rd edition.

Findings: In different editions of DDC under the Generalities class, nomenclatures of

different sub-classes have changed frequently. Over the time many of those facets gain the

status of individual broad subjects

KEYWORDS:

Dewey Decimal Classification; Generalities; Computer science; Journalism;

Humanities

63


Saha & Hatua: Generalities Class (000)…

Introduction

Based on Reason, Imagination & Memory DDC has ten

main classes in the first summary according to disciplines

such as Sciences, Arts & Literature and History. A

discipline provides a context for a subject. Masarat (2016)

described that these Classes are also used for certain

specialized disciplines that deal with. It has been notified

that ‘000’ Class is defined by ‘Generalities’ (17ed - 21ed)

Class which has accumulated with general topic e.g.

encyclopaedia’s, newspaper, general periodicals.

‘Generalities’ Class is also used for specialized disciplines

that deals with knowledge and information, e.g., computer

science, library and information science, journalism (Now

identifies as ‘Computer science, information & general

works’). Each of the other main classes (100- 900)

comprises a major discipline or group of related

disciplines. Ranganathan (1963) declared ‘subject’ as an

assumed ‘term’. According to Custer (1975), Dewey used

concept ‘Instead’ of ‘facet’ which is found from 16 th

edition. Knowledge represents to a subject has different

structure depending upon the society. Subject has different

meaning in various context like content, theme, and topic.

Satija & Martínez-Ávila (2017) explained that

Classification provides knowledge structure in the Main

Class that are arranged by ideological principal, social

principal, and scientific principal and divided by

discipline.

Literature Review

This literatures review tries to describe the updation of

various issues of the Dewey Decimal Classification for its

General works to specific areas. Samdani (1989) discussed

classification scheme, its facets and changes made to

various subjects divisions, such as television, data,

processing, popular music, substance abuse, civil rights

and electronics in the 20 th edition. Khun (1999) suggested

the need of few modifications which can be used optimally

to classify a newspaper collection. Comaromi & Satija

(1988) explore the revision of the Dewey Decimal

Classification which is based on the growth &

development or relocating of knowledge or relocating of

knowledge that is revealed in a decade of publishing.

Knudsen (1999) explained that the hierarchy is

disproportional since some division or section which is

totally defined knowledge areas are some thoroughly

covered than others. The system reflects an American

world view and some numbers are too long. He also

suggests that they key points are always arranged by

subject, never by region. Taylor (2006) described that

DDC system logical approach to a hierarchical category of

recorded knowledge that makes sense to many people.

Satija (2007) examines the history, management and

technical aspects of the Dewey Decimal Classification

system (DDC) thoroughly in his book. Pal &

64


Bhattacharya (2017) made an exhaustive literature review

on DDC.

Problem identification

Classification schemes are used for the purpose of

knowledge organization, retrieval and dissemination

of information or document to the library in time.

There are many sub classes in this ‘000’ Class mostly

which were treated as auxiliaries. But over time it has

been found that most of them have gained the

capacity to be treated as an independent subject or a

broad class. This paper tried to study exhaustively to

find the treatment and growth of all the facets of 000

Class.

Therefore the specific problems identifies as-

Which subclass or facets of 000 Class may

be considered as Subject?

If they considered as subject then from which

domain they should be belonged to?


The objectives of the present study is to measure the

development of the entries in the ‘Computer science,

information & general works’ Class (000) and to find out

the treatment of facets in other different classes as well as

to identify the changes of terminology due to development

of subjects under Generalities class in different editions of

DDC.

To be precise, aims of this article are-

1. To identify which of the new concepts have been added

over time to time in 000 Class.

2. To identify which sub-class may be treated as subjects

in 000 Class

4. To mapping of which of the facets became obsolete

over time from 000 Class.

Methodology

This is a Survey method used study of the subject

especially 000 class of DDC 1 st to 23 rd edition. This article

makes a portrait of the facet analysis with new

terminological change and changes of nomenclature in the

000 class. For this study data of 1 st to 20 th editions have

been collected from the website of Internet Archive and

the data 21 st to 23 rd editions are collected from its print

version. To establishment and identify those as subject the

data have been compared with Sears List of Subject

Heading 21 st ed. This also compared with the course

studies curriculum of NIRF top ten ranking universities.


General works as Class 000

000 Class was identified as “General Works” from its 2 nd

to 11 th edition and 15 th to 16 th edition. It has changed its

nomenclature as “General Works prolegomena” in its 12 th

edition -14th edition. From 17 th to 21 st edition it has been

renamed as “Generalities” and further changed it’s

nomenclature as “Computer science, information &

general works” in its last two editions (22 nd and 23 rd ed).

Edition

Nomenclature

1 st -

2 nd -11th General works

12 th -14th General works prolegomena

15 th -16th General works

17 th -21st Generalities

22 nd -23 rd Computer science, information &

general works

Table1: Subject descriptor of General Work

It has been identified from its editorial that 000 class

number is defined by “Generalities” class which has

accumulated with general topic e.g. encyclopaedia’s,

newspaper, general periodicals and does not merged with

any other subjects. In the editorial page it’s also mentioned

that this class can also be used for certain specialized

disciplines that deals with knowledge and Information.

Data Collection:

The Class 000 has made his journey from ‘General works’

to ‘Computer science, information & general works’.

Initially the facets of this class has formed with some

general works, however over the time more specific

subjects along with their related subject descriptors have

been included in General works. The facets and their

respective placement in 000 class of various editions have

been shown in table 2 exhaustively. Some of the facets like

‘Library and Information Science’, ‘Museology’,

‘Journalism’, ‘Media Study’, ‘Manuscriptology’ etc.

treated here as one of the sub-facets. However, now all of

these facets are being treated as specific broader discipline

taught in various academic institutions & also universities,

and may belong to ‘Social Sciences’ or ‘Arts’ or

‘Humanities’. But DDC kept these under 000 Class as sub-

Class. There are many other sub-sub Classes which may

also be treated as broader subjects under Social Science 69 or

Arts & Humanities.

A detail study of 000 Class of DDC has identified lots of

facets as shown in Table 2 which actually depicted the

edition wise development of the DDC and have been

added time to time.

000

1st

2 nd - 11th General works

12 th -14 th General works prolegomena

15 th -16 th General works

17 th -21 st Generalities

22 nd -23 rd Computer science, information & general

works

1 st – 4 th Bibliography

5 th Bibliografy

6 th -7 th Bibliography

8 th -9 th Bibliografy

1st

65


Book rarities

010

020

2 nd – 14 th Library Economy

15 th -17 th Library Science

18 th -23 rd Library and information Sciences

030

1 st -2 nd General Cyclopedias

3 rd – 16 th General Encyclopedias

17 th -23 rd General Encyclopedic works

040

1st Polygraphy

2nd General Collections

3 rd – 4 th General Collected essays,etc.

5 th – 16 th General Collected essays

17 th GeneralCollected essays, addresses, lectures

18 th -23 rd 050

1st General Encyclopedias

2 nd – 4 th GeneralPeriodicals

5th General Periodical Magazines

6th General Periodicals

7th General Periodical Magazines

8th General Periodical

9th -14th General Periodical Magazines

15th – General Periodicals

16th

17 th -21st General periodicals and their indexes

22nd Magazines, journals & serials

23rd General Serial Publication

060

1 st -4 th General societies.

5 th General societies. Transactions..

6 th General societies

7 th General societies. Transactions

8 th General societies.

9 th -10 th General learned societies Museums

11 th -14 th General learned societies

15 th -16 th General societies

17 th General organizations

18 th -22 nd General organizations and museology

23 rd General organizations & museum sciences

070

1 st

2 nd Newspapers

3 rd -4 th Newspapers. Journalism.

5 th General Newspapers Journalism

6 th Newspapers Journalism

7 th Journalism General newspapers

8 th Newspapers. Journalism

9 th -14 th Journalism General newspapers

15 th Newspaper journalism

15th rev Journalism

16 th Newspaper journalism

17 th Newspapers and journalism

18 th -19 th Journalism, publishing, newspapers

20 th -21 st Documentary media, educational media,

news media, journalism, publishing

22 nd -23rd News media, journalism & publishing

080

1 st

2 nd -11 th Special libraries. Polygraphy

12 th -14th Polygraphy Special libraries

15 th -16 th Collected works

17 th General collections and anthologies


18th- 21st

22nd

23rd

General collections

Quotations

General collection

090

1st

2 nd -15 th Book rarities

rev

16 th Manuscripts and rare books

17 th Manuscripts and book rarities

18 th Manuscripts and rarities

19 th Manuscripts and book rarities

20 th -21 st Manuscripts, rare books, other rare printed

material

22 nd -23 rd Manuscripts & rare books

Table2: Summaries of the 000 Class from 1 st to 23 rd edition

It has been found from the table 2 that the subject

descriptors of class numbers 010 and 030 did not changes

its nomenclature from 1st edition to 23rd edition. But the

class number 050, 060, 070 and 090 has changed the 70

subjects’ descriptors time to time. The table indicates that

maximum number of new concepts have been introduced

in the class number 060 & 070 repeatedly. Class number

020, 040, 080 completely changed its descriptors at one

time in all the editions. Out of nine sub classes under

General works of Class 020, 050, 060, 070 incorporated

new facets frequently and designated completely by a new

nomenclature from 1st to 23rd Ed. Surprisingly, it is also

found that “Museum Sciences”, “.Journalism”

“Quotations” and “News media” have been incorporated

as new concept in the various edition as it grows.

However, the facet “Polygraphy” has been removed from

the 15th edition.

Subject Mapping of Class 000

There are total 11 facets have been identified in the

General works, which has been designated as a course

curriculum of various Universities (See annexure-1).

Among those Library and Information Sciences,

Museology, Media, Journalism, and Manuscripts have

been found under first sub-ordinate Class (Division)

whereas, Humanities, Computer Science, Information and

communication. Information Theory, Broadcast

Technology are identified in the second sub-ordinate

Classes (Sections) of the main class. Communication

Library Science, Journalism has been found from 2 nd & 3 rd

edition to 23 rd edition.

First time ‘knowledge’ as a section introduced under

"General works prolegomena" in the 12th edition. The

editorial of the 23 rd edition mentioned and designated

“Knowledge and Information” as discipline and some

subject facets associated with this discipline. Humanities

as a terminology has been found in the index of 15 th

standard revised edition of DDC for the first time and

continued to 16 th edition. Humanities as subject facet has

found in the 17 th edition in the schedule under

“knowledge” section of Class 000. Communication as a

concept has identified in 2 nd edition but it’s also modified

in the subject descriptors as “Information and

Communication” from 18 th to 23 rd edition and also one of

new the concept has been introduced as “Information

Theory” from 18 th edition in the “Information and

Communication” section. ‘System’ concept has been

introduced in the General works of 18 th edition

individually. “Computer programming”, “Computer

Science”, “Computer Programming Programs Data” and

other various terminologies have been identified in

001.642 in 18 th edition and replaced in 005 class in its 20 th

edition.

17 th -23rd

001.3 Humanities

2 nd -14 th 15 th -17 th 18 th -23 rd

001.5 Communication Information and communication

18 th -23 rd

001.53 Information Theory

18 th -19 th 20 th -23 rd

001.642 Computer programming 005 Computer programming programs

data

16 th 17 th 18 th -23 rd

007 Research 001.4 Methodology and 001.4 Research

Research

2 nd -14th 15th -17th 18 th -23 rd

020 Library Economy Library Science Library and information Sciences

18 th -22 nd 23 rd

069 Museology Museum Sciences

20 th -23 rd

070.1 Documentary media, educational media, news media,

20 th -23 rd

070.19 Broadcast Technology

3 rd -23 rd

070.4 Journalism

16 th -23 rd

091 Manuscripts

Table 3: Edition-wise Subject Facets

66



Research concepts has also found in the first time in 16 th

edition under the knowledge section. Library Economy

found in 2 nd edition has been renamed as Library and

information Sciences in 22 nd edition. Museology as a

subject has been found first time in 18 th edition.

"Broadcast Technology", "Media" facets designated from

20 th edition. “Journalism” as a facet included with subject

descriptor of “Newspaper”. Later this facet has been

removed. “Manuscripts” has been found from 16 th edition.

Most of the subject descriptors have been changed or

rename or found new name drastically from16 th edition of

DDC.

Subject descriptors

To find out how the important subject facets of

‘Generalities’ have been listed, we have consulted Sears’s

list of Subject Headings (SLSH- 21st edition). The result

has been shown in the following table 4.

SA UF BT NT RT

Humanities Humanism Arts Classical education

Communication

Computer programming

Computer

Software

Mass

Communication

Computers –

Programming

Sociology

Computer Science

Data processing

Computer Science Computer terms Science

Information Theory Computer based

information

systems

Bibliographic

control

Computers

Information

Science

Research Research and

development

Library Science Librarianship Documentation

Information

Science

Information Science

Information Theory

Mass Media

Data processing

Database Management

Operation Research

Cataloging

Library Survey

Computer Software

Programming Languages

Information retrieval

Information Services

Bibliography

Library Services

Museology Museums Art Museums

Documentary media,

Mass media

educational media, news

media,

Broadcast Technology

Radio journalism

Television

journalism

Broadcasting

Journalism

Press

Radio

Broadcasting

Journalism

Manuscripts

Scientific

journalism

Broadcast

Journalism

Archives

Bibliography

Books

Illumination of books and

manuscripts

Table 4: Subject descriptors defined by the sears list subject heading

Journalists

Newspapers

Periodicals

Autographs

Charters

The table-4 shows the subject descriptor identified from

the DDC 000 Class has been compared with Sears’ list of

subject heading. It has found that all these descriptors has

been enlisted either a broader term, related term or

narrower term in the Sears list of Subject Heading. These

subject descriptors identified in DDC 000 Class are also

have been identified in the course curriculum of various

Universities. It is also located under the various other

Classes (apart from 000) in the DDC.

Course curriculum

We have identified 12 facets as shown in the table 5

have been collected from various current course

curriculum taught by different universities. The name

of the universities have been given in annexure-1

According to educational course curriculum, it is observed

that only Humanities, Library and Information Science,

Museology, Manuscriptology, Media & Governance, Mass

communication, Journalism, Communication are belongs

to Arts faculty. Sometimes Library and Information

Science, Media & Governance, Journalism are also treated

under Social Science Faculties. JNU treated ‘Research’

under Arts Faculty. All the facets found in 000 Class of

DDC are overlapped in Arts, Social Science and

Humanities. However, DDC does not show any

importance in Humanities as a Main Class. Computer

Science, Computer Application, Information Theory,

Broadcast Technology are belongs to the ‘Science’

Faculty. Therefore we may conclude that all these facets

now gain as a discipline but DDC even its 23 rd edition

does not provide them proper placement in the broad class.

67



xi.

Subject facets JU BHU CU JU AVV HU JMI AMU DU SPPU Main

section

Humanities Arts & Social

Science

Library and

Arts

Information

Science

Museology Arts

Manuscriptology Arts

Media &

Governance

Arts

Paleography Arts

Mass

Arts

communication

Journalism Arts

Communication

Skill

Arts

Computer

Science

Computer

Application

Information

Theory

Broadcast

Technology

science

science

science

science

Research Area Arts

Findings

Table 5: Subject designated by top ten universities

xi.

i. The 000 Class has been represented by the General Per xi. Periodical, General societies, Newspapers,

works in the most of the edition of DDC. But from its 22 nd

edition General Works has renamed as ‘Computer Science,

information & general works’. So it can be stated that

Anthologies, Polygraph, Quotations was shifted removed

from the class 050, 060, 070, 080 from different edition

under the class 000 of DDC.

Computer Science and Information have found proper

identification.

ii. Library Science, Journalism has been found from 2 nd

edition to 23rd edition of DDC as a sub-class. However, References

those have designated as discipline in many academic

institutions and universities.

Ahmed Samdani, R. (1989). Dewey Decimal

iii. In 15th standard revised edition represented Classification Scheme. Twentieth edition. Pakistan Library

‘Humanities’ in its index for the first time.

Bulletin, 20(4), 212-216.

iv. Major changes of Generalities Class occurs

during 16 th edition to 23 rd Bristow, B. A. & Farrar, C. S. (Ed.). Sears List of Subject

edition.

Headings 21 st edition. H.W. Wilson, Ipswich,

iv. Humanities, Communication, Broadcast

Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems has

Massachusetts, 2014.

been treated under the class 000 however, it was treated

under the “knowledge” section from 17 th edition of DDC.

Comorami, J.P. & Satija, M.P. (1988). Revising the

vii. The four classes 010, 030, 040, 050, 080 treated Dewey Decimal Classification. Internet Classification,

under the class 000 as general topics.

15(1), 71-86.

viii. The 000, 020, 060, 070, 090 class has been

represented various subject which was renamed with new Custer, B.A. (1975). Dewey Decimal Classification: one

nomenclature.

hundred years after.39 (16), 35-48.

ix. 030, 040, 050, 060 class are not explained in the

various edition under General works.

Dewey, M. (1876-2011). Dewey Decimal Classification

x. The 23 rd editorial proposed class 004-006 as and relative index. 1 st to 23 rd ed. New York, Dublin: Forest

‘Computer Science’, 006.35 as ‘Computational press, OCLC.

linguistics’, 020 as ‘Library and Information Sciences’ and

recommend for proper updation.

68



Khun, T. J. (1999). Notes on operations: Classifying

newspapers using Dewey Decimal Classification. Library

Resources and Technical Services, 43(2), 106-113.

Knudsen, H. (1999). Do we need the Dewey Decimal

Classification. Bibliotheksdienst, 33(3), 454-461.

Masarat (2016). Dewey decimal classification system

(DDC). International Journal of Applied Research.2 (6):

82-85p.

Pal, Ashok & Bhattacharya, Udayan (2017). Dewey

Decimal Classification: A Brief Literature Review.

Librarian. 24 (1). 61-71 p.

Ranganathan, S.R. (1963). Documentation and its facets.

London, Asian publishing house.

Satija, M. P. &Martínez-Ávila, D. (2017) Mapping of the

Universe of Knowledge in Different Classification

Schemes.International Journal of Knowledge Content

Development & Technology, 7(2): 85-105.

Satija, M.P. The Theory and Practice of the Dewey

Decimal Classification System. Woodhead Publishing

Limited, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84334-234-2.

Taylor, A.G. (2006). Teaching the Dewey Decimal

Classification System. Cataloging & Classification

Quarterly, 42(3), 47-49.

Annexure – I

NIFR Top 10 universities in India- 2021

Universities Acronym Ranking

Jawaharlal Nehru

JU 1

University

Banaras Hindu University BHU 2

Calcutta University CU 3

Jadavpur University JU 4

Amrita Vishwa

AVV 5

Vidyapeetham

University of Hyderabad HU 6

Jamia Millia Islamia JMI 7

University of Delhi DU 8

Aligarh Muslim University AMU 9

Savitribai Phule Pune

University

SPPU 10

About Authors

Satarupa Saha is a Senior Research Fellow (SRF)

pursuing PhD under the supervision of Dr. Sudip

Ranjan Hatua (Associate Professor) in the Dept. of

Library & Information Science, Rabindra Bharati

University. Presently she is working as College

Librarian (through College Service Commission,

Govt. of West Bengal) at Surendranath Evening

College, affiliated under the University of Calcutta.

Prior to that she has gained professional experiences

by serving at The Institution of Engineers, Kolkata

(as Intern), National Institute for the Orthopaedically

Handicapped, Kolkata (as Professional Trainee) and

Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of

Cardiac Sciences, Kolkata (as Librarian). Till date

she has published 7 papers in national and

International Journals, Seminars and Conference

proceedings. This paper is pertaining to her research

work.

Dr Sudip Ranjan Hatua, a DRTC alumni presently

working as Associate Professor in Department of

Library & Information Science, Rabindra Bharati

University, Kolkata, India. He awarded PhD from

VidyaSagar University. Prior to this he served as

working professional at ICAST, National Aerospace

Laboratories, Bangalore (as Project Assistant),

Karshak Engineering College, Hyderabad (as

Librarian) followed by Central Library, Indian

Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (as Technical

Assistant). He has authored arround than 46 articles

published in National, International Journals,

seminars, conferences proceeding etc. and 5 books. 7

Research Scholars awarded till 2021 and presently

the first author of this paper is pursuing PhD under

his supervision.

69



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750

Assessment of DRDO e-journals Consortium in India by librarians:

an analytical study

Senthil, V & Dr Margam Madhusudhan


3 rd August 2021


15 th August 2021





ABSTRACT:

Senthil, V

Research Scholar

DLIS, University of Delhi

&

Scientist 'F' and Group

Head, TICL & IPR at Gas

Turbine Research

Establishment, Bengaluru.

Email:

senthildrdo@gmail.com

Dr Margam

Madhusudhan

Professor


Information Science

University of Delhi

Delhi

Email:

mmadhusudhan@libinfosci.du.ac.in

Introduction: DRDO e-journals consortium is an essential resource for the scientific

community and the backbone for conducting research activities. An effort is made to

investigate the fifty (50) DRDO librarian's responses on the use of DRDO e-journals

consortium and their opinion, adoption of new publishers, the impact of e-journals, and

problems in accessing e-journals by the users. The responses received to 14 questions were

analyzed and presented in 6 Tables and 2 Figures.

Purpose: To examine and evaluate the use of e-journals covered under DRDO e-journals

consortia by the 50 DRDO librarians.

Research problem: To assess and verify how the DRDO scientific community can meet their

information needs and satisfaction level with the DRDO e-Journals Consortium and find out

the requirement of additional facilities/resources to cater to the research activities effectively.

Objectives: To find out the awareness of DRDO e-Journals Consortium, use it, ascertain the

satisfaction level with content and coverage of e-journals available under DRDO e-Journals

Consortium, and examine the problems faced by the users in DRDO labs in India.

Methodology: A structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to all 50 (fifty)

librarians working in DRDO Libraries in India. All 50 librarians have filled the

questionnaires and returned their questionnaires (personally and electronically), eliciting a

response rate of 100 per cent.

Findings: The study found a positive approach that most respondents affirmed that the usage

has increased. However, a significant percentage of the librarians were not happy with the

coverage of the e-journals. The finding also enumerated several key areas of concern. None of

the libraries was equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity and access to e-journals on mobile

devices. This was one of the deficits in DRDO labs that need to be addressed for library use

for accessing e-journals.

KEYWORDS:

DRDO; Electronic Journals; DRDO e-journals consortium; Librarians-

India

70


Senthil & Madhusudhan: Assessment of DRDO e-Journal

…

Introduction

Literature Review

In defense science and innovation, e-journals hold a

noticeable situation as they are a fundamental wellspring

of current information. They give a stage to the

correspondence of thoughts, the trading of involvement,

and the transmission of momentum data to researchers'

locale, which is engaged with massive innovative work

exercises. The DRDO e-journals consortium is an essential

resource for the scientific community and the backbone of

the research activities. It has very significant publishers

that publish scientific journals and magazines directly to

cater for the information requirements for their ongoing

research activities of the R&D community of DRDO. The

scientists are thrust for the information and mostly depend

on libraries for their needs. Numerous purposes may

influence the use of e-journals by defence scientists and

technologists, and the motivation behind utilizing

e‐journals varies from one to another. An endeavour is

made in this investigation to assess the librarian’s

responses on the use of DRDO e-journals consortium and

their opinion on the publishers covered in the consortia,

adoption of new publishers in the consortia, the impact of

e-journals, and problems in access of e-journals by the

users.

DRDO e-journals Consortium

The scientific community widely uses the e-journals

consortium established by Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO) to enhance research

activities. “The mission of the DRDO e-journals

consortium is to provide scientists with information and

access to information in support of scholarly activity and

research. It covers multi-disciplinary subject areas to fulfill

the information needs of the DRDO scientific community

was implemented by DESIDOC on 01 January 2009

covering 446 titles from ACM, ACS, AIAA, AAAS

Science, IEEE, Jane’s and Elsevier) and one service

provider (JCCC Service)” (Senthil and Madhusudhan,

2018). The online access to these e-journals has been

provided to the research community on their desktop and

invested Rs. 20 crore (approx.) for subscribing to these e-

journals for all DRDO labs per year" (DRDO e-journal

consortium, 2020).

The following publishers are covered under the DRDO e-

Journal Consortium for the benefit of the DRDO scientific

community.

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

(vii)

(viii)

(ix)

(x)

(xi)

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

The American Chemical Society (ACS)

The American Institute of Aeronautics and

Astronautics (AIAA)

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

(ASME)

Elsevier

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

(IEEE)

Jane’s

Nature

Science

Taylor and Francis (T&F), and

Wiley

71


Mansoureh et al. (2020) stated that "the importance of

purchasing of e-journals through consortia have had

significant benefits to publishers through bundles or big

deals models, rather than for institutions and universities."

Chisita and Fombad (2020) recommended that "there

should be a policy that obliges all members of the

consortia to use interoperable systems to develop a

consortial catalogue for better usage of e-resources and e-

journals."

"The concept of library consortium gravitates different

member libraries to meet the goal of working as a team

which closes the gap between information resource-rich

libraries and those that are resource deficient to be

bridged" (Saini, 2017). Another study by Senthil and

Madhusudhan (2018) try to "evaluate the implementation

of DRDO e-journals, coverage of publishers and titles,

subject-wise distribution of titles among DRDO

laboratories, need of e-journal consortium among the labs,

and expenditure details along with yearly growth. The

study also highlights the usage of e-journals publisherwise

in the consortium and would be helpful in the

efficient collection development policy of e-journals."

Another study by Moorthy and Pant (2012) reported that

"most of the labs in DRDO require a different set of

journals and it is hard to fulfil their demands and to

negotiate with the publishers for better terms, which

concurs with the findings of this study." “However, in the

R&D community especially for defence R&D, where

scientists are involved in core technology areas, the value

of information is more important instead of its utilization"

(Modi et al., 2018).

Another interesting study by Jotwani (2014) studied "the

trends in acquisition of e-resources vis-a-vis their print

counterparts and analyzes the usage of these resources

during 2004-11. Data analysis revealed that IIT libraries

spend a significantly large proportion of their budgets to

acquire e-resources. There is a clear shift in the collection

development policies of these libraries where e-resources

have become a vital part of their core collections." “User

satisfaction concept in libraries has evolved to include a

focus on the users’ perspective of the library and

abundance of resources available and the difficulty in

being able to determine these resources also create

problems for users” (Ijiekhuamhen et al., 2015). Tripathi

and Jeevan (2013) reveal that "the usage of e-resources

should be consistently monitored and users attitude,

behaviour and properly fine-tuned to suit the user's needs."

There are numerous issues for libraries giving admittance

to e-journals, for example, slow Internet connectivity,

limited access to computers, difficulty to read from the

computer, retrieval problems (including loading),

difficulty to access the full text, access through

aggregators and publishers, and lack of training/guidance.

Nowadays, e-journals are accessing via the IP addresses of

the institutions. Users' problems while accessing e-journals

depend on the users' perception and may change from user

to user, whereas the e-journals collection is not steady

because of connection break and inclusion changes,

including change of their publishers or name of the titles.

Numerous studies found that the main “obstacle in proper

utilization of e-journals was poor internet connectivity


(Leonard and Hamutumwa (2020); Nazir, Abubakar and

Aliyu (2019); Junaid Rayini, Mushir, and Jaiswal (2018);

Arshad and Ameen (2018)).” Another study by Mushtaq

and Tausif (2020) recommends in their study that

"extending full remote access to the databases to the

library users to ensure optimum use of subscribed e-

resources." “SMS technology in the library is the ultimate

way to take the advantages of today’s technology, to

enhance the productivity and efficiency of the

organization. In reality, SMS has been adopted by many

users and has become extremely popular" (Mushahadah,

Osman & Zainal, 2017). The present research brings an

exhaustive analysis of the usage of the DRDO e-Journals

Consortium by the DRDO research community in all

DRDO labs in India and the current status of DRDO

libraries about their readiness to oversee e-library services.

Nonetheless, DRDO Lab libraries have never been a

combination of their assessment, and this investigation

fills the information gap.


This study's main objective is to assess the usefulness of

the DRDO e-Journals Consortium by the Librarians. The

other objectives are:

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

to find out the library budget, journals'

subscription, publishers covered, and

addition/deletion of publishers/titles in the

DRDO e-Journals Consortium.

to ascertain Librarians' satisfaction level on the

content and coverage of e-journals with usage

pattern, impact, and maintenance of usage

statistics.

to know the problems faced by the librarian

while providing e-journal access to the users,

and

to suggest valuable measures to offer better

DRDO e-Journals Consortium access services

to the users.

Methodology

To realize the above-stated objectives, the researcher used

a survey method with the help of a structured

questionnaire as a tool for the data collection. The

questionnaires were distributed to all 50 (fifty) librarians

working in DRDO Libraries in India. All 50 librarians

have filled the questionnaires and returned their

questionnaires (personally and electronically), eliciting a

response rate of 100 per cent. The responses received to 14

questions were analyzed and presented in 6 Tables and 2

Figures.

1 Gender-wise and cadre-wise distribution of

Librarians

The personal information of librarians is the background

for this research work. The information provided by the

librarians is vital as it assists the researcher in

understanding the basic nature of the library and services

extended to the user community. It helps understand the

specific characteristics of a library professionals' attitude

towards various factors, including their cadre (Table-1).

Sl. No Gender Scientist

(%)

Technical

Officer

Cadre (%)

Total

(%)

1 Male 28 (56) 09 (18) 37 (74)

2 Female 06 (12) 07 (14) 13 (26)

Total 34 (68) 16 (32) 50 (100)

Table-1: Gender and Cadre-wise distribution of Librarians

Note: Figures in parentheses indicate the percentage.

Table 1 reveals that out of 50 librarians, thirty-seven (74

per cent) were male and thirteen (26 per cent) were female.

Interestingly, 26 per cent of librarians are female who is

leading the libraries in DRDO Laboratories.

2 DRDO e-Journals Consortium

"Electronic resources represent an increasingly important

component of the collection building activities of libraries.

Due to financial constraints, increasing cost of print

documents, storage problems, and publication of a larger

number of journals. It is not possible for one library or

information centres to hold the full stock of information

resources or to procure all information, which may be in

demand by its clientele. Even not a single library or

information centre can meet the thrust of knowledge of all

the readers from its holding. To solve this problem, library

consortia started" (Tawfeeq, 2015).

2.1 Budget details of labs

Electronic journals are costly, and the spending plans of

libraries are restricted. As a result, libraries are thinking

that it is hard to build up a great assortment. Many

libraries in India are already grappling with the budgetary

implications. The allocated budget for all DRDO libraries

is meant for subscription periodicals, procurement of

books, reports, standards, and managing library activities

(Table-2).

Data Analysis and Interpretation

The first part of the questionnaire is devoted to the general

information of the laboratory library, which acts as a

background for the next section.

72



…

Table-2: Budget details of labs in Lakhs

Table-2 reveals that the total budget for all DRDO libraries

is 39 crores in Indian Rupees, which are purely utilized to

procure books and other print and e-documents. The labs

DRDL and DRDE occupy the first place, spending rupees

four (4) crores annually, which is 10per cent of the total

budget. The lab INMAS was spending rupees three (3)

crores and DESIDOC with Rs. 2.50 crores which occupy

with second and third place respectively. The lab DMRL

with Rs. 2 crores occupies the fourth place. The labs

GTRE and ASL occupies fifth place with Rs. 1.50 crore.

Four labs, RAC, DIHAR, CEPTAM, and CEMILAC,

occupied the last place with Rs. 5 lakhs annual budget.

3 Labs subscribing e-journals in addition to

DRDO Consortium

Keeping in view the multiplicity of research projects

pursued by DRDO Scientists and technical officers, there

is a need to subscribe to more specialized subject e-

journals due to multidisciplinary with widening scope and

coverage in addition to common e-journals existing in the

DRDO Consortium. In this context, a dichotomous

question was asked the librarians about whether the labs

are subscribing to e-journals separately apart from the

DRDO e-journals consortium. The data revealed from

Librarians shows that out of 50 libraries, only four (4)

libraries were subscribing to e-journals that were not

covered in the DRDO e-journals consortium. These e-

journals are core collections to their areas of interest, and

they were subscribed for their lab users by the librarians.

A set of four supplement questions were asked the four (4)

lab Librarians who were subscribing e-journals in addition

to DRDO e-journals consortium to provide the details of

(i) Total allotted budget for the subscription for e-Journals,

(ii) Name of the publisher(s), (iii) Number of Titles, and

(iv) Name of the Title(s) (Table-3).

73


Table-3: Lab additional e-journals subscription details (n=4)

Note: * DESIDOC- Defence Scientific Information & Documentation

Centre; DRDE- Defence Research & Development Establishment;

DLRL- Defence Electronics Research Laboratory ; and DRDL - Defence

Research & Development Laboratory.

The result depicted in Table-3 reveals that Rs. 245 lakhs

were spent by the four (04) labs on additional subscription

e-journals, which are primarily used for subscription e-

journals from Elsevier publishers. Out of four (4) DRDO

labs, three were subscribing to Elsevier journals. Besides,

DLRL was subscribing to nine (9) e-journals from the

Institute of Physics (IOP) publisher. The lab DRDL was

subscribing seven (7) e-journals from Elsevier publisher,

eleven (11) from Springer, six (6) from Taylor & Francis,

and nine (9) from Sage publishers. DESIDOC was

subscribing entire package of Elsevier e-journals on

articles level subscription, and DRDE was subscribing

Chemical engineering package of e-journals from Elsevier.

It is concluded from the data that 75 per cent of the labs

were primarily interested in Elsevier publications.


4 Publishers covered under the existing DRDO e-

journals consortium for the labs

A multiple-choice question with eleven (11) major

publishers covered under the existing DRDO e-journals

consortium was asked the respondents to determine the

coverage of publishers for each lab, and responses are

tabulated in Fig. 1.

Impact of Usage

No. of

Respondents

(n=50)

Percentage

Usage Increased 28 56.00

Usage Decreased 11 22.00

First increase then

decreased 07 14.00

First decreased then

increased 04 08.00

Satisfaction level on Content

Average 26 52

Below Average 18 36

Above Average 06 12

Very High 00 00

Satisfaction level on Coverage

Somewhat better 22 44.00

Fig.1: Publishers covered under existing DRDO e-journals

Consortium

Fig.1 illustrates that IEEE has covered all DRDO labs

which occupy the first position, followed by Elsevier was

covering only 26 labs that occupy the second position.

Wiley was placed in the third position with 20 labs, and

AIAA, ASME, and Nature equally occupied the fourth

position with ten labs each. The publisher ACM was

placed at the last position with six labs.

5 Impact of usage of e-journals

“Journals also play a role in maintaining community

standards in how research and scholarship are conducted.

To some extent, this is done as journals filter what is

published and hence disseminated. The effects can also be

more subtle and know how the research or scholarship

should be conducted and described, and are much less

likely than novices to be chastised by reviewers. The

communication of research findings between scientific

communities is through scholarly journals. Scholarly

journals provide high-quality validation through peer

review” (Solomon, 2007).

5.1 Impact and Satisfaction level on Content and

Coverage

The study tried to shed some light on the impact

satisfaction level with the content and coverage available

in e-journals and DRDO consortia (Table-4).

Stayed the same 13 26.00

Somewhat worse 08 16.00

Much better 07 14.00

Much worse 00 00.00

Table-4: Impact of usage and Satisfaction level on Content and

Coverage

Table-4 reveals that more than half of the librarians stated

that usage has increased by 56 per cent, which occupies

the first place. However, 22 per cent of them indicated that

the usage of e-journals was decreased, followed by 14 per

cent of them who mentioned that usage was first increased

then decreased, and 8 per cent of them indicated that first

decreased then increased the usage.

As evident from Table-4 that 52 per cent of the librarians

responded that the content of e-journals was ranked

average. On the other hand, 36 per cent of them mentioned

that the satisfaction was below average. Surprisingly, only

12 per cent of the librarians rated the satisfaction level as

above average.

The data also shows in Table-4 that a total of 44 per cent

of librarians has mentioned that their satisfaction level was

somewhat better, which occupies the first place. The

second place occupies the satisfaction level of stated the

same with 26 per cent. Only 14 per cent of them were

happy with the coverage as compared to other statements.

74



…

6 Maintaining usage statistics by the library

The last question in this section is a supplement

dichotomous question was asked the respondents whether

they are managing usage statistics of the subscribed e-

journals content, and responses are consolidated in Fig.2.

It has been observed from Fig.2, 94 per cent of labs are not

maintaining the usage statistics of e-journals. In contrast,

only three (3) labs, namely DESIDOC, DMRL, and

DRDL, maintained usage statistics with a meagre response

rate of six per cent.

5 Difficult to read from the

computer 21 42

6 Lack of training/Guidance 19 38

7 Poorly designed websites 17 34

8 Difficult to access full text 11 22

9 Any other 00 00

Table-5: Problems in providing access to e-journals (n=50

Note: Multiple answers were permitted.

8 Mode of Information Literacy Programme

Fig.2: Maintaining usage statistics by the library

7 Problems in providing access to the DRDO e-

journal consortium

The study shed some light on the different access problems

associated with e-journals in the DRDO e-journal

consortium. A multiple-choice question with nine (9)

options as major problems and responses are tabulated in

Table-5. It is clear from the results, the most significant

problems faced by the respondents were 'free Wi-Fi

connectivity' (86 per cent), 'limited access to PC' (82 per

cent), and 'slow internet connectivity' (76 per cent)

occupies, first, second and third places respectively. On

the other hand, the librarians pointed out problems like

'difficult to read from computer', 'retrieval problems', 'lack

of training' and 'poorly designed website', which are less

than 50 per cent. Interestingly, 'difficult to access full text'

occupies the last place with 22 per cent.

Sl.

No

The problem in

providing e-journal

access

No. of

Respondents

1 Free Wi-Fi facility 43 86

2 Limited access to PC 41 82

3 Slow Internet connectivity 38 76

4 Retrieval problems

(including loading) 24 48

%

75


There are many modes of ILP imparting in study

libraries comprising Webinar, Onsite Training,

Presentation by Publishers, Presentation by

Librarians, and Special ILP. In this context, a

multiple-choice question with the most prominent six

(6) ILP modes existing in the studied libraries was

asked to the respondents (Table-6). Table-6 uncovers

that 66 per cent of the respondents chose presentation

by publishers as the most favoured mode to impart IL

skills to users. This is an exciting finding that the

training programme has to be organised by the

publisher since they have excellent knowledge of

their platform and may easily explain the features

available in their platform. Through onsite training

and special ILP programme occupies second and

third places with 58 per cent and 56 per cent

respectively.

Interestingly, 34 per cent of the respondents prefer to

organise through a webinar. This has shown the

positive approach among the librarians that they are

competent enough to conduct the programme. It is

worth noting that with growing popularity in

Webinars in present pandemic times and widely used

by many libraries as an emerging trend mode of ILP,

users are very much interested in this platform. It

facilitates the users in their convenience to find

relevant topics, finds experts, and is affordable. Only

18 per cent of libraries are using presentation by

Librarians as a delivery method of ILP. It is

surprising to note that no respondent believed to use

any other mode of ILP there are many new emerging

modes of ILP, for example, mobile-based ILP or

web-based ILP, to consider in imparting ILP to hightech

users in the library.

Sl. No

Mode of ILP

No. of

Respondents

(n=50)

1 Presentation by

Publishers 33

2 Through Onsite

Training 29

3 Through Special

ILP 28

%

66

58

56


These all e-journals are related to the core areas of the

labs, which were highly useful for their research work.

Table-3 also illustrates the budget details of four labs that

were subscribing to e-journals in addition to consortium

journals. The data in Table-3 reveals that out of four (4)

DRDO labs, DRDE, Gwalior, and DRDL, Hyderabad

shared the first position with rupees one hundred lakhs for

the subscription followed by DESIDOC, Delhi was

spending rupees twenty-five lakhs and DLRL, Hyderabad

was spending rupees twenty lakhs for an additional

subscription.

4 Through Webinar 17 34

5 Presentation by

Librarians 09

6 Any other 00 00

Table-6: Mode of Information Literacy Programme

Discussion

Note: Multiple answers were permitted.

It was found in Table-1 that nearly one-fourth of librarians

(26 per cent) are female who is leading the libraries in

DRDO Laboratories. The data also reveals that Scientists

head 68 per cent of the libraries, and Technical Officer

Cadre heads 32 per cent. "As libraries adapt and transition

to e-journals, another cost element associated with the

subscription budget is likely to come under scrutiny"

(Wakeling, 2007). As rightly pointed by Moorthy and

Pant (2012), "the escalating costs of journals especially

those pertaining to S&T, have always been a bane for

information centres attached to these labs, Subscription

cost of these journals takes away a large chunk of their

limited resources."

The data in Table-2 also reveals that thirty-six (36) labs

have a budget of less than one crore, and 14 labs' budgets

are more than one crore. Further, it is noted that the

variation of the budget having in crores and lakhs purely

depends on the size and nature of the work of the DRDO

labs. As Rosenberg (2005) observes, "a wide range of e-

resources are accessible in many libraries, but generally

libraries have little capacity to maintain the subscription.

However, one of the major problems of inadequate

provision of e-resources is poor funding/building

allocation". It is reasoned that the library consortium

movement is a perplexing cycle that includes the

wholehearted help and coordinated endeavours of the

librarians, their administration, and the publisher.

Table-3 reveals that the lab DRDL subscribes from four

publishers: Elsevier, Springer, Sage, and Taylor & Francis.

18

76


It is concluded from the data in Fig.1 that the publishers

Elsevier, IEEE, and Wiley have more coverage in the e-

journals consortium than other publishers covered in the

consortium. However, the publishers such as ACS,

Science, and T&F were not available in the consortium.

ACS was discontinued from the year 2012, and Science

and Taylor & Francis from 2015.

“The journal articles mainly bring out the latest

developments in a particular field, and e-journals to library

users can be summed up as instant and easy access, link to

other resources; multimedia capabilities, remote access;

searchability, independent of space and time" (Senthil and

Madhusudhan, 2018). In Table-4, the positive approach

here is that 64 per cent of them affirmed that the usage has

increased. This indicates that most scientific communities

use e-journals either for research or publishing their

research findings in e-journals. The study's findings

(Table-4) disclosed that more than 64 per cent of the

librarians were satisfied with the content. Nevertheless, the

36 per cent should not be ignored since its one-third of the

strength is not satisfying with the content available

through the e-journals consortium. Surprisingly, a

significant percentage of the librarians were also not happy

with the coverage of the e-journals, which has 16 per cent.

Further, it has to be noted that one-fourth of the librarian's

satisfaction level has not increased since the

implementation of e-journals. This is an alarming sign for

the DRDO consortium. The implication is that the

percentage has to be increased by adding more publishers

and e-journals to the consortium (Table-4).

It has been observed from Fig.2 that 94 per cent of labs are

not maintaining the usage statistics of e-journals, which is

a not positive sign towards the implementation of the

DRDO e-journals consortium and its renewal e-journals.

Interestingly, the reason behind not maintaining usage

statistics by the individual labs is that the labs were not

interested in the spent time since implementing lab, i.e.,

DESIDOC has already maintaining usage statistics for all

subscribed journals and sharing it to all labs. At the same

time, the usage pattern and less usage were centrally

monitored by DESIDOC to renew the e-journals

consortium yearly. It is pretty clear from the above

discussion that the individual labs can utilize the time for


…

providing some other value-added service instead of

maintaining usage statistics.

"Advancements in data transmission rates and device

design have greatly improved the mobile internet browsing

experience. These recent enhancements suggest that future

developments and previously mentioned demographic

patterns would enable many academic library users to use

these library services from handheld mobile computing

devices easily. Furthermore, these devices are increasingly

able to connect to the internet using Wi-Fi connections

when available as opposed to using slower and often

expensive cell phone connections" (Cummings, Merrill,

and Borrelli, 2010). It is clear from the results Table- 5

that the respondents' most significant problems were 'free

Wi-Fi connectivity’ (86 per cent). The findings indicate

that usage of e-journal may increase if the Wi-Fi facility

has been implemented in DRDO labs.

Today libraries are “functioning in the hybrid (paper and

electronic) environment and are active partners in one of

the e-journals Consortiums. Information literacy is

emerging as one of the most critical literacy for an

educated person who will be living and working in the

twenty-first century” (Madhusudhan, 2012). There is a

suitable course from this examination that the Librarians

have not a positive look on the organisation of the

Information Literacy Programme to their users and to

overcome the impediments while accessing e-journals by

users in studied libraries. As Sethi and Panda (2012)

suggested, "lack of appropriate training to the users to

access e-resources is considered one of the major

constraints ineffective use of e-resources."

The study's findings (Table-6) suggest that the ILP

programme needs to be organised for the user community

and the librarians to keep abreast of the content and

coverage of e-journals covered in the consortium better at

infrequent intervals utilization. Surprisingly, many studied

libraries are not sound in the delivery methods of ILP. The

data also reveals that 56 per cent of the librarians would

like to organise the special ILP program. The remaining

would like to organise either through publishers or onsite

training by the third party. The e-journals consortium

implementing lab, i.e., DESIDOC, has to note this fruitful

finding to organise ILP programme at periodic intervals

for better usage of e-journals by the users.

Suggestions

The librarians are well acquainted with user demands,

suggestions for improving the DRDO e-journals

consortium were raised to them in terms of content,

coverage, addition, and deletion of publishers in the

consortium is mentioned below:

(i)

To users ' expectations, it is suggested to

subscribe to more e-journals in psychology, polymer,

composites, nanotechnology, textiles, and materials

science.

(ii) It is suggested to subscribe to citation databases

such as Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus to enable

scientists to improve their research work visibility.

Publishers like Emerald, Sage, Springer, Institute of

Physics (IOP), American Institute of Physics (AIP) in the

consortium meet the library research requirements by

users. Furthermore, including standards databases like

ASTM, ASME and SAE, and the consortium's patent

database and technology trends will benefit the labs.

(iii)

The study suggested that the content of the

journals has to be improved to sustain in the e-journals

consortium. Otherwise, it may lead to discontinuing the

e-journals in the consortium. The publishers and

implementing lab, i.e., DESIDOC, have to note this point

to improve the content to fulfill the expectation level of

librarians.

(iv) Creating a new responsive website for the DRDO

e-journals consortium and providing access to video

tutorials for new features available in the e-journals

platform is suggested.

(v) The findings of the study suggest that the

implement discovery tools in the e-journals consortium

website for searching e-journals instead of using multiple

publishers' websites.

(vi) To improve the download trend among the

scientific community, the content and coverage of the e-

journals have to meet the users' expectations and be in

line with the lab's R&D activity.

(vii) It is suggested to create awareness on

advanced/federated searching of e-journals on a priority

basis.

(viii) It is suggested that library professionals should

train themselves on e-journals offered by publishers,

vendors, and consortia.

(ix) It is suggested to conduct training programs from

time to time on changes in e-journals subscription to

the labs and access to e-journals without any

hindrance.

(x) It is suggested that usage statistics of e-journals

help librarians convince the consortium administrators to

continue subscriptions or cancel e-journals and

demonstrate value to the money.

(xi) It is suggested that Lab libraries motivate

scientists and technical officers by giving awards to them

for more using e-journals.

Conclusion

77


The investigation has yielded valuable findings and has

accomplished its goals. The study's findings revealed that

out of 50 libraries, only four libraries were subscribing to

e-journals that were not covered in the DRDO e-journals

consortium, and the majority of libraries have a budget of

less than one crore. It is concluded from the data that the

publishers Elsevier, IEEE, and Wiley have more coverage

in the e-journals consortium than other publishers covered

in the consortium. It is evident that DESIDOC has covered


more e-journals and publishers in the consortium;

however, the new publishers and titles to be included in

addition to the existing subscription in the consortium for

long time sustainability and better coverage of the various

subject fields and informing the users through email,

followed by through official circular.

The finding also enumerated several key areas of concern,

such as none of the libraries was equipped with Wi-Fi

connectivity since DRDO labs do not allow Wi-Fi

facilities within the organization for security purposes.

This has one of the deficits in DRDO labs that need to be

addressed, at least for library use, to avoid the users

visiting the library for accessing e-journals. The study also

indicated that none of the DRDO studies libraries provides

access to e-journals to mobile devices within the lab

premises. Further, as far as alert services are concerned,

libraries were not up to the satisfactory level, and more

than fifty-five per cent were not providing alert services to

their users.

Another key concern was that only six per cent of labs

maintain the usage statistics of e-journals, which is a not

positive sign towards implementing the DRDO e-journals

consortium and its renewal of e-journals. Surprisingly, a

significant percentage of the librarians were also not happy

with the coverage of the e-journals, and one-third of the

strength is not satisfying with the content available

through the e-journals consortium. Further, it has to be

noted that one-fourth of the librarian's satisfaction level

has not increased since the implementation of e-journals.

This is an alarming sign for the DRDO consortium. The

implication is that adding more publishers and e-journals

to the consortium has to increase the percentage.

The study's findings suggest that integrating web-based

and SMS technology in the DRDO libraries is the ultimate

way to take advantage of today's technology and enhance

the usage of e-journals and return on investment (ROI) of

the DRDO e-journals Consortium. The study assumes

profound research significance and is the first of its kind,

covering Librarians working in all fifty DRDO labs in

India. Because librarians always act as a bridge between

the users and the DRDO e-journals consortium and

identify user demands, they proactively fulfil user

demands by providing various online services.

References

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communication in the age of Google: Exploring

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the Punjab. The Electronic Library, 35(1): 167-184.

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handheld mobile devices: their impact and implications for

library services. Library Hi Tech, 28(1): 22-40.

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#nolink, accessed 2 June. 2021.

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About Authors

V. Senthil is a PhD Research Scholar at the

Department of Library and Information, University

of Delhi. Presently working as Scientist 'F' and

Group Head, TICL & IPR at Gas Turbine

Research Establishment, Bengaluru. He has received

the 'Laboratory Scientist of the Year' award in 2006,

2013 and 2016. He has published 15 papers in

journals and conferences. His interests include

Library automation, digital library, institutional

repository, e-journals consortium, open data analysis

and IPR. He has attended several workshops and

training programmes in his area

Dr Margam Madhusudhan is currently working as a

Professor in the Department of Library and

Information Science, University of Delhi. Under his

supervision, 11 PhDs, 23 MPhils, and 140+ Project

reports have been awarded. He has published two

books, edited three books, 87+ articles in

International and National Journals, and 37

chapters. He has also completed one major research

project of DRDO and two minor projects. His areas

of interest include designing and evaluating websites,

Web-OPACs, ICT in libraries, Social Networking

Sites, e-Resources, Mobile-based Library Services,

and Text mining. He is the corresponding author.

79



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750

Mapping output of the scientific literature on Infodemic

research: a Scopus based analysis (2004-2020)

Shakil Ahmad, Dr Akhtar Hussain & Dr Sabahat Nausheen


30 rd August 2021


5 th September 2021





ABSTRACT:

Shakil Ahmad

Lecturer, Deanship of Library

Affairs

Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal

University.

Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Email:

shakilahma@gmail.com

Dr Akhtar Hussain

Assistant Librarian, National

Institute for the Empowerment of

Persons with Intellectual

Disabilities (NIEPID). Noida,

Uttar Pradesh, India

Email: akhtar.a47@gmail.com

Dr Sabahat Nausheen

Assistant Librarian, Rabindra

Bhavna, Visva-Bharati,

Santiniketan, West Bengal, India

Email:

sabahat0802@yahoo.co.in

Introduction: The pandemic of COVID-19 caused additional info-emergence, which

involved the sharing of false information and unsourced health recommendations among

various media outlets and digital portals. Infodemiology is an information technology and

epidemiology research platform to tackle urgent public health concerns and policy decisionmaking.

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to assess research activity and output of

scientific literature on Infodemic research during the period 2004 to 2020

Research problem: What are the publishing trends in infodemic from 2004-2020?

What are the preferred journals of researchers in infodemic?

What are the most productive countries, organizations, and authors in infodemic?

What are the authorship and collaborative patterns of research in infodemic?

What are the frequently used keywords in infodemic research?

Methodology: The Scopus database was used to retrieve bibliographic data using the

“infodemic” keywords available in the title, abstract, and keyword fields from 2004 to 2020.

A total of 919 data were retrieved for the study. Basic bibliometric approaches have been

used to evaluate annual growth trends in production, journals, institutes, and authors. The

ScientoPy and VOS Viewer software have drawn co-citation networks between productive

authors of highly cited articles.

Findings: USA was the most influential country, and the Harvard Medical School, USA,

was the most productive institution. Brigo F from the University of Verona, UK, was the

most productive author. Brownstein JS from the Harvard Medical School, USA, was the

most productive author among the highly cited articles and ranked first with h_index value

ten and g_index value 14. The authors are concerned with the m_index. With 1.667

m_index, Wang Y from Fudan University, China, was ranked first. Journal of Medical

Internet Research, JMIR Publications, Canada (IF2019 = 4.945) was the most productive

journal.“Journal of Medical Internet Research” with 3117 was the most cited paper. The

Journal of Medical Internet Research ranked first with h_index value 30 and g_index value

52. The American Journal of Public Health had the highest IF (IF2019 = 6.464) with

Q1.The Journal of Medical Internet Research has published the largest number of articles

on infodemic research.

KEYWORDS:

COVID-19; Infodemic; Infodemiology, Infodemic Research; Social Media;

Bibliometric analysis

80


Ahemd, Hussain and Nausheen: Mapping output of scientific literature …

Introduction

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) novel

pandemic has now exceeded a million documented cases

globally. The pandemic has forced unprecedented social

distancing measures and the cancelation of non-essential

services. COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus 2 (SARS-

CoV-2) viral pathogen extreme acute respiratory

syndrome, has permeated populations at unprecedented

levels. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced

a pandemic only a few months after the disease was first

reported in December 2019. But before that, the WHO had

warned the public of an "infodemic," described as

"overabundance of information some accurate and some

not (Gazendam et al., 2020)."

Further, WHO is leading efforts to slow the spread of

coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by 2019. But a global

information epidemic that spreads rapidly through social

media platforms and other outlets poses a serious public

health problem.

"We're not just fighting an epidemic; we're fighting an

infodemic," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus at the Munich Security Conference on Feb

15, 2020. After the World Health Organization's declared

COVID-19 as an International Public Health Emergency

(PHEIC), The WHO Information Network (EPI-WIN) has

been launched as a new information platform. The aim

was to exchange tailored data with certain target groups;

on Mar 11, it was eventually called a pandemic

(Zarocostas, 2020).

Although the term Infodemiology was coined in 2002,

Eysenbach (2002) concerns that infodemic or

misinformation outbreaks are almost as old as the World

Wide Web (Eysenbach, 2020). The word infodemic has

been devised to outline the perils of misinformation

phenomena during the management of virus outbreaks

since it could even speed up the epidemic process by

influencing and fragmenting social response (Cinelli et al.,

2020; Kim et al., 2019). As the WHO calls it, Infodemics

is a keyword where different stakeholders' participation

and stricter regulations are needed to reduce the impact of

fake news on this information age and social media.

Although different countries will need different

approaches, focusing on their humanitarian nature and

addressing Infodemic issues are the two key factors for

future global mitigation efforts (Hua & Shaw, 2020). The

distribution of knowledge will affect human behavior and

alter the efficacy of government countermeasures. Despite

this respect, the models for forecasting the transmission of

the virus are beginning to consider the behavioral reaction

of the community concerning public health initiatives and

the connectivity mechanisms behind the ingestion of

information (Cinelli et al., 2020).

Such a study is often carried out by counting references

cited by many researchers in their papers (Hussain &

Fatima, 2011). Guide on documentary effect and growing

exposure for knowledge on bibliometrics used to

determine the efficiency of a study (Osareh, 1996).

Bibliometrics connotes the science of measurement about

books or documents. In a sense, information science is an

extension of library science or an extension of reference

services (Hussain, 2017). Traditionally, it relates to the

quantitative measurement of documentary materials. Many

research areas use bibliometric methods to study the

impact of their field, the impact of several scientists, the

impact of a specific paper, or to determine specifically

impactful papers within a certain field of research. In this

context, researchers conducted a study mapping output of

the scientific literature on Infodemic research: A Scopusbased

analysis (2004-2020) (Hussain & Fatima, 2011).

Literature Review

81


The pandemic of COVID-19 caused additional infoemergence,

which involved the sharing of false

information and unsourced health recommendations

among various media outlets and digital portals (Mheidly

& Fares, 2020). Infodemiology is an information

technology and epidemiology research platform to tackle

urgent public health concerns and policy decision-making.

A Meta-Analysis of diachronic discourses with relevant

keywords and sentences under the guidance of

infodemiological scenarios aims to express the

chronological picture as its beginners on the historical time

scale (Hu et al., 2020). The primary publication of the

widely cited papers is in the US. The Virology Journal was

the most successful of the widely quoted papers to be

published. Between 1973 and 2016, these highly listed

papers were written. The most successful and wellreferenced

papers were published by the University of

Hong Kong in Hong Kong. Kwok Yung Yuen of Hong

Kong University, Shenzhen, has written several widely

cited papers as the most prolific author (Ram & Nisha,

2020). The method of cooperation differs widely

according to a particular area and specialty and influences

academic accomplishment and science correspondence.

For this analysis, the collaboration history of knowledge

retrieval is studied for the co-authored papers from the

Social Science Citation Index from 1987 to 1997.

According to IR collaboration studies, degrees of

cooperation and collaborative normalizations are

investigated (Ding et al., 1998).

The key results of the analysis concerned are the teamwork

between two and three authors. The author's output was

not found to be entirely compatible with Lotka's of n¼2

rule. Nevertheless, the distribution of publications in

various papers was observed to be compatible with

Bradford's Dispersion Principle, with a distribution of 1: n:

n2 (Singh et al., 2008). The analysis showed that the

fulfillment of Price's Rule, as the theoretical output of

ADHD, is subject to exponential growth (correlation

coefficient r = 0.9859, vs. r = 0.9011 after linear

adjustment). Methylphenidate (1,251 documents) is the

most researched drug. The division into the Bradford areas

shall create a nucleus solely inhabited by the Journal of the

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology

(500 articles). There were 866 newspapers in total used

(Lopez-Munoz et al., 2008).

The Scatter law of Bradford was used to classify main

newspapers and examine the author's productivity trend.

The study also looked at the publishing form, language,

and publishing country. There were identified 20 core

journals and journal articles were the primary modes of

dissemination. In comparison to the law of Lotka, authors

with single published material were more prevalent

(73.58%) (Patra & Mishra, 2006). Bradford's law of

scattering was used to identify the core journal that

published Indian cancer research literature. The rule was

used to research the productivity trend of the participants.

The report also describes the prominent institutions in

India that have the most frequently published cancer

literature (Patra & Bhattacharya, 2005). Bradford's and

Lotka's Law has been used for this study. The

contributions of Indian authors to international journals are

very low. A list of authors who published ten or more

papers between 1967 and 2004 is drawn up and presented.

The number of such authors is 37 (1.35 percent), and the

number of authors with single publications is significant

(74.63 percent) (Eysenbach, 2002).

The findings of a study show that most TEL papers, led by

case studies and general analysis, fall into the category of

research papers. In the bibliography of the references, the

bulk of citations were published in the newspapers and are

accompanied by online sites and books. The study shows

that the total length of papers in some countries is 13,017

pages and that the scattering of contributors is minimal

(Jena et al., 2012). The results showed the largest number

of research papers published in 2013 was 60 (31.08 %),

and the lowest number of papers published in 2009 was 13

(6.73 %). 80 (41.45 %) were single authors, and 4 (2.07

%) were the least recorded authors. As far as the length of

the paper was concerned, most of the paper's length was

11-15 with 70 (36.26 %), and 07 (3.62 %) of the paper

length was 1-5 pages. The total references were found to

be 3243, and most of the references were found in 2013 at

1183 (50.49 %), and fewer references were found in 2008

at 121 (3.73 %) (Anwar & Zhiwei, 2020).

The study explores the over-time increase in Indian AIDS

research products based on PubMed and Web of Science

bibliographical data under the law of Lotka, the

distribution of authorship was investigated. The scattering

law of Bradford was used in the identification of main

newspapers. The study describes involved agencies and

regional distributions of the research results for Indian

Helps. The annual data review indicates that since 1992

literature has increased rapidly (Patra & Chand, 2007).

The study found that the LICs published 796 contributions,

comprising 1.08 percent of the total biomedical research

published by LICs and 0.27 percent of the world's health

communication research. Malawi had the highest number

of publications per GDP, with 32,811 published per billion

US$. Uganda had the largest contribution per population,

with 9,579 publications per million people. Ethiopia

received the highest number of contributions per primary

school enrolment, with a ratio of 2.461 publications per

percent of GDP. The role of health communication in

promoting HIV awareness and prevention has been the

most important (Mheidly & Fares, 2020).

The paper focuses on integrating SNSs into their daily

communication for academics by academic staff

(technological and medical applications). A multi-method

research study was conducted, and it was found that most

users preferred Facebook and ResearchGate for academic

research purposes. Collaborative and peer-to-peer learning

have common benefits from the social network, although

some concerns about privacy and cyber-bullying have

been articulated (Abdullatif et al., 2017). The degree of

infection in their regions and mutual perceptual prejudice

toward COVID19 are not associated positively. The

"COVID-19" and "SARS-CoV-2" official titles have not

de facto been the standard. Still, full official names are

exempted from being the proper contribution to the

resistance of negative perceptual prejudices and collective

behavioral inclinations in pani (Hua & Shaw, 2020).

Research questions

What are the publishing trends in infodemic from

2004-2020?

What are the preferred journals of researchers in

infodemic?

What are the most productive countries,

organizations, and authors in infodemic?

What are the authorship and collaborative patterns

of research in infodemic?

What are the frequently used keywords in

infodemic research?

Methodology

82



The Scopus database was used to retrieve bibliographic

data using the "Infodemic" keywords available in the title,

abstract, and keyword fields. The period from 2004 to

2020 was selected to gather a wide range of data. The

search query used for retrieving data is as under: Search

query: (TITLE (Infodemic OR Infodemics OR

infodemiology)) OR (AUTHKEY (Infodemic OR

Infodemics OR infodemiology)) OR (TITLE-ABS-KEY

(Infodemic OR Infodemics OR infodemiology)) OR

(Infodemic OR Infodemics OR infodemiology).

A total of 919 data were retrieved dated Jul 14, 2020, and

the duplication was zero. Exclusive type of document:

review, note, editorial material, letter, short survey,

meeting abstract, news item, correction. Document type

included, i.e. (Article OR Review OR Conference Paper

OR Book Chapter OR Book). A total of 919 documents

were found from the Scopus database. After the manual

screening of the records, 675 documents were selected for

the study, and 244 irrelevant documents were excluded.

The total citation accumulated by the article was

considered for the bibliometric analysis. Basic bibliometric

approaches have been used to evaluate annual growth

trends in production, journals, institutes, and authors. The

citation obtained in the year of publication of the papers

was issued.

The impact factor of the journals was taken from the

Journal Citation Report (JCR) of the 2019 edition

(compiled by Clarivate Analytics) and referred to as

IF2019. The Hirsch Index (h-Index) was collected from

the most productive writers and organizations (Hirsch,

2005). The ScientoPy and VOSviewer Viewer have drawn

co-citation networks between productive authors of highly

cited articles.


Bibliographic data for the study was obtained from the

Scopus database using the keyword "Infodemic" in the

article title, abstract, or keywords. Between 2004–2020,

18140 citations, 675 publications, 634 journals, 2218

authors affiliated with 1106 institutions, and 84 countries

were found. These documents received 18140 citations

published in 961 English and 12 other languages.

Publications and citations trend on Infodemic

research

Table1& Fig.1 show the articles' distribution in the study

by year, the total publication, and the total citations. In


2020, the maximum number of articles reaches 131 out of

the total number of articles, while in 2019, 111 articles and

in 2018, 85 articles were published. The minimum number

of articles in 2009 is eight articles; in 2008, there are six

articles; in 2006, there are five articles; in 2007, there are

three articles; in 2004 and 2005, there are only two

articles.

In addition, 2087 citations were ranked first in 2010. In

2013, 1634 citations were ranked second, and in 2014,

1626 were ranked third. The minimum number of citations

is 78 in 2005, 43 in 2007, and 27 in 2004.

Year Total

Publications

Total

Citations

Citation

Impact

2004 2 27 13.50

2005 2 78 39.00

2006 5 889 177.80

2007 3 43 14.33

2008 6 254 42.33

2009 8 630 78.75

2010 14 2087 149.07

2011 16 919 57.44

2012 27 454 16.81

2013 41 1634 39.85

2014 50 1626 32.52

2015 52 926 17.81

2016 54 755 13.98

2017 68 579 8.51

2018 85 475 5.59

2019 111 316 2.85

2020 131 184 1.40

Table 1 Publication and citations trend on Infodemic research

Conference Papers 88 1096 12.45

Reviews 65 2082 32.03

Table 2 Document Types

Notes: [TP=Total Publication, TC=Total Citation, CI=Citations

Impact]

Influential countries

Table 3 displays the top 10 most productive and influential

countries in Infodemic research between 2004 and 2020.

The USA was the most influential country, with 138

papers (Freq.=0.38983) led by Italy (35; 0.09887) and the

United Kingdom (25;0.07062) ranked 1-3.

The USA was the top-ranked single country paper (SCP)

with 122, while the United Kingdom and Canada (SCP =

15) ranked second, and Italy and China (SCP = 14) ranked

third. Italy has the highest proportion of multi-country

paper (MCP) with 21 (MCP Ratio = 0.6), preceded by

the USA (MCP = 16; MCP Ratio = 0.116) and the United

Kingdom (MCP = 10; MCP Ratio = 0.4) with 1 to 3.

Country Articles Freq SCP MCP MCP

Ratio

USA 138 0.38983 122 16 0.116

Italy 35 0.09887 14 21 0.6

United 25 0.07062 15 10 0.4

Kingdom

China 23 0.06497 14 9 0.391

Canada 19 0.05367 15 4 0.211

Korea 8 0.0226 6 2 0.25

Australia 7 0.01977 5 2 0.286

Brazil 7 0.01977 6 1 0.143

Germany 7 0.01977 6 1 0.143

Hong

Kong

7 0.01977 5 2 0.286

Table 3 Top Ten influential countries on Infodemic research

Notes: [SCP=Single Country Paper, MCP= multi-country

paper]

Attributes of the most cited documents

Figure 1 Publication and citations trend on Infodemic research

Types of documents

A total of 675 documents met the selection criteria. Five

document types were found in these 675 publications;

article (486) was the most frequent form of publications

with 8581 citations, followed by Conference Papers (88)

with 1096 citations, Reviews (65) with 2082 citations,

Book chapters (30) with 37 citations, and Books (6) with

80 citations (See table 2).

Documents Type TP TC CI

Articles 486 8581 17.66

Books 6 80 13.33

Book Chapters 30 37 1.23

83


The number of citations quantifies the importance of an

essay within a given study field (Garfield, 1973). The

citation demonstrates the work and results of scholars in

the field of study. A high number of citations indicate the

importance of research in this field. It provides insight into

the impact of research work over a while (Smith, 2008).

However, the citation changes with time, known as the

cycle of citation life (Galiani & Gálvez, 2017). A similar

study has been carried out in the case of highly cited

articles on Infodemic research.

Table 4 shows the top 10 most-cited countries in

Infodemic research between 2004 to 2020. The USA was

the most productive country with 284 documents ranked

first, followed by Italy (71) second and the United


Kingdom (69) third. India produced fewer documents, i.e.,

18 documents with 10th ranked. Also, during the study

period, the United States acquired 6722 citations, followed

by Canada (2027) and the United Kingdom (1317), from

the total citation 18140 lists. India has a lower number of

citations, which means 23 are ranked 10th. Moreover,

United States (382), United Kingdom (297), Italy (270)

have been ranked 1–3 by the total link strength of

documents; and the 10th ranked by India (25) (see table 4

and figure 2).

Country Publications Citation Citatio

ns

Impact

Total

Link

Strength

United 284 6722 23.67 382

States

Italy 71 733 10.32 270

United 69 1317 19.09 297

Kingdom

China 45 372 8.27 67

Canada 38 2027 53.34 120

Australia 29 664 22.90 67

Germany 21 285 13.57 26

Spain 21 172 8.19 37

Austria 18 321 17.83 155

India 18 23 1.28 25

Table 4 Most cited articles on Infodemic research

Figure 2 Most cited articles on Infodemic research

Highly influential organizations

Table 5 presents the top highly productive organizations in

Infodemic research. The Harvard Medical School, USA,

was ranked among the top, with the highest number of

articles (18), followed by the Franz Tappeiner Hospital of

Italy, the second most productive institution with 15

Paracelsus Medical University, Austria was published 234

articles.

In terms of citations, the Harvard Medical School of the

United States was headed by 638 citations, followed by the

Paracelsus Medical University in Austria (234 citations)

and the Franz Tappeiner Hospital, Italy (213 citations).

In addition, the leading highly influential productive

organizations Franz Tappeiner Hospital of Italy, have a

total link value of 89, followed by Paracelsus Medical

University in Austria, a link value of 72, and the

University of Genoa, Italy, a link value of 11(see table 5).

Organization Country TP TC CI Total

Link

Harvard

Medical

School

Franz

Tappeiner

Hospital

Paracelsus

Medical

University

84


United

States

Strength

18 638 35.44 5

Italy 15 213 14.20 89

Austria 7 234 33.43 72


University of

Genoa

Johns

Hopkins

Bloomberg

School of

Public Health

Innovative

Clinical

Research

Network in

Vaccinology

(I-REIVAC)

Italy 4 32 8.00 11

United

States

4 184 46.00 3

France 3 24 8.00 0

Table 5 Top highly productive organizations

Notes: [TP=Total Publication, TC=Total Citation, CI=Citations

Impact]

Frequently used keywords

Throughout this portion, we analyze the material by

evaluating the distribution of keywords, from top to the

bottom of all the most specific occurrence keywords in

infodemic research publications, the author keywords of

the event network diagram.

Keywords that appear will effectively represent research

hotspots in discipline areas, offering auxiliary help for

scientific study (Li, H., An, H., Wang, Y., Huang, J., &

Gao, 2016). Among a total of 675 Infodemic Researchrelated

articles, 859 keywords were collected.

The VOSviewer software created the Infodemic Research

Keyword Network. The shape of the nodes and the terms

in Figure 4 is the weight of the nodes. The greater node

signifies the greater weightage of the word. The difference

between the two nodes is the frequency of interaction

between the two nodes. In addition, a shorter gap indicates

a closer friendship. The difference between the two

keywords is that they came together. The thicker line is a

more co-occurring line (Gu et al., 2017). The nodes of the

same color are part of the cluster. The VOSviewer divided

the keywords for Infodemic-related articles into 7 clusters.

The keyword "Social Media" has the highest frequency

occurrences of 147 and total link strength of 202, followed

by other keyword occurrences and total high-frequency

linkages include "Infodemiology" (82) with total link

strength of 177, "Internet" (76) with total link strength of

114, "Twitter" (62) with total link strength of 106,

"COVID-19" (47) with total link strength of 90, and so on

(see Figure 4, 5 & table 6).

Figure 4 keywords occurrences (VOSViewer)

Figure 5 frequently used keywords

85



Keyword Occurrences

Total link

strength

Social Media 147 202

Infodemiology 82 177

Internet 76 114

Twitter 62 106

Covid-19 47 90

Google Trends 45 64

Big Data 33 47

Public Health 33 73

Surveillance 32 58

Epidemiology 31 50

Infoveillance 27 81

Machine

Learning 25 51

Data Mining 21 32

Coronavirus 18 40

Natural

Language

Processing 18 38

Pandemic 17 45

Influenza 16 28

Mental Health 14 32

Google 13 28

Misinformation 11 25

Text Mining 11 12

Artificial

Intelligence 10 17

Ethics 10 22

Health

Communication 10 12

Infectious

Disease 10 33

Infodemic 10 26

Sentiment

Analysis 10 16

Twitter

Messaging 10 20

Web 10 27

Table 6 frequently used keywords.

Three-Fields Plot (Keywords-

Institutions-Sources)

Figure 6 presents the three-factor analysis of the

relationship among keywords (left), authors' affiliated

Institutions (middle), and sources(right). It shows that

eight sources (Journal of Medical Internet Research,

Scientific Reports, Studies in Health Technology and

Informatics, Vaccine, Plos One, ACM International

Conference Proceeding Series, Epilepsy and Behavior and

International Journal of Environmental Research and

Public Health) have published infodemic literature mostly

using ten main keywords (social media, Covid-19,

Surveillance, Twitter, Infodeminology, Public Health,

Epidemiology, Internet, Big Data, And Google Trends).

These sources and keywords have a strong relationship

with ten institutions (the University of Florida, University

of Utah, University of California, University of British

Columbia, Harvard Medical School, University of

Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University College

London, University of Verona, and the University of

Genoa).

Figure 6 Three-Fields Plot (Keywords-Institutions-Sources)

86



Three-Fields Plot (Keywords-Sources-

Countries)

Figure 7 presents the three-factor analysis of the

relationship among keywords (left), sources (middle), and

countries (right). It shows that ten countries (USA, Italy,

United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, China, Spain, France,

Australia, and Brazil) have published infodemic literature

mostly using ten main keywords (social media,

Infodeminology, Twitter, Public Health, Internet,

Surveillance, Google Trends, Covid-19, and Big Data).

These countries and keywords have a strong relationship

with sources (Journal of Medical Internet Research, ACM

International Conference Proceeding Series, Studies in

Health Technology and Informatics, Epilepsy and

Behavior, Health Information and Libraries Journal,

American Journal of Public Health, International Journal

of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vaccine,

Plos One, Scientific Reports).

Figure 7 Three-Fields Plot (Keywords-Sources-Countries)

Country Collaboration Map

Figure 8 shows that the country collaboration map during

Infodemic research from 2004 to 2020. The maximum

number of country collaborations from the USA to China

ranged from 19, followed by Italy and the USA to the

United Kingdom. The frequency ranged from 12, and from

Italy to Austria and the USA to Canada was 11,

respectively. The lower number of country-collaboration

frequencies from Italy to Israel and Italy to the USA

ranged from 7 each. In contrast, Italy to Nigeria and the

United Kingdom to Israel ranged from 6 each frequency.

Figure 8 Country Collaboration Map

87



Most Prolific Authors

Table 7 focused that the Brigo F (University of Verona,

UK) was the most successful author of 10 articles

published in 2014, followed by Bragazzi NL (University

of Genoa, Italy) in 2015 and Brownstein JS (Harvard

Medical School, USA) in 2008 both authors published 14

articles each. Moreover, Nardone R (University of Genoa,

Italy) published ten articles in 2014.

Brownstein JS ranked first with 956 citations in 2008.

Conway M (Johns Hopkins University, USA)

ranked second with 311 citations in 2010, and Brigo F

ranked third with 223 citations in 2014. On the author's

quality parameters h_index and g_index, Brownstein JS

ranked first with h_index value ten and g_index value 14.

Brigo F ranked second with h_index value 9, and g_index

value 14, and Nardone R ranked third with h_index value

6, and g_index value 10. Besides, the authors are

concerned with the m_index. With 1.667 m_index, Wang

Y (Fudan University, China) ranked first. Brigo F was

second with the m_index of 1.286, and Mavragani A

(University of Stirling, Scotland) was third-ranked with

the m_index of 1.000.

Three journals published with seven articles each, with

two journals, ACM International Conference Proceeding

Series, published by Association for Computing

Machinery (ACM), the USA with six articles, and

American Journal of Public Health Publisher of American

Journal of Public Health Association, the USA with five

articles, while two journals published of 4 each of the total

articles on infodemic research. "Journal of Medical

Internet Research" with 3117 was the most cited paper.

One thousand four hundred fifty-three citations from

"PLOS One followed this." In addition, there are 134

citations from the "American Public Health Journal."

The journal's quality parameters h index and g index,

Journal of Medical Internet Research ranked first with

h_index value 30 and g_index value 52 PLOS One ranked

second with h_index value 14 and g_index value 26.

American Journal of Public Health ranked third with

h_index value five and g_ index value 7 of each of the

three journals.

For IF, among the top productive journals, the American

Journal of Public Health had the highest IF (IF2019 =

6.464) with Q1, followed by the Journal of Medical

Internet Research of Canada (IF2019 = 5.034) with Q1 and

the Scientific Reports (IF2019 = 3.998 with Q1) (see table

8).

Author

Brigo F

Bragazzi

NL

Brownstein

JS

Nardone R

Wang Y

Mavragani

A

Yom-Tov

E

Conway M

Affiliation

and

Country

University

Of

Verona,

UK

University

Of Genoa,

Italy

Harvard

Medical

School,

USA

University

Of Genoa,

Italy

Fudan

University,

China

University

Of

Stirling,

Scotland

Microsoft

Research,

USA

John

Hopkins

University,

USA

TP TC PYS H

index

G

index

M

index

19 223 2014 9 14 1.286

14 143 2015 5 11 0.833

14 956 2008 10 14 0.769

10 163 2014 6 10 0.857

9 80 2018 5 8 1.667

8 64 2016 5 8 1

8 149 2013 6 8 0.75

7 311 2010 6 7 0.545

Emery S N/A 6 70 2013 3 6 0.375

Igwe SC N/A 6 106 2014 4 6 0.571

Table 7 Most Prolific Authors

Note: [TP=Total Publication, TC=Total Citation, PY= Year

Published, PYS=Publication Year Start]

Highly Influential Research Journals

Journal of Medical Internet Research, JMIR Publications,

Canada (IF2018 = 4.945) published the highest number of

articles on infodemic research with 134 (TC = 3117),

followed by PlosOne, Public Library of Science, USA (14

articles). The third most productive source of publication

was the International Journal of Environmental Research

and Public Health, published from MDPI Multidisciplinary

Digital Publishing Institute, Switzerland, with 14 articles.

88


Table 8 Highly Influential Research Journals

Authorship Pattern of Infodemic

Research

Eysenbach G was the most productive author and wrote an

article entitled "Pandemics in the Twitter Age: Content

Analysis of Tweets During the 2009 H1n1 Outbreak"

published by PLOS One journal (649 citations and CPY =

59) in 2010 and his second-most productive article, "Social

Media: A Review and Tutorial of Applications in

Medicine and Health Care," published by Journal of

Medical Internet Research with 241 citations and CPY is


35.857 in 2014, In addition, the JS Brownstein wrote an

article on 'Plos Medicine' with 246 citations, and CPY is

18,923, entitled "Surveillance Sans Frontiers: Internet-

based Emerging Infectious Disease Intelligence and The

Healthmap Project" in 2008(see table 9 & Figure 9).

Figure 9 Authorship Pattern

Title Author Journal Year TC CPY

Pandemics in the Age of Twitter: Content Analysis

of Tweets During the 2009 H1n1 Outbreak

Social Media: A Review and Tutorial of

Applications in Medicine and Health Care

Surveillance Sans Frontieres: Internet-Based

Emerging Infectious Disease Intelligence and The

Healthmap Project

Infodemiology: Tracking Flu-Related Searches on

The Web for Syndromic Surveillance.

Using Twitter to Examine Smoking Behavior and

Perceptions of Emerging Tobacco Products

Early Detection of Disease Outbreaks Using the

Internet

Using Web Search Query Data to Monitor Dengue

Epidemics: A New Model for Neglected Tropical

Disease Surveillance

Measuring Vaccine Confidence: Analysis of Data

Obtained by A Media Surveillance System Used to

Analyse Public Concerns About Vaccines

Wikipedia Usage Estimates Prevalence of Influenza-

Like Illness in The United States in Near Real-Time

Seasonality in Seeking Mental Health Information on

Google

Eysenbach G PLOS One 2010 649 59

Eysenbach G

Journal of Medical Internet

Research

2014 251 35.857

Brownstein JS Plos Medicine 2008 246 18.923

Eysenbach G Amia Annual Symposium

Proceedings / Amia

Symposium. Amia

Symposium

Conway M Journal of Medical Internet

Research

2006 220 14.667

2013 162 20.25

Brownstein JS CMAJ 2009 161 13.417

Brownstein JS PLOS Neglected Tropical

Diseases

Brownstein JS The Lancet Infectious

Diseases

2011 151 15.1

2013 109 13.625

Brownstein JS PLOS Computational Biology 2014 100 14.286

Allem JP American Journal of

Preventive Medicine

2013 96 12

Conclusion

The analysis was carried out with the help of the literature

from the Scopus Database. The analysis focuses on science

patterns in the year-wise frequency between 2004 and

2020 in publications and citations. This study has 675

documents; out of these documents were published by 634

Table 9 Authorship pattern of Infodemic research

89


journals, written by 2218 authors, affiliated with 1106

institutions and 84 countries. These documents were

received 18140 citations were published in 961 English

and 12 other languages. In 2020, the maximum number of

articles published was 131 out of the total number of

articles. In addition, 2087 citations were ranked first in

2010. Five document types were found in these 675

publications; article (486) was the most frequent

publication with 8581 citations. The USA was the most

influential country, with 138 papers (Freq. = 0.38983) led

by Italy (35; 0.09887) and the United Kingdom (25;

0.07062).

Moreover, The United States (382) has been ranked 1st by

the total link strength of documents; and 10th ranked by

India (25).

The Harvard Medical School, USA, was ranked among the

top, with the highest number of articles (18) and 638

citations of the same organizations. The keyword "Social

Media" has the highest frequency occurrences of 147 and

total link strength of 202.

The three-factor analysis of the relationship shows

keywords (left), authors' affiliated Institutions (middle),

and sources (right). It shows that eight sources have

published infodemic literature, mostly using ten main

keywords. These sources and keywords have a strong

relationship with ten institutions. The three-factor analysis

of the relationship shows keywords (left), sources

(middle), and countries (right). It also shows that ten

countries have published infodemic literature mostly using

ten main keywords. These countries and keywords have a

strong relationship with sources. The maximum number of

country collaboration from the USA to China ranged from

19, followed by Italy and the USA to the United Kingdom,

the frequency ranged from 19.

Moreover, Brigo F from the University of Verona, UK,

was the most productive author. Brownstein JS from the

Harvard Medical School, USA, was the most productive

author among the highly cited articles and ranked first with

h_index value ten and g_index value 14. The authors are

concerned with the m_index. With 1.667 m_index, Wang

Y from Fudan University, China, was ranked first. Journal

of Medical Internet Research, JMIR Publications, Canada

(IF2019 = 4.945) was the most productive journal.

"Journal of Medical Internet Research" with 3117 was the

most cited paper. On the journal's quality parameters

h_index and g_index, the Journal of Medical Internet

Research ranked first with h_index value 30 and g_index

value 52. For Impact Factor, among the top productive

journals, the American Journal of Public Health had the

highest IF (IF2019 = 6.464) with Q1. Eysenbach G was

the most productive author and wrote an article entitled

"Pandemics in the Twitter Age: Content Analysis of

Tweets During the 2009 H1n1 Outbreak" published by

PLOS One journal (649 citations and CPY = 59) in 2010.

However, the study concludes that the novel pandemic of

the 2019 coronavirus outbreak has crossed a million

reported cases worldwide. United States, United Kingdom,

Italy have been ranked 1–3 by the overall connection

strength of documents, and 10th ranked by India. With the

largest number of papers (18), the Harvard Medical

School, USA, ranks among the top. With 15 posts, Italy's

Franz Tappeiner Hospital was the second most active

facility.

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About Authors

Shakil Ahmad did Masters in Library and

Information Science (MLIS) from Aligarh Muslim

University, Aligarh, India. He has 15 years of

professional experience in academic libraries. He is

currently working as a Lecturer and liaison librarian

at the Deanship of Library Affairs, Imam

Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi

Arabia. He is also teaching a library skills course at

the College of Engineering, Imam Abdulrahman bin

Faisal University. Shakil has published more than

thirty-five research and conference papers in

national and international journals. His research

areas are Information literacy, library service

quality, bibliometric and, Scientometrics

Dr. Akhtar Hussain is an Assistant Librarian, The

National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons

with Intellectual Disabilities (DIVYANGJAN),

regional centre, Noida (UP). He has completed

Ph.D. in Library and Information Science,

Department of Library & Information Science,

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. He has

about 7 years of job experience at King Saud

University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Earlier he was working as Assistant Librarian (IBA

Bangalore) and Teaching Assistant (Department of

Library & Information Science, Ch. Charan Singh

University, Meerut). He has written 5 books and

published 50 articles in international as well as

national journals.

Dr Sabahat Nausheen is currently serving as Sr Asst

Librarian at Rabindra Bhvana Library with

Additional Charge of PSV Library under Visva

Bharati Library Network of Visva-Bharati University,

Santiniketan, West Bengal. She was Lecturer at Dept

of Lib & Info Sc, North Bengal University, WB. She

was associated with WBCSC as well as Presidency

University,Kolkata. She has several National &

International Research papers.

91



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


25 th August 2021


5 th September 2021





Visualization of the research performance on Integrated

Library Systems: a bibliometric analysis

Sk Sofik & Dr Ziaur Rahman

ABSTRACT:

Sk Sofik

Research Scholar



Rabindra Bharati

University , Kolkata

Email: sofikrbu@gmail.com

Dr Ziaur Rahman

Assistant Professor,



Rabindra Bharati


Email: ziaur.rahman@rbu.ac.in

Introduction: The Integrated Library System (ILS) is an enterprise-level software package,

which integrates multiple library functions and services. It controls the series of operations and

routine management of the library services and manages library collections' growth and

development. The study carefully evaluates the current scenario of ILS that will lead the

researcher to form an innovative initiative to facilitate effective and further research in this

research domain.

Purpose: The prime purpose of this study is to map and visualize the ILS literature indexed on

the Web of science between 2001 and 2020 based on bibliometrics analysis and knowledge

mapping.

Methodology: A corpus of 1749 publications was obtained from Web of Science (WoS) Core

Collection during 2001 to 2020 and analyzed using the Histcite, VoSViewer, Biblioshiny, and

ScientoPy software to highlight the evolution of the research domain.

Findings: Based on 1749 articles retrieved from the WoS, this bibliometric study provided an

overview of the research in ILS and identified some significant points in the research

throughout the investigation period. The trend indicates that publication and citation have not

gradually increased. A total of 83 countries in the data collected have been published on ILS

over the years. The topmost publishing countries were the USA, England, and China. The most

preferred Organizations were the University of Malaysia (Malaysia), Indiana University (USA),

and Wuhan University (China) in ILS research. Surla D., Singh V., and Milosavljevic B. were

observed to be relevant authors in this field. Electronic Library, Program-Electronic Library,

and Information Systems, and Library Hi Tech were the most influential journals on ILS. The

paper entitled "Effective Mapping of Biomedical Text to the UMLS Meta thesaurus: The Meta

Map Program" by Aronson A.R. published in 2001 in “Journal of the American Medical

Informatics Association," is on the most important paper in ILS literature. The study represents

the keywords picked by the authors within this research domain of ILS, which will assess the

future researcher to understand the key terms used by the ILS researcher.

KEYWORDS:

Integrated Library Systems; Library Management Systems; Bibliometrics;

Knowledge Mapping

92


Sofik and Rahman: Visualization of research performance

…

Introduction

Integrated Library Systems (ILS) are multifunction,

adaptable software applications that allow libraries to

manage, catalog, and circulate their materials to patrons

(Müller, 2011). ILS Controls the series of functions and

routine management of the library services and manages

the growth and development of library collections. ILS

also known as a Library Management System (LMS), is an

enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to

track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons

who have borrowed. An ILS usually comprises a relational

database, software to interact with that database, and two

graphical user interfaces , one for patrons, one for

staff.(Uzomba, Emeka C., Oyebola, O.J., Izuchukwu,

2015)

Integrated Library Systems controls the series of functions

and routine management of the library services and

manages library collections' growth and development.

(Diyaolu, A.M., Oso, 2019) The importance of integrated

systems in library activities such as cataloging, circulation,

acquisition, serials management, etc., is no longer

debatable as libraries worldwide have realized the need to

move from their manual practices into integrated systems

and networked operations. Selectors ordered materials

with ordering slips, cataloguers manually cataloged items

and indexed them with the card catalog system (all

bibliographic data was kept on a single index card), and

users signed books out manually indicating their name cue

cards which were then held at the circulation desk. With

the advent of computers, academic libraries are shifting

from their isolated past into integrated systems and

networked operations.(Uzomba, Emeka C., Oyebola, O.J.,

Izuchukwu, 2015)

Literature Review

Review of related literature is essential for a new research

topic; study of related literature impels locating, reading,

and evaluating of research as well as a report of casual

observation and opinion related to the individuals' planted

research work. (Sheikhshoaei, 2020) explores the

intellectual and cognitive structures of information

retrieval in the medical sciences through the use of Science

Mapping. Analysis of the findings shows that Similarity

measures, Expert systems, Concepts, Experience,

Answers, and Multi-model IR clusters are considered

mature and completely centralized clusters in the first

quarter of the strategic chart. (Khiste, Deshmukh,

Maharshi, Shinde, & Awate, 2018) A study discusses the

"Digital Library" as reflected in J-Gate from 2008 to 2017.

This paper investigates the highly productive authors,

Country-wise, Publication, Year wise, Research area-wise,

Source Title, or Journal wise. The result indicates that

there were entire 1521 documents on digital library from

2008 to 2017. On the international front, India's

contribution to Digital Library is 205 documents from

2008 to 2017. (Akhavan, Ebrahim, Fetrati, & Pezeshkan,

2016) examines an overview of the knowledge

management literature from 1980 through 2014. We

employ bibliometric and text mining analyses on a sample

of 500 most cited articles to explore the impact of factors

such as the number of authors, references, pages, and

keywords on the number of citations that they received.

(G. Singh & Ahmad, 2007) the study has been undertaken

to find out the growth and characteristics of digital library

literature. the significant findings are that most articles are

single-authored; author productivity is not in agreement

with Lotka’s Law, except in one case where several

articles are three; the maximum number of articles were

published in 2003 with English being the most productive

language; full articles were published in the journal D-lib

Magazine; distribution of articles nearly follows

Bradford's Law, and the USA ranked first for a maximum

number of journals. (Patra, Bhattacharya, & Verma, 2006)

investigates growth pattern, core journals, and authors'

distribution in the field of bibliometrics using data from

Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA). The

growth of literature does not show any definite pattern.

Bradford's law of scattering identifies core journals and

determines 'Scientometrics' as the core journals in this

field.


The main objective of this study is to analyze the global

research performance in the field of ILS as reflected in the

publication and citation output during 2001-2020. In

particular, the study focuses on the following aspects

To study the year-wise growth of publications and

citations.

To determine the most productive countries,

organizations, authors, and their collaborations.

To identify the preferred journals of researchers

in ILS.

To identify the highly influential research papers

concerning citation and average citation per year

on ILS.

To explore the most frequently used author

keywords and co-occurrence of author keywords

network in ILS.

To explore the clustering, and scaling of key

concepts in ILS.

To explore the Themes and keywords in Thematic

Map in ILS.

Methodology

93


The data was gathered from the webserver of Clarivate

Analytics, popularly known as Web of Science (WoS), a

platform used by a wide range of scientific studies in

bibliometrics. Wang et al.(Wang, Pan, Ke, Wang, & Wei,

2014) and Gorraiz and Schloegl (Gorraiz & Schloegl,

2008). A search has been carried out in the WoS database

to get the overall results of the bibliometric publications.

The query of searching is TS= "Integrated Library

System” OR “Library Management System” OR “Library

Automation” dated 02/07/2021. For the study, we have

refined the search. DOCUMENT TYPE (Article OR

Editorial Material OR Proceeding Paper OR Review OR

Book Review OR Book Chapter OR Review OR Early

Access ) AND [excluding] DOCUMENT TYPES: (Data

Paper OR Retracted Publication). Timespan: 2001-2020.

Indexes: SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI. REFINED BY

WEB OF SCIENCE. A total of 1749 documents were

retrieved, 1456 of Articles, Article; Proceeding Paper 119,


Review 69, Book Review 60, Editorial Material 25 and

Article; Early Access 16.

The study employed the Biblioshiny app specially

designed for the Bibliometrix R package, Histcite, and a

robust Java-based application ScientoPy, to convert,

process, visualize, mapping and evaluate the selected

dataset. Moreover, we utilized another java based apps

VOSViewer, to provide some more complete

visualization.

Findings and Discussions

Based on the results of the collection of articles on the

theme of ILS research from 2001 to 2020, there are 1749

documents published by 122 sources (journals, books,

etc.), written by 2830 authors, 586 single-authored

documents, and 2244 multi-authored documents affiliated

with 1153 institutions and 81 countries. These documents

received 10255 total citations. The maximum of the

research publications is written in the English language

(1592), followed by Spanish (67), Portuguese (40),

German (27), Japanese (16), and French (7).

1 Year-Wise Research Growth Trend

The number of published academic papers is an important

indicator to measure the development trend of specific

scientific research. Figure 1 shows the year-wise

frequency of publications and citations published from

2001 to 2020. A total of 1749 publications were published

in ILS during 2001-2020, and these publications received

10255 citations. The highest number of publications, 117,

was published in 2009. The highest number of citations,

1016, was acquired in 2001. The trend indicates that

publication and citation have not gradually increased. The

total number of publications is consistently published in

ILS research, but the number of citations was decreased.

Figure 1 shows the details about the changes in the number

of literature in this field.

Figure 1: Publication and citations trend

2 Influential Countries and Collaborations

The publication of papers in different countries can reflect

the country's importance and influence in ILS. A total of

83 countries or regions published articles between 2001-

2020. The top ten (10) highly publishing countries on ILS

literature were as presented in Table 1. The result shows

that the USA is at the top of the list with 486 publications,

5622 citations, 11.57 Average citations per paper (ACPP),

and it received the highest 144 total link strength. England

holds 2nd rank with 115 publications, 1056 citations, 9.18

ACPP, and 48 total link strength. After this, China

occupied the third position, with 80 publications, 564

citations, 7.05 ACPP, and it received 36 total link strength.

Among these countries, five countries have published

more than 50 articles. Germany and Brazil are at the

bottom of the list, with 23 and 24 publications,

respectively. It shows that the country Canada has received

the highest ACPP (18.14).

Academic cooperation between different countries or

research institutions guides disseminating knowledge and

educational exchange among scholars (Xiao, Wu, &

Wang, 2020). The academic cooperation relationship

among the top 50 countries of publications from 2001 to

2020 is shown in Figure 2. The nodes in the figure

represent different countries, the lines connecting the

nodes indicate international cooperation between

countries, and the thickness of the line represents the

closeness of association. The figure shows the

collaboration between the eight (8) clusters of countries,

but there are the two (2) most significant clusters in this

study. The first cluster (marked in red) shows the

collaboration between the Belgium, Finland, Denmark,

South Africa, New Zealand, Nigeria and Switzerland. The

second cluster (marked in green) shows the collaboration

between the Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece

and Spain.

94



…

Total

Country Documents Citations ACPP Strength

USA 486 5622 11.57 144

England 115 1056 9.18 48

China 80 564 7.05 36

Spain 67 355 5.30 34

Taiwan 50 522 10.44 36

Australia 48 373 7.77 16

India 43 426 9.91 46

Canada 42 762 18.14 22

Brazil 24 177 7.70 27

Germany 23 261 11.35 18

ACPP- Average Citation Per Paper

Table 1: Top Ten Influential Countries on ILS

Link

Figure 2: Country Collaboration Network

3 Relevant Institutions and Collaborations

More than 1150 institutions have contributed publications

in the field of ILS. Table 2 showed the top 10 productive

institutions and their relevant indicators. The top 10

institutions belong to four countries (USA, China,

Malaysia, and England). It is noticed that most of the

organizations belong from the USA. Table 2 showed that

the University of Malaysia (Malaysia) is at the top of the

list with 26 publications, 251 citations, 9.65 ACPP, and

total link strength of 18. Indiana University (USA) on 2nd

rank with 18 publications, 176 citations, 9.77 ACPP, and

complete link strength 19. The University of Pittsburgh

(USA) had received the highest ACPP (18.50).

The Collaboration Network or Collaboration between

Institutions on ILS research is presented in Figure 3. In

this figure total of 50 Institutions' names are displayed,

some have a connection, and some are not. The figure

shows the collaboration between the nine (9) clusters of

institutions, but there is only one (1) most significant

cluster in this study. The cluster (marked in red) shows the

collaboration between Illinois University, Kent State

University, Ohio State University Library, Wuhan

University, University Wisconsin, University of Michigan,

University of North Carolina and University of Texas.

Collaboration between institutions from different countries

is conducive to the development and dissemination of

knowledge; thus, international cooperation in this research

field is not significant.

95



Organization Country Documents Citations ACPP Total Link

Strength

University of Malaysia Malaysia 26 251 9.65 18

Indiana University USA 18 176 9.77 19

Wuhan University China 13 96 7.38 14

University Pittsburgh USA 12 222 18.50 16

University Sheffield England 12 216 18.00 13

University Wisconsin USA 12 86 7.17 8

University of North Carolina USA 11 146 13.27 6

University of Tennessee USA 10 95 9.50 4

University of Michigan USA 8 66 8.25 4

Nanjing University China 7 24 3.43 2

ACPP- Average Citation per Paper

Table 2: Highly Productive Research Institutions

Figure 3: Institutions Collaboration Network

4 Influential Authors and Collaborations

In general, more than 2800 authors participated in the researches

of ILS from 2001 to 2020. Table 3 highlights the top ten (10)

most prolific authors on ILS presented with total publications,

total citations, ACPP, H Index, G Index, and Publication year

start. The results show that majority of the authors starting their

publication in the year between 2002 -2010. The list of most

prolific authors shows that Surla D. is the most productive author

with 14 publications, 220 citations, 15.71 ACPP, 10 H Index, and

14 G Index. The Author Singh V. listed 2 nd rank with 12

publications, 74 citations, 6.17 ACPP, 6 H Index and 8 G Index,

followed by Milosavljevic B. with nine publications, 136

citations, 15.11 ACPP, and 7 H and 9 G Index. It was noticed

that Ivanovic D. has the highest ACPP (16.83) of the total listed

authors.

The Collaboration Network or Collaboration between

authors on ILS research is presented in Figure 4. In this

figure total of 50, author names are displayed, some have

a connection, and some are not. The authors' relationship is

shown by clusters of color equations and lines between

one term and another. The size of each square also

indicates the number of papers published in this area. The

figure shows the collaboration between the nine (9)

clusters of authors, but there are the three (3) most

significant clusters in this study. The first cluster shows

the collaboration between Peisert S, Dart E, Barnett W,

Balas E, Cuff J, Grossman RL, Berman A. Shankar A, and

Tierney B. The second cluster shows the collaboration

between Bane T, Davidian C, Waterhouse J, Wilson RT,

Howell S, Rapoza D, Mueth S, Holman JS, Zuccaro J, and

Walton K. The authors who are not related and indexed in

the data above show no collaboration between the Author

and other authors in making papers about the area of ILS

literature.

96



…

Author NP TC ACPP H Index G Index Publication

Year Start

Surla D. 14 220 15.71 10 14 2008

Singh V. 12 74 6.17 6 8 2013

Milosavljevic B. 9 136 15.11 7 9 2009

Breeding M. 8 34 4.25 3 4 2002

De Smet E. 7 30 4.29 3 5 2009

Resend D. 7 54 7.71 3 7 2009

Han Y. 6 46 7.67 4 6 2005

Ivanovic D. 6 101 16.83 6 6 2010

Khurshid Z. 6 49 8.17 3 6 2003

Yeates R. 5 23 4.6 3 4 2002

NP- Number of Publication, TC- Total Citations, ACPP- Average Citation per Paper

Table 3: Most Relevant Author

Figure 4: Authors Collaboration Network

5 Journal Wise Contribution to Publications

Journals have a prominent role as the main disseminators

of knowledge. A total of 122 journals published relevant

researches from 2001 to 2020. The journal's impact

regarding the number of publications, citations, ACPP, H

Index, G Index, and starting publication year is highlighted

in Table 4. It shows the journal “Electronic Library” is a

highly influential journal producing a maximum of 181

publications, 1112 citations, 6.14 ACPP, 17 H. Index, and

20 G Index. The " Program-Electronic Library

and Information Systems” is on 2nd rank with 123

publications, 661 citations, 5.37 ACPP, 12 H Index, and

17 G Index; followed by "Library Hi Tech” with 116

publications, 634 citations, 5.47 ACPP, 12 H Index and 16

G Index. The "Journal of Documentation" is at the bottom

of the list and has produced 26 publications, 271 citations,

10.42 ACPP, 11 H Index, and 16 G Index. The results

show that majority of the Journals starting their

publication in the year 2001. It was observed that the

"Journal of Academic Librarianship" has the highest

ACPP (12.33) than the total listed journals.

97



Source NP TC ACPP H Index G Index Publication

Year Start

Electronic Library 181 1112 6.14 17 20 2001

Program-Electronic Library and Information 123 661 5.37 12 17 2001

Systems

Library Hi-Tech 116 634 5.47 12 16 2006

Information Technology and Libraries 69 561 8.13 14 20 2001

Serials Review 50 93 1.86 5 6 2005

Inter lending & Document Supply 49 176 3.59 7 8 2001

Profesional De La Informacion 42 121 2.88 7 9 2007

Library Collections Acquisitions & Technical 38 177 4.66 8 10 2001

Services

Journal of Academic Librarianship 33 407 12.33 11 19 2001

Journal of Documentation 26 271 10.42 11 16 2002

NP- Number of Publication, TC- Total Citations, ACPP- Average Citation per Paper

Table 4: Top Ten Highly Influential Research Journals

6 Highly-Cited Literature Analysis of ILS

Citation analysis has been regarded as an important

indicator to measure the quality of articles in bibliometric

research, and it represents the influence and attention of

researchers in academic circles. Table 5 lists the ten most

frequently cited articles from 2001–2020 in the research

field of ILS with relevant information, including title,

authors, journal, total citations, and total citations per year.

The paper entitled "Effective Mapping of Biomedical Text

to the UMLS Meta thesaurus: The Meta Map Program" by

Aronson A.R., published in 2001 in "Journal of the

American Medical Informatics Association," is on the top

of the list with 842 citations and 40.10 total citations per

year. The article entitled "Improving library users’

perceived quality, satisfaction and loyalty: an integrated

measurement and management system" by Martensen A.,

published in 2003 in "The Journal of Academic

Librarianship," is on 2nd rank with 455 citations and 30.33

total citations per year. The article entitled "Science

overlay maps: A new tool for research policy and library

management" by Rafols I. published in 2010 in "Journal of

the American Society for Information Science and

Technology” is on 3rd rank with 239 citations and 19.92

total citations per year. It is noted that “Research data

management and libraries: Current activities and future

priorities” is the bottom of this list, written by Cox A.M.

published in 2013 in “Journal of Librarianship and

Information Science” with 66 citations and 8.25 total

citations per year.

Paper Author Source Title TC TC per Year

Effective Mapping of Biomedical Text to

the UMLS Meta thesaurus: The Meta Map

Program

Improving library users' perceived quality,

satisfaction, and loyalty: an integrated

measurement and management system

Science overlay maps: A new tool for

research policy and library management

A Framework and Guidelines for Context-

Specific Theorizing in Information

Systems Research

Information security management

standards: Problems and solutions

RFID systems in libraries: An empirical

examination of factors affecting system

use and user satisfaction

The shifting balance of intellectual trade in

information studies

Understanding” Medical School

Curriculum Content Using Knowledge

Map

Toward Virtual Community Knowledge

Evolution

Research data management and libraries:

Current activities and future priorities

TC- Total Citations

Aronson

A.R.(2001)

Martensen

A.(2003)

Journal of the American

Medical

Informatics

Association

The Journal of Academic

Librarianship

842 40.10

455 30.33

Rafols I.(2010) Journal of the American Society

for Information Science and

Technology

239 19.92

Hown W.(2013) Information System Research 213 30.43

Siponen M.(2009) Information & Management 111 8.54

Dwivedi

Y.K.(2013)

International Journal of

Information Management

Cronin B.(2007) Journal of the American Society

for Information Science and

Technology

Denny J.C.(2003) Journal of the American

Medical

Informatics

Association

Bieber M.(2014) Journal of Management and

Information System

Cox A.M.(2013) Journal of Librarianship and

Information Science

Table 5: High-Cited Literature Analysis of ILS

81 9.00

77 6.42

69 3.69

67 3.35

66 8.25

98



…

7 Subject Categories Distribution

Figure 5 denotes the top 10 research areas comprised in

ILS research. It found that a large number of published

papers on ILS were profoundly distributed within the area

of Information Science & Library Science (1047),

Computer Science (342), Operation Research and

Management Science (37), Communication (33),

Engineering (28), Business & Economics (19), Health

Care Sciences & Services (13), Medical Informatics (13),

Automation & Control Systems (12) and Social Sciences-

Other Topics (8). On the right side, the figure represents

each Subject's growth for the 2019–2020 period, and we

see that the trending Subject with the highest absolute

growth in Information Science & Library Science.

Figure 5: Subject Categories Distribution of ILS

9 High-frequency Author keywords analysis and

Visualization of Co-occurrence

Keywords clearly reflect the core content of the article in a

concise form, which can be regarded as the soul of the

article. By analyzing the high-frequency keywords, the

research hotspots and overall development trends in the

field are accurately revealed (Qi, Chen, Hu, Song, & Cui,

2019). They are using VOSViewer software to analyze the

frequency of the author keywords. The 20 most frequently

used Author's keywords during the period of 2001–2020

are visualized in Figure 6. The minimum number of 5

keywords occurrence is selected and hence only 134

keywords meet the threshold out of a total of 2337

keywords. The distance and size of the bubble indicate the

number of keyword occurrences and associational links.

'Libraries' is the most frequently and representative author

keyword as it appears 83 times, followed by 'Digital

Libraries' that appear 78 times, followed by 'Academics

Libraries' that appears 70 times, followed by 'Library

Automation' that appears 49 times.

Figure 6: Co-Occurrence Network of Author Keywords

99



10 Clustering and Scaling of Key Concepts of ILS

For providing a structured representation of how the

patterns of the themes are spreading within the dimension

of integrated pest management by the multiscaling

algorithm of Biblioshiny, we initiated the analysis by

exploratory cluster analysis of the themes and sequences

popularly known as "Topic Dendrogram." The topic

dendrogram tree diagram showing the most widely used

topics and their relation to other topics and classification

of these topics depicted in different colors and the

relationship between the keywords generated by

hierarchical clustering. Figure 7 is showing a Topic

Dendrogram of the top 50 author keywords of ILS

literature. The result shows that there are two major topic

clusters. Cluster 1 consists of two (2) keywords, 'Digital

Storage' and 'Archives Management.' Cluster 2 consists of

seven (7) sub-clusters and one single keyword,

'Collections sub-clusters. Sub-cluster 2.1 consists of

certain topics on 'Open Source' and 'Software.' Sub-cluster

2.2 consists of certain topics on 'Document Management,'

where each sub-cluster consists of Delivery,' 'Interlending,'

and 'Document Supply.' Sub-cluster 2.3 consists of certain

topics on 'Automation,' 'Online Catalogues,' 'Integrated

Library Systems,' 'Higher Education, 'Systems' and 'Koha.'

Sub-cluster 2.4 consists of certain topics on 'Open Source

Software,' 'Library Systems,' 'India,' 'Library,' 'Library

Management, 'Public Libraries' and 'Library Services.'

Sub-cluster 2.5 consists of certain topics on 'Content

Management', 'Digital Libraries' 'Communication

Technologies', 'Nigeria', 'Databases' and 'China'. Subcluster

2.6 consists of certain topics on 'Information

Technology, 'Information Services', 'Library Automation',

'Cataloguing', 'Internet', 'Libraries', 'Management', 'Serials'

and 'E-Learning'. Sub-cluster 2.7 consists of certain topics

on 'Information Management', 'Academic Libraries',

'Information Retrieval', 'Information Systems', 'Knowledge

Management, 'Computer Software', 'Electronic Resources',

'University Libraries', 'Information' and 'Metadata'.

Figure 7: Clustering and Scaling of Key Concepts via Topic Dendrogram on ILS

11 Evaluation of the core themes of ILS by

Thematic Map

We have detected some research themes now for the

superior interpretation of the results. We can categories the

identified themes into a strategic diagram to analyze the

importance and development of the research theme (Nasir

et al., 2020). Figure 8 represents the thematic map based

on density and centrality. The centrality measures the

importance of the selected theme, and density measures

the development of the chosen theme. The graph is divided

into four parts. Themes that appear on the lower left part

are emerging or declining themes. These are new themes

that can emerge to be better or drop from the research area.

The themes that come under the lower right part of the

thematic map are the basic or transversal themes. These

100


themes represent low density and centrality. Much

research has been done on these themes. The Upper left

part represents high density but lower centrality; these

themes are highly developed but isolated. The upper right

part represents high density and low centrality. The themes

in this part are a motor theme, which is developed and

essential. The size of the thematic map is to the factors that

come under the theme. The thematic map of Figure 8 is

constructed based on a full-time span from 2001 to 2020.

We have used the top 70 keywords, but items shown

software. It represents the subjective in the clusters are set

to the minimum frequency of 4 in `biblioshiny' web web

software. It represents the subjective judgment of the

authors keeping in view the dynamics and best

representation of ILS literature. Additionally, Table 6 is

constructed from the clusters shown in Figure 8. The

emerging theme of ILS research is Electronic Journals.


…

According to the thematic map, Digital Libraries,

Libraries, and Library Management themes have come

under the basic or transversal themes with low centrality

and density. Themes related to Knowledge Management

and Internet is considered highly developed yet isolated.

The density is high, but centrality is low. There is a lot of

potential in these themes, and researchers can do much

impactful work in these themes. Motor themes are highly

contributory themes because of low centrality and high

density in ILS literature theme with Management and

Library Automation as the representative qualified to be in

that part of of the thematic map.

Figure 8: Thematic Map of ILS research keywords

Cluster Representation Theme Keywords in Clusters

Library Management Basic Theme Library Management, Library Systems, University Libraries,

Online Cataloguing, Cataloguing, Digital Storage, World Wide

Web, Communication Technologies, Computer Software, and

Data Handling

Libraries Basic Theme Libraries, Document Delivery, Document Supply, Information

Services, Integration, Collection Management, Electronic

Books, Management Systems, Networking and Project

Management

Digital Libraries Basic Theme Digital Libraries, Information Retrieval, Academic Libraries,

Content Management, Open Systems, Archives Management,

Database Management, User Interface, and Metadata

Electronic Journals Emerging Theme Electronic Journals

Library Automation Motor Theme Library Automation, Information Management, Document

Management, Library, Knowledge Management and Standards

Management Motor Theme Management, Information Systems, Information, Systems,

Information Technology, Electronic publishing, Librarians and

Systems Design.

Internet Highly Developed and

Isolated Theme

Knowledge Management Highly Developed and

Isolated Theme

Internet, Automations, Public Libraries and Catalogues

Knowledge Management

Table 6: Themes and keywords in Thematic Map

101



Conclusions

This paper aimed to map the literature on ILS through a

bibliometric analysis. Based on 1749 articles retrieved

from the WoS, this bibliometric study provided an

overview of the research in ILS and identified some

significant points in the research throughout the

investigation period. The trend indicates that publication

and citation have not gradually increased. The total

number of publications is consistently published in ILS

research, but the number of citations was decreased. A

total of 83 countries in the data collected have been

published on ILS over the years. The topmost publishing

countries were the USA, England, and China. The

collaboration trend was analyzed through the overlay

visualization of the global collaboration network. In

general, it was identified that the countries that published

the most in this field of research were also the ones that

most collaborate internationally. Moreover, it was

observed that the most recent countries in this area tended

to be more dependent on these collaborations. The

collaboration between the eight (8) clusters of countries,

but there are the two (2) most significant clusters in this

study. The first cluster shows the collaboration between

the Belgium, Finland, Denmark, South Africa, New

Zealand, Nigeria and Switzerland. Collaboration between

institutions from different countries is conducive to the

development and dissemination of knowledge; thus,

international cooperation in this research field is not

significant. About 2800 authors contributed to the ILS

research area according to the data collected. Surla D.,

Singh V., and Milosavljevic B. were observed to be

relevant authors in this field. The collaboration between

the twenty (20) clusters of authors, but there are the three

(3) most significant clusters in this study.

Electronic Library, Program-Electronic Library, and

Information Systems, and Library Hi Tech were the most

influential journals on ILS. The paper entitled "Effective

Mapping of Biomedical Text to the UMLS Metathesaurus:

The MetaMap Program" by Aronson A.R. published in

2001 in “Journal of the American Medical Informatics

Association," is on the most important paper in ILS

literature. It observed that Electronic Library, Program

Electronic Library & Information Systems, and Library Hi

Tech have strong relation with all keywords. Libraries,

Digital Libraries, Academic Libraries, Library

Automation, and Information Retrieval were the main

areas covered in the ILS literature. The study has

conducted a thematic map to put the themes and

subthemes on the graph and divides them into four parts

(emerging themes, basic themes, highly developed and

isolated themes, motor themes). Basic or transversal

themes are Library Management, Libraries, and Digital

Libraries; Electronics Journals is emerging themes;

Management and Library Automation are under motor

themes; highly developed but isolated themes of ILS

literature are topics related to Internet and Knowledge

Management.

In this article, an overview has been given of the ILSrelated

research topics and domains to which bibliometric

analysis and mapping methods have to date been applied.

It maps the key areas of this research field like the most

productive countries, institutions, authors, journals,

research categories, subject categories hotspots, and future

research directions. It also enables the visualization of

countries, institutions, and authors' collaborations in the

ILS field for partnership opportunities. The study

represents the keywords picked by the authors within this

research domain of ILS, which will assess the future

researcher to understand the key terms used by the ILS

researcher. These results are helpful for researchers to

identify primary sources of publication for relevant

information, thereby helping them improve their research

direction and keep up with the research ILS.

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360782/v1

About Authors

Sk Sofik is a PhD Research Scholar in the


Rabindra Bharati University. He received MLISc in

Library and Information Science from Rabindra

Bharati University and he has also done his MA in

Islamic History & Culture from the University of

Calcutta. He has two years of working experience as

a Library Trainee at Bangabasi College. He has 5

publications in different national and international

journals, conference proceedings etc. His interested

areas are Scientometrics, Bibliometrics, Library

Service etc

Dr Ziaur Rahman Presently he is working as

Assistant Professor in the Department of Library and

Information Science, Rabindra Bharati University.

He has also served as Assistant Professor at


University of North Bengal and Assam University. He

received MLISc degree from Aligarh Muslim

University and Ph D from Jadavpur University. He

has 48 of publications in different National and

International journals, book chapters, conference

volumes etc. and three editorial books in his credits.

His interested areas are Scientometrics,

Bibliometrics study, Knowledge Organization etc.

103



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


29 th August 2021


8 th September 2021


4 th October 2021


10 th October 2021

Nobel Laureates in Asia (1901-2019): an analytical study

Sonali Dutta & Dr Subarna Kumar Das

ABSTRACT:

Sonali Dutta

MPhil Research Scholar



Jadavpur University,

Kolkata

Email:

isonalidutta210@gmail.com

Dr Subarna Kumar Das

Professor, Department of

Library and Information

Science, Jadavpur


Email:

skd_ju2002@yahoo.co.in

Introduction: The Nobel Prize isn't a single prize, but five isolated prizes that, concurring to

Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, are granted to those who, amid the going before year, have conferred

the most prominent advantage to humankind. Asia is a large continent in this world. Many

countries from Asia have won Nobel prizes in different fields like Physics, Chemistry, Medicine,

Peace, Literature and Economics.

Objectives: The main objective of this research paper is to acquaint the readers with the

contribution of eminent personalities (Nobel Laureates) in different fields from 1901 to 2019.

This paper also analyzes the development of Asian countries through the no. of Nobel laureates.

Research problem: There are a few studies on Nobel laureates of Asian countries

which is not comprehensive.

Methodology: Collected the important information about the Asian Nobel laureates from

different sources such as books, encyclopedia, magazines, newspapers and even from online

sources, all data are sorted and making some charts and graphs according to the winning

country name. It is also shown here an analytical view of the number of Nobel prize in Asia

between 1901 to 2019.

Findings: The development of education, society of Asia is increasing and no. of Asian Nobel

laureates are also increasing gradually in the last century. In this paper, through various

tables, charts and diagrams the whole matter is elaborated.

KEYWORDS:

Nobel laureates-Asia; Nobel Prize; Nobel laureates; Alfred Nobel

104


Dutta and Das: Nobel Laureates in Asia …

Introduction

The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate

prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, are

awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, have

conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”. According

to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nobel Prize, any of the

prizes (five in number until 1969, when a sixth was

added) that are awarded annually from a fund bequeathed

for that purpose by the Swedish inventor and industrialist

Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as

the most prestigious awards given for intellectual

achievement in the world.

Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics,

Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace

(Nobel characterized the Peace Prize as “to the person

who has done the most or best to advance fellowship

among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing

armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace

congresses”). Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the

most prestigious awards available in their respective

fields (Nobel Prize, 2020). In his will drafted in 1895,

Nobel educated that most of his fortune be set aside as a

support for the granting of five-yearly prizes "to those

who, amid the going before year, might have conferred

the most noteworthy advantage on mankind." These

prizes as setting up by his will are the Nobel Prize for

Material science, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, the

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Pharmaceutical, the Nobel

Prize for Writing, and the Nobel Prize for Peace. The

primary dissemination of the prizes took to put on

December 10, 1901, the fifth commemoration of Nobel's

passing. An extra grant, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in

Financial Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was set

up in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden and was, to begin

with, granted in 1969. Even though not, in fact, a Nobel

Prize, it is distinguished with the grant; its victors are

reported with the Nobel Prize beneficiaries, and the Prize

in Financial Sciences is displayed at the Nobel Prize

Award Ceremony.

After Nobel’s death, the Nobel Foundation was set up to

carry out the provisions of his will and to administer his

funds. In his will, he had stipulated that four different

institutions—three Swedish and one Norwegian—should

award the prizes. From Stockholm, the Royal Swedish

Academy of Sciences confers the prizes for physics,

chemistry, and economics, the Karolinska Institute

confers the prize for physiology or medicine, and the

Swedish Academy confers the prize for literature. The

Norwegian Nobel Committee based in Oslo confers the

prize for peace. The Nobel Foundation is the legal owner

and functional administrator of the funds and serves as the

joint administrative body of the prize-awarding

institutions, but it is not concerned with the prize

deliberations or decisions, which rest exclusively with the

four institutions. (Encyclopædia Britannica, The prizes,

n.d.)

Literature Review

This study is focused on the analytical study of Nobel

Laureates in Asian countries based on their fields,

countries, decades etc.

There is some study on Nobel Prize. Such as Barik &

Singh (2011) said that the Nobel Prize has been

awarded for achievement in physics, chemistry,

physiology or medicine, literature and peace since 1901

and also told about the selection process varies slightly

between the different disciplines. Garfield & Malin

(1968) said about the prediction of Nobel Winner.

Sohlman (2003) described here the Nobel prize and its

importance in the 20 th century as an integral part of

world culture. There is also some Bibliometric study.

Gingras & Wallace (2009 have proposed a

comprehensive bibliometric study of the profile of

Nobel Prize winners in chemistry and physics from

1901 to 2007, based on citation data available over the

same period. Wen (2019) focused on the self-citation of

Nobel laureates. self-citations can be employed in

measuring the relevance between publications and

tracking the evolution of research. There are some

biographical studies like Zimmermann (1992) sketched

the life of The Nobel laureate Gary S. Becker. He

discussed here the biography of that great person.

There are also some individual laureates like Dardo

(2005) focused on the Nobel laureates in physics. He

discussed here the laureates life, achievements,

publications, their lectures etc.

Statement of Problem

This study aims to find the answer of the some basic

questions of what are the notable contribution from Asia

to award the Nobel Prize. This study also in search of the

answer of what are the contribution of various countries

in Asia for Nobel Prize.


105


To acquaint the readers with the contribution of eminent

personalities (Nobel Laureates) in different fields like

Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Literature, Peace and

Economics from 1901 to 2019.

To supply the necessary information to concerned

researchers, information scientists, common people

about the said persons

To collect names of Nobel Laureates (1901 – 2019)

To analysis the development of Asian countries through

the no. of Nobel laureates.

Methodology

This is analytical research.

Read the history of Nobel Prize

Select the specific field. ( here Asian Nobel laureates)

Collect the important information about the Asian Nobel

laureates from different sources such as books,

encyclopedias, history, magazines, newspapers and even

from online sources.

The information of laureates collects chronologically

and then arranged alphabetically according to the

forename of the awardees.

After that, the names of Nobel laureates are sorted

according to their fields (like Physics, Chemistry,

Literature, Physiology, Peace, Economics) and make

some charts and graphs according to the winning

country name.

On the basis of data collections, the data are interpreted,

and concluded.

Scope of the Study

This study is restricted the study of the following areas-

Name of the field covered:

Nobel prize is honoured too many eminent personalities

of different fields like Physics, Chemistry, Physiology,

Literature, Peace and Economics.

Period Covered: From January 1901 to December 2019

Place Covered:

Asian Nobel Laureates ( Born in Asia, Citizenship in

Asian Countries, Of descent any Asian Country)

Significance of the Study

1. The study will help to know Asian Nobel Laureates

(1901 to 2019) concisely in the same place.

2. The study would be a great source of inspiration to

present and future educators.

3. It investigates Scientific contributions by Asiatic

Scientist

4. This study can appreciate the maestros from Asia in

various spheres of Arts.

Nobel Prize in Asia

Asia is the largest continent in the world. There is a

total of 49 countries in Asia. There are 78 Nobel

laureates in Asia from 1901 to 2019. The first Nobel

laureate in Asia was Rabindranath Tagore who was

Sl.

No

Year

Name of Nobel

Laureates

awarded in 1913 for his poetic work " Gitanjali" from

British India. There are 8 Nobel prizes in Literature, 7

Nobel prizes in Physiology or Medicine, 20 Nobel

Prizes in Physics and 19 Nobel prizes in Chemistry

from Asia Were Awarded. Besides, 20 and 4 Nobel

prizes were awarded for Peace and Economics

respectively in Asia. The Nobel Prize is an annual,

international prize first awarded in 1901 for

achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or

Medicine, Literature, and Peace. An associated prize in

Economics has been awarded since 1969 (Nobel Prize,

2007). Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 800

individuals . Asians have been the recipients of all six

award categories: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or

Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics. The first

Asian recipient, Rabindranath Tagore, was awarded the

Literature Prize in 1913. The most Nobel Prizes

awarded to Asians in a single year was in 2014 when

five Asians became laureates. The most recent Asian

laureates, Japanese scientist Akira Yoshino and Indian

economist Abhijit Banerjee were awarded their prizes

in 2019.

To date (2019), there have been fifty-seven Asian

winners of the Nobel Prize, including twenty- eight

Japanese, twelve Israel, nine Indian (not including non-

Indian Laureates born in India) and eight Chinese (not

including non-Chinese Laureates born in China). The

following are not including Russian (All Nobel

Laureates, 2019).

Data Collection

We have collected and listed data into 6 tables for Asian

Nobel laureates in different fields.

Table 1 shows the chronological list of Nobel Laureates

and till 2019 eight Asian laureates were awarded the Nobel

prize in Literature.

Name of the

Notable Works

Country

1 1913 Rabindranath Tagore British India English Gitanjali (Song Offerings)

2 1968 Yasunari Kawabata Japan Snow Country

3 1994 Kenzaburō Ōe Japan The Silent Cry

4 2000 Gao Xingjian Born in China Chinese Xiandai xiaoshuo jiqiao chutan

5 2001 V. S. Naipaul Indian origin The Mystic Masseur

6 2006 Orhan Pamuk Turkey Turkish Cevdet Bey Ve Oğulları

7 2012 Mo Yan China Chinese Touming de hong Loubo

8 2017 Kazuo Ishiguro Born in Japan Klara and the Sun

Table 1: List of Asian Nobel Laureates in Literature

Sl.

Year

Name of Nobel

Country

No

Laureates

1 1968 Har Gobind Khorana India First to demonstrate the role of nucleotides in protein

synthesis

2 1987 Susumu Tonegawa Japan Antibody diversity E-box V(D)J

recombination

3 2012 Shinya Yamanaka Japan Induced pluripotent stem cell

106



Notable Works

4 2015 Satoshi Ōmura Japan Avermectin and Ivermectin Discoveries more than 480 new

compounds

5 2015 Tu Youyou China Discovering artemisinin and dihydroartemisi nin

6 2016 Yoshinori Ohsumi Japan Autophagy

7 2018 Tasuku Honjo Japan Class switch recombination IL-4, IL-5, AID

Cancer immunotherapy PD-1

Table 2: List of Asian Nobel Laureates in Medicine or Physiology


Table 2 is showing the chronological list of Nobel

Laureates in Physiology or Medicine with their

Sl.

countries and their notable works. It shows that till 2019

seven Asian laureates were awarded Nobel prize in

Physiology or Medicine.

Year Nobel Laureates Country Notable Works

No

1 1933 Chandrasekhara British India Raman effect

Venkata Raman

2 1949 Hideki Yukawa Japan pi meson

3 1957 Chen Ning Yang China parity violation theory

4 1957 Tsung-Dao Lee China Kinoshita-Lee-Nauenberg theorem Non-topological

solitons

Parity violation

5 1965 Shin'ichiro Tomonaga Japan Quantum electrodynamics Schwinger–Tomonaga

equation Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid

6 1973 Leo Esaki Japan Electron tunnelling; Esaki diode; Superlattice

7 1976 Samuel C. C. Ting The United States Discovery of the J/ψ particle Founder of the Alpha

& China

Magnetic Spectrometer experiment

8 1979 Abdus Salam Pakistan Electroweak theory Goldstone boson Grand

Unified Theory Higgs mechanism Magnetic

photon Neutral current Pati–Salam model

Quantum mechanics

Pakistan atomic research program Pakistan space

program

Preon Standard Model Strong gravity

Superfield

W and Z bosons

9 1983 Subrahmanya Born in India Chandrasekhar limit Chandrasekhar number

Chandrasekha

Chandrasekhar friction Chandrasekhar–Kendall function

Chandrasekhar's H-function Emden–Chandrasekhar

equation Chandrasekhar–Page equations Chandrasekhar

tensor Chandrasekhar virial equations Batchelor–

Chandrasekhar equation Schönberg–Chandrasekhar limit

Chandrasekhar's white dwarf equation

Chandrasekhar polarization Chandrasekhar's X-

and Y-function

10 1997 Steven Chu Chinese American Development of methods to cool and trap atoms

with laser light

11 1998 Daniel C. Tsui Born in China Fractional quantum Hall effect

12 2002 Masatoshi Koshiba Japan Masatoshi Koshiba

13 2008 Yoichiro Nambu Born in Japan Spontaneous symmetry breaking Nambu–Goto

action

Nambu-Goldstone boson Nambu mechanics

Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model

14 2008 Makoto Kobayashi Japan Work on CP violation; CKM matrix

15 2008 Toshihide Maskawa Japan Work on CP violation CKM matrix

16 2009 Charles K. Kao Hongkong Fibre optics

Fibre-optic communication

17 2014 Isamu Akasaki Japan Project Leader of "Research and Development of

GaN-based Blue Light–Emitting Diode"

18 2014 Hiroshi Amano Japan Blue and white LEDs

19 2014 Shuji Nakamura Born in Japan Blue and white LEDs

20 2015 Takaaki Kajita Japan Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Table 3: List of Asian Nobel Laureates in Physics

A chronological list of Nobel Laureates in Physics is

shown above in Table 3 with their countries and their

notable works. It has been seen that till 2019 twenty Asian

laureates were awarded the Nobel prize in Physics

Sl.

No

Year Nobel Laureates Country Notable works

1 1981 Kenichi Fukui Japan Development independently, concerning the course of chemical

reactions.

2 1986 Yuan T. Lee Taiwan & Contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary

United States processes.

3 1987 Charles J. Pedersen Born in

South Korea

Development and use of molecules with structure-specific

interactions of high selectivity.

107



4 2000 Hideki Shirakawa Japan Discovery and development of conductive polymers

5 2001 Ryōji Noyori Japan Works on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions

6 2002 Koichi Tanaka Japan Development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for

determining the three- dimensional structure of biological

macromolecules in solution.

7 2004 Aaron Ciechanover Israel Discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation

8 2004 Avram Hershko Israel Discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.

9 2008 Osamu Shimomura Japan Discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP

10 2008 Roger Y. Tsien Roger American Discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP

11 2009 Venkatraman Born in India Studies of the structure and function of the ribosome

Ramakrishnan

12 2009 Ada Yonath Israel Studies of the structure and function of the ribosome

13 2010 Ei-ichi Negishi Japan Palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis

14 2010 Akira Suzuki Japan Palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis

15 2011 Dan Shechtman Israel Discovery of quasicrystals

16 2013 Arieh Warshel Israeli- American Development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems

17 2013 Michael Levitt Israeli Citizenship Development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems

18 2015 Aziz Sancar Turkey Mechanistic studies of DNA repair

19 2019 Akira Yoshino Japan Development of lithium-ion batteries

Table 4: List of Asian Nobel Laureates in Chemistry

A chronological list of Nobel Laureates in Chemistry is

shown in Table 4 with their countries and their

notable works. Till 2019 nineteen Asian laureates were

awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry.

Sl.

No

Year

Nobel

Laureates

Country

Notable works

1 1973 Lê Đức Thọ North Vietnam Negotiating the Paris Peace Accords

2 1974 Eisaku Satō Japan Representing the Japanese people's will for peace, and for

signing the nuclear arms Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1970

3 1978 Menachem Begin Israel The signing of a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979

4 1979 Mother Teresa India Founded Missionaries of Charity

5 1989 Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th India

Kalachakra teachings and initiations

Dalai Lama

6 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi Myanmar The non-violent struggle for democracy and human

rights

7 1994 Yasser Arafat Palestine Create peace in the Middle East

8 1994 Shimon Peres Israel Create peace in the Middle East

9 1994 Yitzhak Rabin Israel Create peace in the Middle East

10 1996 Carlos Filipe Ximenes

Belo

Timor-Leste Works towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in

East Timor.

11 1996 José Ramos-Horta Timor-Leste work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in

East Timor.

12 2000 Kim Dae-Jung South Korea Works for democracy and human rights in South Korea and

East Asia in general, and peace and reconciliation with North

Korea in particular

13 2003 Shirin Ebadi Iran Efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused

especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children

14 2006 Muhammad Yunus Bangladesh Efforts to create economic and social development from

below

15 2007 Jose Ramon Villarin Philippines Works on greenhouse emissions

16 2010 Liu Xiaobo China The long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human

rights in China

17 2011 Tawakkul Karman Yemen The non-violent struggle for the safety of women and women's

rights to full participation in peace-building work.

18 2014 Kailash Satyarthi India Struggle against the suppression of children and young people

and for the right of all children to education

19 2014 Malala Yousafzai Pakistan Struggle against the suppression of children and young people

and for the right of all children to education

20 2018 Nadia Murad Iraq Efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war

and armed conflict

Table 5: List of Asian Nobel Laureates in Peace

108



From the above table, we can see that a chronological list

of Nobel Laureates in Peace is shown in Table 5 with their

countries and notable works. It has found that till 2019

twenty Asian laureates were awarded the Nobel prize in

Peace.

Sl. Year Nobel

Country Notable

Works

No Laureates

1 1998 Amartya Sen India Human

development

theory Famine

2 2002 Daniel

Kahneman

Born in Israel

A chronological list of Nobel Laureates in Economics

is shown in Table 6 with their countries and notable

works. From the above table, we come to know only

four Asian laureates were awarded the Nobel prize in

Economics.

Data Analysis & Interpretation

Sl No Country No. of

Nobel

Laureates

1. Bangladesh 1

2. China 10

3. Hongkong 1

4. India 11

5. Iran 1

6. Iraq 1

7. Israel 11

8. Japan 28

9. Korea (South) 2

10. Myanmar 1

11. Pakistan 2

12. Palestine 1

13. Philippines 1

14. Taiwan &United States 1

15. Timor-Leste 2

16. Turkey 2

17. Vietnam (North) 1

18. Yemen 1

Cognitive biases

Behavioural

economics

Prospect theory

Loss aversion

3 2005 Robert Israeli- Concept of

Aumann American correlated

equilibrium in

game theory

4 2019 Abhijit India

Alleviation

Banerjee

global poverty

Table 6: List of Asian Nobel Laureates in Economics

Figure 1: highest no. of countries with Nobel prize laureates

From the above chart (Table 7), we can interpret that

the highest number (28) of Nobel Laureates are

Japanese, and 11 Nobel Lauraets are Indian, 11 Nobel

Laureates are Israelian, and 10 Nobel Laureates are

Chinese in Asia. Other countries have achieved 1 or 2

Nobel prizes in different fields.

Nobel Prize is given in six subjects. Physics,

Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace

and Economics. Here, we will discuss which Country

has won the highest no. of Nobel prize in Physics in

Asia.

Sl No. Country No. of Nobel

Laureates

1. China 5

2. Hongkong 1

3. India 2

4. Japan 11

5. Pakistan 1

Table 8: highest no. of countries with Nobel prize laureates in

Physics in Asia (1901- 2019)

From the above table (8), it is concluded that Japan has

won 11 Nobel prizes in Physics, China won 5, India

won 2, Hongkong won 1 and Pakistan won 1 Nobel

prize. Here Japan has achieved the highest no. of Nobel

prize in Physics.

Here, we will discuss which Country has given the

highest number of Nobel Prizes in Chemistry in Asia

(from 1901 to 2019)


Laureates

1. China 1

2. India 1

3. Israel 6

4. . Japan 8

5. Korea (South) 1

6. Taiwan &United States 1

7. Turkey 1

Table 9: Highest number of Nobel Prize in Chemistry in Asia

(from 1901 to 2019)

Table 7: highest no. of countries with Nobel prize laureates

109



Figure 2: Highest no. of countries with Nobel prize laureates in

Chemistry

Now, we will discuss which Country has given the highest

number of Nobel Prizes in Peace in Asia (from 1901 to

2019)

Sl

No.

Country # Sl

No.

Country #

1. Bangladesh 1 9. Myanmar 1

2. China 1 10. Pakistan 1

3. India 3 11. Palestine 1

4. Iran 1 12. Philippines 1

5. Iraq 1 13. Timor-Leste 2

6. Israel 3 14. Vietnam 1

(North)

7. Japan 1 15. Yemen 1

8. Korea (South) 1

Table 12: Highest number of Nobel Prize in Peace in Asia (from

1901 to 2019)

From the above chart, it is concluded that Japan has won 8

and Israel has won 6 Nobel prizes in Chemistry. China,

India, Korea (south), Taiwan & United States and Turkey

have won 1 Nobel prize each. Till 2019, Japan has

achieved the highest no. Nobel prize in Chemistry.

Now let see which Country has given the highest number

of Nobel Prizes in Medicine or Physiology in Asia (from

1901 to 2019).


Laureates

1. China 1

2. India 1

3. Japan 5

Table 10: Highest no. of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

in Asia (from 1901- 2019)

The above table shows that Japan has achieved the

highest no. (05) of Nobel prize in Medicine or

Physiology. China and India have achieved 1 Nobel prize

each till 2019.

Let see which Country has given the highest number of

Nobel Prizes in Literature in Asia (from 1901 to 2019)

Figure 3: Highest no. of countries with Nobel prize laureates in

Peace

Here, we can see that except Turkey, Taiwan & United

States, Hongkong and other some countries, many

Asian countries have won Nobel prizes in peace.

Maximum Asian countries achieved Nobel prize in

Peace. Israel and India have achieved 3 Nobel prizes.

Timor-Leste has achieved 2 and other countries have

achieved 1 Nobel prize.

Let see, which Country has given the highest number of

Nobel Prizes in Economics in Asia (from 1901 to

2019).


Laureates

1. China 2

2. India 2

3. Japan 3

4. Turkey 1

Table 11: Highest number of Nobel Prize in Literature in Asia

(from 1901- 2019)

From the above chart (Table 11), we can see that Japan

has won 3, India and China have won 2 and Turkey has

won 1 Nobel prize in Literature. Here also Japan achieved

the highest no. of Nobel prize in literature from Asia till

2019.

110


Sl No. Country #

1. India 2

2. Israel 2

Table 13: Highest number of Nobel Prize in Economics in Asia

(from 1901 - 2019)

From this table, we can see only India and Israel both won

2 Nobel prizes in Economics. No other Asian countries

have achieved the Nobel prize in Economics.

Now, we will discuss Decade wise no. of the Nobel prize

including Field name and Country name in Asia (from

1901 to 2019).


Decade # Area Country

Findings

1901-1910 0 NIL NIL

1911-1920 1 Literature India

1921-1930 1 Physics India

1931-1940 0 NIL NIL

1941-1950 1 Physics Japan

1951-1960 2 Physics China

1961-1970 3 Physics, Japan, India

Literature,

Medicine

1971-1980 7 Physics, Peace, Japan, India, Israel,

NorthVietnam, the United

States and China

1981-1990 6 Physics, Peace, Japan, India, Korea,

Medicine, Taiwan &United States

Chemistry

1991-2000 11 Physics,

Literature,

Peace,

Chemistry,

Economics,

2001-2010 23 Physics,

Chemistry,

Literature,

Economics,

Peace,

2011-2019 21 Physics,

Chemistry,

Medicine,

Economics,

Peace,

Literature

Palestine, Burma, Israel,

India, China, South Korea,

Japan, Timor-Leste

India, Japan, China, Israel,

Hongkong, Philippines,

Turkey, Bangladesh, Iran

India, Japan, Iraq,

Pakistan, Turkey, Yemen,

China, Israel

Table 14: Decade wise no. of Nobel prize including Field name

and Country name

From the above data analysis, we found some points like

There is a total of 78 Nobel laureates in Asia from

1901 to 2019.

Rabindranath Tagore was the first Asian who had

won the Nobel prize in Literature in 1913.

Akira Yoshino and Avijit Banerjee are Nobel

prize winners of Chemistry and Economics respectively in

2019.

Japanese laureates have won most of the Nobel

prizes in Asia till 2019. There are a total of 28 Japanese

Nobel laureates in Asia. India and Israel have won a total

of 11 and 11 Nobel prizes respectively.

The number of Nobel laureates in Asia has been

increased during the last twenty years.

There are many Third worlds or developing

countries in Asia. For that, the number of Nobel prize in

Science is not too much, but the number of Nobel prize in

Peace, Literature are remarkable.

Japan, India, China and Israel have won

Nobel prize almost in all fields (Physics, Chemistry,

Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics).

Japan has won 11 Nobel prizes in Physics, China

won 5, India won 2, Hongkong won 1 and Pakistan won 1

Nobel prize.

Japan has won 8 and Israel has won 6 Nobel

prizes in Chemistry. China, India, Korea (south), Taiwan &

United States and Turkey have won 1 Nobel prize each.

Japan has won 5, India and China has won 1

Nobel prize each in Physiology or Medicine.

Japan has won 3, India and China have won 2 and

Turkey has won 1 Nobel prize in Literature.

Except for Turkey, Taiwan & United States,

Hongkong and other some countries, many Asian countries

have won Nobel prizes in peace.

In Economics, India and Israel both won 2 Nobel

prizes.

Only a few laureates from Asia won Nobel prizes

in the field of Medicine and Economics.

Figure 4: Decade wise no. of Nobel prize

From the above table and chart, it is clear that no. of

achievement of Nobel prize in different fields is increasing

continuously. In 1910- 1910, no Asian had achieved Nobel

Prize. In the middle of that 20 th century, 1951 to 1970 the

curve was rising and at the end of the century, the no. of

achievement is increasing. It is a good sign of the

development of Asian countries.

Conclusions

111


There are a total of 48 countries in Asia. Most of them

belong to developing countries and are considered third

world nations. Till now a total of 78 Asians are

honoured with the Nobel prize in different fields. Japan

is the country that has won the highest no. of Nobel

prize in Asia. From the above discussion, we can

conclude that the development of Physics, Chemistry,

Literature is remarkable within Asia. But there is a lack

of development in Physiology or Medicine. People

from various countries of Asia faces different socioeconomic

challenges in their life regularly such as

poverty, political turmoil, ongoing wars, corruption,


lack of resources, lack of funds, safety hazards, health

concerns etc. All of these issues reflect in their higher

studies and research works. Yet many scientists,

researchers, social activities and writers have overcome

these obstacles and achieved excellence in their work

for which they have been honoured with Nobel prize.

From the analysis, we can point out that there is a

noticeable growth in the total no. of Nobel laureates in

Asia from the 1960s.

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About Authors

Sonali Dutta is a Student of M.Phil., Dept of Library

and Information Science, Jadavpur University. She

has completed B.Com (2016) from the University of

Calcutta. Then she has completed B.Lib.Sc.(2018)

and M.Lib.Sc (2019) from Rabindra Bharati

University, Kolkata and qualified UGC-NET in 2019.

She is a former Librarian of Maheshwari Balika

Vidyalaya.

Dr. Subarna K. Das is working as Professor in Dept.

of Library and Information Science & Former Head

of the Department and holds the position of Coordinator,

P.G. Evening course of Library and

Information Science, & UGC, LIASION Officer for

backward class. He holds M.A in Political Science

from Calcutta University, MLISC (1998) and PH.D

(2005) from Jadavpur University, LLB & LLM from

Fakir Mohun University, Orrisha and UGC- NET

(1998) qualified. He was awarded Smt. A. Satyavathi

& Prof. AAN Raju IASLIC best YOUNG LIS

TEACHER Award in 2010. In 2012 he was honoured

by Acharchya Jagadish Chandra Bose Memorial

Award by Science Association of BengaL, West

Bengal for Science popularization. Above all, he was

awarded “Siksha Ratna” (Best Outstanding

University Teachers Award) in 2020 by the Dept. of

Higher Education, Govt. of West Bengal.

113



UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


8 th June 2021


25 th June 2021





Co-Citation and bibliographic coupling analysis of Annals of

Library and Information Studies Journal during 2011-2020:

visualization through prism of VOS viewer

Saumen Das & Dr Manoj Kumar Verma

ABSTRACT:

Saumen Das

Research Scholar

DLIS,

Mizoram University

Aizawl

Email:

saumendas1990@gmail.com

Dr Manoj Kumar Verma

Associate Professor


Information Science

Mizoram University

Aizawl

Email:

manojdlis@mzu.edu.in

Introduction: This paper presents a scientometric analysis of the journal titled Annals of

Library and Information studies from 2011 to 2020. The analysis focused on the distribution

pattern of articles, Co-authorship analysis, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and

co-occurrence of the author's keywords.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to show various network analyses and to display a

graphical picture of prominent research journal ALIS over the study period were performed

and analyzed in VOS viewer mapping software.

Research problem: There are several studies have already done on the research

productivity of the different journals of different fields. But none has done any research with

respect to visualisation and mapping of journal Annals of Library and Information studies

during 2011-2020.

Objectives: To identify the year wise distribution of publications, visualize co-authorship

analysis, co-citation analysis of cited authors, and bibliographic coupling of authors during

2011-2020.

Methodology: The dataset was compiled from ALIS publication documents indexed by

Scopus. Bibliographic data of a total of 312 documents were retrieved for the analysis. The

dataset of 312 documents was downloaded from scopus database in .csv format and it

includes citation information, bibliographical information, abstract and keywords, and

references. All the data collected is then analyzed using the scientometric tool VOSviewer.

Findings: It was observed that the highest 38 (12.18%) articles were published in the year

2015. Garg K.C. was the strongest author in co-authorship analysis with 11 documents, 57

citations, and 1318 total link strength. The journal ALIS highest co-cited with other

documents having a total link strength of 98241. The highest number of citations appended

in the journals were from India and it is highly bibliographically coupled. The keyword

'scientometric' occurred frequently compare to other author's keywords.

KEYWORDS:

Scientometrics; Bibliometrics; Annals of Library and Information Studies;

ALIS journal; Co-citation; Bibliographic coupling; VOS viewer

114


Das and Verrma: Co-citation and bibliographic coupling …

Introduction

The term Scientometrics was coined by Vassily V

Nalimov and Z M Mulchenko in 1969 which is equivalent

to the Russian term 'Naukometriya'. As per Tague-

Sutcliffe. Scientometrics is the study of the quantitative

measures of science as a subject. The focus point of

Scientometrics is the assessment of science and is in this

way measurement of the growth, arrangement,

interrelationship, and efficiency of subjects (Hood and

Wilson, 2001). Citations are the mirror image of diverse

connectivity among subfields and citation design delivers

particulars on the growth of the academic structures of a

field. Co-citation analysis was mostly used to map the

knowledge networks of a selected research arena.

Exploration of objects in a scientific discipline can be

categorized through a bibliographic study based on their

bibliographic information, such as citations, keywords,

topics, countries, authors, sources, and titles. Using more

refined bibliographic analysis approaches, an investigator

can generate bibliographic maps with the same data,

visualize and analyze bibliometric networks, create

bibliographic coupling, and evaluate the strengths of the

links of the bibliographic coupling.

A bibliographic map usually comprises only one type of

item. The Item may be authors, publications, or citations,

etc. A pair of items are connected with links. It shows the

associations or connections between items. In the present

study, bibliographic coupling links and co-occurrence

links are being illustrated. Each link has strength, shown

by a numerical value. A higher numerical value of link

strength shows a stronger link between items. The link

strength means the number of cited references two items

have in common. Also, when interpreting co-occurrence

links, link strength represents the counts of publications in

which two terms occur at the same time. Links and items

form a bibliographic network together (Newman, 2004)

Relevantly, the current study endeavors to quantify the

distribution pattern of a leading Indian alluded journal

“Annals of Library and Information Studies (ALIS) from

2011 to 2020.

Source Journal

National Institute of Science Communication and

Information Resources (NISCAIR) appeared on 30

September 2002 with the merging of the National Institute

of Science Communication (NISCOM) and Indian

National Scientific Documentation Center (INSDOC).

Both NISCOM and INSDOC, the two head organizations

of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

(CSIR), were dedicated to the distribution and

documentation of S&T information.

Annals of Library and Information studies which finished

64 years of journey in 2017 is the oldest enduring English

language library and Information science journal published

from India. The journal was started in 1954 by the past

Indian National Scientific Documentation Center

(INSDOC) as Annals of Library science with the Father of

Indian Library Science, Dr. SR Ranganathan as its

originator - Editor. In the ten years that he was Editor, he

contributed 87 articles for this journal. In 1964, the journal

was renamed as Annals of Library science and

Documentation and in 2001 it was given its present name,

Annals of Library and Information studies. (Source:

http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/66)

Literature Review

115


Scientometrics methods can be used to assess the technical

movement at 3 diverse levels. Where the output of a nation

or region can be assessed at the policy level; at the

strategic level, the output of the institution or university or

department to be evaluated; and at the tactical level,

significant features of scientific growth will be recognized

and assessed. , The vital process for all three is similar;

collecting data, describing indicators, assessing key

activities, and showing database assessments. A prominent

study by Wanying, Jin, & Kun (2018) discovered the

associations among different metrics, comprising 1

frequency-based and 6 network-based metrics, to know the

influence of network structure on top analysis on co-word

networks. They observed that core ness is best for

classifying keywords. Consequently, author bibliographic

coupling analysis can be merged with author keywords

ranking in recognizing the information arrangement and

the research faces of Annals of library and information

studies journal. Li and Chu (2016) studied an innovative

method of improved co-word analysis and prospered in the

exploration of research. Nowadays author keywords are

also collectively used to conduct keyword analysis.

Boyack and Klavans (2010) studied the accurateness of

dissimilar citation-based approaches and found that

bibliographic coupling is relatively better. In a row, many

indications. Boyack (2009) effectively plotted the

knowledge structure of Chemistry by applying

bibliographic coupling. Kuusi and Meyer (2007) described

the correctness of bibliographic coupling in anticipating

technical inventions. Morris, Yen, Wu, & Tesfaye (2003)

were claimed Bibliographic coupling as a suitable way for

research faces identification in mapping science. Author

bibliographic coupling is a stretched version of

bibliographic coupling specifically pointing to overcome

the restrictions of the author co-citation method. Narin,

Olivastro & Stevens (1994) conducted a study, the purpose

of using scientometrics is more to the tactical presentation

level. The tactical analysis tried to generate a model

associated with what happens in a research field, to see its

growth, advancement, and future track from a wider

viewpoint than traditional analysis. Vladutz and Cook

(1984) studied and concluded that bibliographic coupling

can give precise outcomes in terms of the topic

relationship.

From the above review of literature, it has been observed

that various authors conducted the scientometric study to

examine Co-authorship analysis, bibliographic coupling

analysis, citation analysis, and some other parameters too

which are relevant to the objectives of this study.


The Objective of the present study is to:

1. Identify the year-wise publication distribution and

authorship pattern of Annals of Library and

Information Studies (ALIS) journal during 2011-

2020,

2. Visualize co-authorship analysis of the authors.


3. Map the Co-citation analysis of cited authors and

cited sources.

4. Analyze the Bibliographic coupling of countries,

Publications, and authors.

5. Recognize the Co-occurrence of the author's

keyword.

Methodology

This study employs bibliometric approaches for the

analysis of bibliographic data sets from the Annals of

Library and Information Studies journal during 2011- 2020

which were downloaded from the Scopus database. Data

collection was performed on May 15 th , 2021. The dataset

was compiled from ALIS publication documents indexed

by Scopus. Bibliographic data of a total of 312 documents

were retrieved for the analysis. The dataset of 312

documents was downloaded in .csv format and it includes

citation information, bibliographical information, abstract

and keywords, and references. All the data collected is

then analyzed using the scientometric tool VOSviewer. In

connection with the study objectives, the types of analysis

used were co-authorship with author’s analysis, co-citation

analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence with

the author keywords analysis While presenting different

categories of bibliometric analysis results, the researchers

followed a deductive way similar to the one followed by

Lee, Felps, and Baruch (2014) and Ersozlu and Karakus

(2019). The results have been presented in a way starting

from the more general findings and flowing to more

specific ones, namely, bibliographic coupling of the

countries, bibliographic coupling of the institutions,

bibliographic coupling of the journals, bibliographic

coupling of the publications, bibliographic coupling of the

authors, and co-occurrences of the author keywords. This

flow of the content enables readers to follow the

relationships starting from the more general information

and then to find out specific information that explains the

former ones respectively.


1 Year-wise distribution of contributions

Table 1 and figure 1 depict the year-wise distribution of

the publication in Annals of Library and Information

Studies (ALIS) from 2011 to 2020. It was observed that

there are a total of 312 documents published in 10 volumes

during the study period out of which the highest 38

(12.18%) articles were published in the year 2015

followed by the year 2013 having 37 (11.86%)

publications and in the year 2011 having 36 (11.54%)

publications. The lowest publication has been observed in

the year 2019 with 20 (8.65%) publications.

Year Vol.no. Total Percentage

publication

2011 58 36 11.54

2012 59 27 8.65

2013 60 37 11.86

2014 61 35 11.22

2015 62 38 12.18

2016 63 32 10.26

2017 64 32 10.26

2018 65 28 8.97

2019 66 20 6.41

2020 67 27

8.65

Total 312 100

Table-1: Year-wise distribution of contributions

Figure-1: Year-wise distribution of contributions

2 Most Cited publications

Most cited publications are presented in Table 2 and

Figure 2 with overlay visualization. A publications'

minimum number of citations was considered 15 in this

analysis. Of the 312 documents, 9 met the threshold. For

all the publications, the number of citations, Author, and

Sl. Rank Total Title

Author

No Citations

1 1 21 Comparative analysis of scientific output of BRIC (Kumar, 2011)

countries.

2 2 19 A study of ICT skills among library professionals in (Seena & Sudhier, 2014)

Kerala university library system.

3 3 18 Women’s health information and information sources: (Nwagwu & Ajama, 2011)

A study of a rural oil palm business community in

south-western Nigeria.

4 4 16 Internet of things and libraries. (Pujar & Satyanarayan, 2015)

5 4 16 Productivity pattern of universities in Kerala: A (Awasthy & Gopikuttan, 2013)

scientometric analysis.

6 4 16 Factors affecting utilization of electronic health (Alison & Kiyingi, 2012)

information resources in universities in Uganda.

7 4 16 The research output of CSIR- central electrochemical

research institute: A study

(Jeyshankar & Ramesh, 2011)

116



8 4 16 Usefulness and application of data mining in

extracting information from different perspectives.

9 5 15 MOOCs and LIS education: A massive opportunity or

challenge.

Table- 2: Most Cited publications

(Pal, 2011)

(Pujar & Bansode, 2014)

Figure- 2: Most Cited publications (Overlay Visualization)

year of publication was extracted. The publication (Kumar,

2011) got the highest 21 citations. Followed by (Seena &

Sudhier, 2014) having 19 citations and (Nwagwu &

Ajama, 2011) got 18 citations were placed in rank 3 rd. 4

publications got an equal number of citations (16) and

placed in 4 th

rank. Collectively most of the top-cited

papers were published in the year 2011.

3 Co-authorship analysis of authors

Co-authorship analysis of the authors is presented in

Figure 3 with density visualization. An author's minimum

number of documents was considered 4 in this analysis. Of

the 414 authors, 16 met the threshold. For all the authors,

the number of documents, the number of citations, and

their total link strengths were evaluated. The authors with

the highest total link strengths were selected. The strongest

author was Garg K.C. with 11 documents, 57 citations, and

1318 total link strength. Although Sen B.K. has the highest

number of publications with 19 documents, he was the

third strongest author in this Co-authorship analysis due

to a reduced number of citations (38) and total link

strength (386). For all the authors, the first number stands

for the number of documents, the second one is the

number of citations, and the third one is the total link

strengths. The remaining of the authors the number of

citations and their total link strengths were evaluated. The

authors with the highest total link strengths were selected.

The strongest author was Gupta B.M. with 173 citations

and 38632 total link strength. For all the authors, the first

number stands for the number of citations and the second

one is the total link strengths. The remaining of the authors

are presented in order; Garg, K.C. (107;21132), Kumar,

S.(107; 20744), Sen B.K.(129; 20579), Kademani,

B.S.(124; 19136), Kalyane V.L.(143; 14198), Kumar

V.(68; 13976), Prathap G.(56; 12344), Arunachalam

S.(30; 7428), Dutt B.(35; 6061), Rousseau, R.(35; 1115),

Ranganathan S.R.(59; 78), Thelwall M.( 39; 25) and Rao

C.(42; 0).Out of 14 authors, 1 author has not any citation

so, 13 authors are distributed in 3 different clusters

illustrated with different colors that were frequently linked

with each other.

117


Figure-3: Co-authorship analysis (Density visualization)


4 Co-citation analysis

Two publications are co-cited if there is a third publication

that cites both publications (Marshakova, 1973).

4.1 Co-citation analysis of cited authors

Co-citation analysis of the cited authors is presented in

Figure 4 with network visualization. A cited author's

minimum number of citations was considered 30 in this

analysis. Of the 6907 cited authors, 14 met the threshold.

For all the authors, the number of citations and their total

link strengths were evaluated. The authors with the highest

total link strengths were selected. The strongest author was

Gupta B.M. with 173 citations and 38632 total link

strength. For all the authors, the first number stands for the

number of citations and the second one is the total link

strengths. The remaining of the authors are presented in

citations and their total link strengths were evaluated. The

authors with the highest total link strengths were selected.

Sen B.K.(129; 20579), Kademani, B.S.(124; 19136),

order; Garg, K.C. (107;21132), Kumar, S.(107; 20744),

Kalyane V.L.(143; 14198), Kumar V.(68; 13976), Prathap

G.(56; 12344), Arunachalam S.(30; 7428), the number of

The strongest author was Gupta B.M. with 173 citations

and 38632 total link strength. For all the authors, the first

number stands for the number of citations and the second

one is the total link strengths. The remaining of the authors

are presented in order; Garg, K.C. (107;21132), Kumar,

S.(107; 20744), Sen B.K.(129; 20579), Kademani,

B.S.(124; 19136), Kalyane V.L.(143; 14198), Kumar

V.(68; 13976), Prathap G.(56; 12344), Arunachalam

S.(30; 7428), Dutt B.(35; 6061), Rousseau, R.(35; 1115),

Ranganathan S.R.(59; 78), Thelwall M.( 39; 25) and Rao

C.(42; 0).Out of 14 authors, 1 author has not any citation

so, 13 authors are distributed in 3 different clusters

illustrated with different colors that were frequently linked

with each other.

Figure-4: Co-citation analysis of cited authors (Network visualization)

4.2 Co-citation analysis of cited sources

The co-citation of the cited sources is presented with

network visualization in Figure 5. A cited journal’s

minimum number of citations was considered 35. Of the

3046 journals, 20 met the threshold. For those 20 journals,

the number of publications, their citations, and their total

strength of the bibliographic coupling links with other

journals were calculated. The journals with the highest

total link strength were selected. In Figure 5, each circle

stands for a journal, the network of the journal was

demonstrated over different colors. This network

visualization was weighted by the number of citations for

each journal. The top one is the Annals of library and

information studies with 350 citations and 98241 total link

strength. For all the sources, the first number stands for the

number

of citations, and the second one is the total link strength.

The other journals are; Annals of library science and

documentation (100; 6491), Collnet journal of

scientometrics and information management (62; 29762 ),

Current Science ( 85; 26650), Desidoc bulletin of

information technology (41; 17445 ), Desidoc journal of

library & information technology (90; 43222), IASLIC

and bulletin ( 85; 31777), ILA bulletin ( 46; 15041),

Journal of documentation ( 86; 2558), Journal of the

American Society for information science ( 47; 1552),

Library herald( 50; 20617), Library Review (36; 166),

Malaysian journal of library and information science (67;

27225), Scientometrics (465; 94298), Srels journal of

information management(183; 80652), The electronic

library (60; 184).

118



5 Bibliographic Coupling

Two publications are bibliographically coupled if there is a

third publication that is cited by both publications

(Kessler, 1963).

Figure-5: Co-citation analysis of sources (Network visualization)

5.1 Bibliographic Coupling of the Countries

Bibliographic coupling of the countries is presented in

Figure 6 with network visualization. A country’s minimum

number of publications was 3. Of the 26 countries, 7 met

the threshold. For each of the 7 countries, the total link

strength with other countries was calculated. For all of the

countries, the number of documents, the number of

citations, and the total link strength were calculated. The

countries with the highest total link strengths were

considered. The top one was India with 234 documents,

845 citations, and 85 total link strength. For the other

countries, the first numbers stand for the number of

publications, the second one is the number of citations and

the third one is the total link strengths. The other countries

were; Nigeria (24; 67; 18), Sri Lanka (14; 41; 13),

Bangladesh (9; 39; 55), Iran (6; 23; 20), South Africa (4;

4; 9) and United States of America (3; 2; 0) In Figure 5,

different colors show different clusters that were more

commonly connected. It means that the studies initiated

from the countries in the same cluster cite each other more

regularly. At the largest cluster, there are India,

Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Nigeria and South Africa are

in the second cluster and Iran in the third cluster. The

United States has not any citations so, it was not included

in any cluster.

Figure-6: Bibliographic Coupling of the Countries (Network

visualization)

5.2 Bibliographic Coupling of the Publications

Bibliographic coupling of the publications is presented in

table 3 and figure 7 with density visualization. Only the

publications that have a minimum number of 10 citations

were included in this analysis. Of the 312 documents, 28

met the threshold. For all the publications, the number of

citations and their total link strengths were calculated. The

documents with the greatest total link strength were

selected. The strongest one was Garg (2011) with 14

citations and 15 total link strengths. Although Aswathy 126

(2013) and Jeyshankar (2011) has highest citations their

link strength are 4 and 2 respectively which is very less.

Publications

Citations

Total link

strength

Garg (2011) 14 15

Dutt (2013) 14 13

Sinha (2012) 13 13

Tripathi (2014) 12 5

Aswathy (2013) 16 4

Pillai Sudhier (2013) 11 4

Jeyshankar (2011) 16 2

Table-3: Bibliographic Coupling of the Publications

119



6 Co-Occurrences of the Author Keywords

Figure-7: Bibliographic Coupling of the Publications (Density

visualization)

5.3 Bibliographic Coupling of the Authors

Bibliographic coupling of the authors is presented in

Figure 8 with overlay visualization. An author's minimum

number of publications was 4 to be included in this

analysis. Of the 414 authors, 16 met the threshold. For all

the authors, the number of documents, the number of

citations, and their total link strengths were evaluated. The

authors with the greatest total link strengths were

considered. The highest total link strength was observed in

the author Garg K.C. (11; 57; 1318), the author Pujar S.M

(7; 64; 87) has the highest citation but total link strength is

less so, it is in 8 th position. For the other authors, the first

numbers stand for the number of publications, the second

one is the number of citations and the third one is the total

link strengths. The other authors were, Tripathi (6; 35;

1235), Sen (19; 38; 386), Dutt (5; 31; 323), Nikam (4; 28;

282), Dutta (9; 11; 132), Ray (6; 8; 132), Kumar (7; 26;

86), and Gupta (8; 49; 49). The recent bibliographic

coupling of the author's nodes is represented in yellow in

the visualization graph.

Co-occurrences of the author keywords are presented in

Figure 9 with network visualization. As insertion criteria,

the minimum number of occurrences of a keyword was 6.

Of the 893 keywords, 16 met the threshold. For all the

keywords, the number of occurrences and their total link

strength with other keywords were calculated. The

keywords with the greatest total link strength were

considered. India has the highest total ink strength of 19

with 23 occurrences. Scientometrics is the most frequent

keyword with 26 occurrences and 18 total link strength but

it is 3 rd in the list according to total link strength. For the

others, the first number stands for their occurrences and

the second one is their total link strength. Bibliometrics

(24; 18), Citation analysis (10; 8), Sri Lanka (8; 6), E-

resources (10; 5), Information literacy (10; 4), Nigeria(11;

4), Social media (6; 4), web 2.0 ( 6; 4), Open access (9; 3),

Academic libraries (8; 2), Impact factor (6; 2), LIS journal

(9; 2), University libraries(6; 2) and Libraries (6;1). In

Figure 9, different colors show 3 different clusters in

which the terms are more often connected. The biggest

cluster included of 7 keywords are Academic libraries, e-

resources, libraries, Nigeria, social media, university

libraries, and web 2.0. The second cluster included 5

keywords are bibliometrics, citation analysis, India, LIS

journals, and scientometrics. The third cluster included 4

keywords are impact factor, information literacy, open

access, and Sri Lanka.

Figure-9: Co-Occurrences of the Author Keywords

127

Conclusion

In this paper, the bibliographic data of the publications

published in the Annals of library and information studies

journal were analyzed and visualized by VOSviewer

software through descriptive and evaluative scientometric

analysis procedures. In this context, co-citation analysis,

bibliographic coupling co-occurrences of the author

keywords were analyzed and visualized. According to the

Figure-8: Bibliographic Coupling of the Authors

year-wise distribution of the contribution, it was observed

that the publication was in a range and there is no such

growth in publications as they are maintaining an average

publication of 31. Based on most cited documents,

Scientometric papers are highly cited compared to other

120



topics and show an upward trend towards the

scientometric or bibliometric study. The link strength of

the authors with other authors in co-authorship analysis

shows that authors are highly connected with the other

authors are of the same countries. So, the global coauthorship

pattern is very negligible. The author Gupta

B.M. is a highly co-cited author which means he has been

cited maximum with other authors among all the authors.

The source journal Annals of library and information

studies itself has the highest number of citations based on

co-citation analysis of sources. In bibliographic coupling,

the contributions from India got the highest citations

collaboratively with other countries. It means India is the

leading contributor to that journal. The publication Garg

(2011) is highly bibliographically coupled with others

having the highest total link strength of 15. The author

Garg K.C. has the highest link strength which

demonstrates that the author has a good link with other

authors in the same publications citations of other

documents. The words scientometric, bibliometric, India,

Citation analysis are the most co-occurred author's

keywords. The scientometric study on Annals of library

and information science provides a broad summary of the

growth of publications, particularly based on Co-citation

and bibliographic coupling analysis which scholars and

periodical managers can use to decide the direction of the

journal and to choose the journal for their publications.

Li, M. & Chu, Y. (2016). Explore the research front of a

specific research theme based on a novel technique of

enhanced co-word analysis. Journal of Information

Science. 43(6). 725-741.

Marshakova, I. (1973). System of documentation

connections based on references (SCI). Nauchno-

Tekhnicheskaya Informatsiya Seriya 2, 6, 3–8.

Morris, S. A., Yen, G., Wu, Z., & Tesfaye, B. (2003).

Timeline visualization of research fronts. Journal of the

American Society for Information Science and

Technology, 54(5), 413-422.

Narin, F., Olivastro, D., & Stevens, K. A. (1994).

Bibliometrics/Theory, Practice and Problems.

Evaluation Review, 18(1), 65-76.

Newman, M. E. J. (2004). Fast algorithm for detecting

community structure in networks. Physical Review E, 69,

066133.

NOPR, Available at

http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/66 (Accessed

on May 15, 2021).

Tague-Sutcliffe, J. M. (1992). An introduction to

informetrics, Information Processing, and Management,

28:1-3.

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About Authors

References

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analysis, bibliographic coupling, and direct citation:

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Mapping the literature by bibliometric analysis.

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bibliometrics, scientometrics, and informetrics,

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25.

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technological breakthroughs: Using bibliographic

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121


Saumen Das (B.Sc IT, MLISc) is a research scholar

in the Department of Library and information

Science, Mizoram University. He has qualified the

UGC NET exam June 2015 and November 2017. He

has attended and presented many papers in different

national and international conferences and seminars.

Other than he has published many papers in

different journals. His field of interest ICT, Library

automation, Bibliometrics, webometrics

Dr. Manoj Kumar Verma is working as Associate

Professor Department of Library and information

Science, Mizoram University, Aizawl. He has

completed his MLIS & PhD from G.G University,

Bilaspur. He has more than 21 years of professional

experience. He has published 170 papers in national

& international journals/conference proceedings, 17

book chapters and 8 books/edited books. His area of

interest includes: Library Automation, Knowledge

management, Information Literacy, Bibliometrics,

Scientometrics & Webometrics.


UGC-CARE

Peer Reviewed

ISSN: 0972-2750


30 th August 2021


5 th September 2021


22 nd October 2021


25 th October 2021

Alteration of nomenclature of the Class 570 in different

editions of DDC: a retrospective analysis

Sudeshna Panda & Dr Pijush Kanti Jana

ABSTRACT:

Sudeshna Panda

Research Scholar

DLIS,

Vidyasagar University

Midnapore, West Bengal

Email:

sudeshnapanda2014@gmail.com

Dr Pijush Kanti Jana

Professor


Information Science

Vidyasagar University

Midnapore, West Bengal

Email: pkjanavu@gmail.com

Introduction: Philosophers and library scientists are engaged over centuries to organize

knowledge in a definite pattern. In library science this organization pattern came into effect in

the year 1876 after the publication of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) by Melvil Dewey.

The 23 rd edition of DDC has been published in the year 2011.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to make a systematic analysis of the class 570 and its

subordinate classes from the 1 st edition to 23 rd edition of DDC.

Research problem: Statement of problems of the study is to see whether there is any changes

have been made in the schedule under study to cover the subjects emerged out due to the rapid

development of various subject fields.

Objectives: Therefore, objectives of the present study is to measure the development of the

subject Biology and to see the treatment of subjects in different classes as well as to identify

the changes of terminology and nomenclature of the classes under Biological Sciences in

different editions of DDC.

Methodology: This article deals with the terminological changes, changes of nomenclature

and incorporation of the subjects under the class 570 from 1 st edition to 23 rd edition of DDC.

For this, relevant portion of all the 23 editions of DDC has been collected either from the

Internet Archive or from the print version. Necessary findings and recommendation of

research study will be made in view of the analysis of data.

Findings: In different editions of DDC, nomenclatures of different classes have changed

several times due to the development of the subjects. Again, to cover those subjects in a class

with pure base notational system, nomenclature of a class has altered in different editions of

DDC.

KEYWORDS:

Dewey Decimal Classification; Biological Sciences; Life sciences; Biology; Class

570

122


Panda & Jana: Alteration of Nomenclature of …

Introduction

In this living world biology is present from ancient to

modern times. The concept of biology raised in 19 th

century. The biological sciences emerged from traditions

of medicine and natural history reaching back to ayurveda,

ancient Egyptian medicine and the works of Aristotle and

Galen in the ancient Greco-Roman world. This ancient

work was further developed in the Middle Ages, over 18 th

and 19 th centuries Biological Sciences such as botany and

zoology became increasingly professional scientific

disciplines. In the early 20 th century, the rediscovery of

Mendel’s work led to the rapid development of genetics.

In this way new disciplines developed rapidly.

According to the development of the subject library

scientists develop different library classification schemes.

So, to capture different changes, development, and

terminological changes in this discipline, classificationists

incorporate the same in library classification schemes.

This paper shows the development of the subject as well as

treatment and terminological changes based on different

editions of Dewey Decimal Classification scheme.

The Dewey Decimal Classification system is a proprietary

library classification system first published in the United

States by Melvil Dewey in 1876.

Literature Review

In this paper, literature review deals with the survey of the

literature on different aspects of the Dewey Decimal

Classification in general and treatment of different subjects

particularly subjects on biological sciences in particular.

For this, literatures available in print and non-print media

are collected and few of those literatures are presented

below.

S. Basuki and A. S.Mulyani [2002] explored that the

problem of utilizing notation for classification on Islam

and the notation given in very limited for this

denomination. In this study they describe the effort made

by Indonesian and Islamic libraries to improve the class

number 297 in different editions of DDC since 1973 to

1987.

B. T. Gangu and R. P. Rao [2008] discussed about problem

of classifying the upcoming new subjects in Dewey

Decimal Classification scheme 18 th edition and problem

faced by librarians and classification experts who have to

deal with the limitation and insufficiency of the scheme

while handling the books dealing with new developments

in human knowledge. They have tried to explore the

problems and suggest solutions to overcome these

problems.

Z. Niculescu [2009] explored the evolution of different

editions of Dewey Decimal Classification from the

perspective of updating the terminology, reallocating and

expanding the main and auxiliary structure of Dewey

Indexing Language. This study present the comparative

analysis of DDC editions and mark on improving the

informational offer, basic index terms, development and

auxiliary notations.

P. Tutu [2017] discussed about the treatment of Pure

Sciences in Dewey Decimal Classification and Colon

Classification. This paper indicates the advantages and

disadvantages of the schemes and tried to design a new

scheme.

A. T. Poffenberger [1917] discusses the inferiority of the

Dewey’s decimal system of classification. The study

emphasized the need for a new scheme to satisfy both

logical demands of the classifier and the practical one of

the psychologist.

M. P. Satija [2013] described the history of the DDC since

its first publication in 1876. This paper will review the

features and changes in all previous editions, in

chronological order, detailing their respective editors.

Finally the history and features of the abridged, school and

the electronic editions of the system were examined and

highlighted the DDC’s major contribution to the science

and art of classification - proving that it is the mother of all

modern library classification systems.

R. Sweeney [1983] discussed about the 19 th edition of the

DDC. This study reviews the evolution of the

classification over the past thirty years, and indicates the

likely development in the 20 th edition and beyond.

The study looks into the development between the

feasibility of using the UDC’s revised religion scheme as a

frame work for an alternative view of 200 Religion in the

DDC. L.C. Mcllwaine and J. C. Mifchell [2006] explored

a potential model for future revision and investigate a

detailed mapping using Buddhism as a case study.


The objectives of the present study are:

i) To analyze the development of the subject

Biology in the light of DDC scheme.

ii) To find out the treatment of the subjects under the

class 570 and its sub-ordinate classes in DDC

scheme.

iii) To see the terminological changes of the subjects

treated under the classes under study.

iv) To know the inclusion and exclusion of the

subjects in the main class 570 and other subordinate

classes under it.

Scope and Methodology

123


This article deals with the terminological changes, changes

of nomenclature and incorporation of the subjects under

the class 570 from 1 st edition to 23 rd edition of DDC. For

this, relevant portion of all the 23 editions of DDC has

been collected either from the Internet Archive or from the

print version. To fulfill the objectives of the study

necessary data have been collected from all the 23 editions

and organized through tables. A detail analysis of the

tables has been made to find out required results.


To ascertain terminological changes of the subjects under

the class 570 in DDC and incorporation of different

subjects under it, relevant data have been collected and

organized under different tables and those tables are

analyzed considering the objectives of the study as

follows:

1 Changes of Nomenclatures and

Incorporation of the Subjects of the class 570

Table 1 shows the terminological changes and addition of

new concepts with the subject Biology. It is found from

the Table that the subject Biology has been treated under

the class 570 throughout all the editions of the DDC under

study. Due to imperceptible development of the subject,

gradual development of different terminology, various new

topics were included within the domain of the subject. The

Table reveals that from 1 st edition to 9 th edition of DDC the

class 570 represented by the subject Biology only.

Editions Year of

Subject

Publication

1 st ed. 1876 Biology

2 nd ed. 1885 Biology

3 rd ed. 1888 Biology

4 th ed. 1891 Biology






10 th ed. 1919 Biology. Archeology





15 th ed. 1951 Biological Sciences

16 th ed. 1958 Anthropological and

biological sciences

17 th ed. 1965 Anthropological and

biological sciences

18 th ed. 1971 Life Sciences



21 st ed. 1996 Life Sciences Biology

22 nd ed. 2003 Life Sciences Biology

23 rd ed. 2011 Biology

Table-1: Terminological changes of the class 570

From 10 th edition to 14 th edition the concept Archaeology

has been added with the main domain Biology. Though the

subject Archaeology has been treated under the class 571

up to 16 th edition in the form of Prehistoric Archaeology or

simply Archaeology and which has been shown in Table

2.Again, in 15 th edition, the class changed its dimension

and incorporates a broader subject field Biological

Sciences to represent the class and the subject Biology has

been treated under the class 574 (Table 2). In 16 th and 17 th

editions of DDC a new subject field Anthropology has

been added within the main domain Biological Sciences.

Though, the subject Biology has been separately treated

under the class 574. But in its next edition ie, in 18 th

124



edition, the class has been termed as Life Sciences and has

been continued up to 20 th edition. But the treatment of the

subject Biology remains the same under the class 574 in

these three editions. But, in 21 st and in 22 nd edition the

subject has been treated as Life Sciences Biology and

treatment of the subject Biology under the class 574 is

omitted. In 23 rd edition the class has been treated simply as

Biology. So, it may be concluded that in its different

editions of DDC from the 1 st edition to 23 rd edition, the

class 570 has been treated mostly as Biology, in some

editions it is either Biological Sciences or Life Sciences.

Though, the subject Archaeology has been added with the

main domain Biology from 10 th to 14 th editions.

From the above discussion it seems that there is enough

confusion as to which subject(s) should cover all the

subjects of the sub-classes under the class 570 and as a

result sometimes it is Biology, sometimes it is Life

Sciences, Biological Sciences or other subjects like

Archaeology or Anthropology attached with the subject

Biology.

Due to gradual development of different subjects as well

as changes of structure and scope of the subject Biology,

terminology has been changed from time to time or

subjects has been attached with the subject Biology to

cope of those subjects under the main class.

However, changes of terminology of the subject Biology

and incorporation of subjects in its different editions of

DDC may be represented in the following manner:

There is enough uniformity to treat subjects in the class

571 throughout different editions of DDC under study.

From 1 st edition to 16 th edition of DDC the class is

represented by the subject Prehistoric Archaeology.

Though, from 10 th edition to 14 th edition Archaeology was

added with the main class 570. No subjects have been

included in this class from 17 th to 20 th editions. Physiology

and related subjects has been included in this class from

21 st to 23 rd editions of DDC

The subject Ethnology has been treated under the class 572

from 1 st edition to 14 th edition of DDC. Though,

Anthropology was added with it from 3 rd edition to 14 th

edition. In 15 th and 16 th editions the class was represented

by the subject Anthropology only. Next four editions i.e.,

from 17 th to 20 th editions the class was renamed as Human

races and the last three editions under study the class was

represented as Biochemistry.


Edition Year of 570 571 572 573 574

Publication

1 st ed. 1876 Biology Prehistoric Archeology Ethnology Natural History of Homologies

Man

2 nd ed. 1885 Biology Prehistoric Archeology Ethnology Natural History of

Man

3 rd ed. 1888 Biology Prehistoric Archeology Ethnology

Natural History of Homologies

Anthropology Man

4 th ed. 1891 Biology Prehistoric Archeology Ethnology


Anthropology Man

5 th ed. 1894 Biology Prehistoric Archeology Ethnology


Anthropology Man

6 th ed. 1899 Biology Prehistoric Archeology Ethnology,


Anthropology Man

7 th ed. 1911 Biology Prehistoric Archeology Ethnology,


Anthropology Man

8 th ed. 1913 Biology Prehistoric archeology Ethnology,

Natural history of man Homologies

Anthropology Somatology

9 th ed. 1915 Biology Prehistoric archeology Ethnology,



10 th ed. 1919 Biology. Prehistoric archeology Ethnology,


Archeology




Archeology




Archeology


13 th ed. 1932 Biology.

Archeology

Prehistoric archeology Ethnology,

Anthropology

Natural history of man

Somatology

Physiological and

Structural biology

14 th ed. 1942 Biology.

Archeology

Prehistoric archeology

Ethnology,

Anthropology

Natural history of man

Somatology

Natural history

Physiologic and

Structural biology

Natural history

15 th ed. 1951 Biological Archeology Anthropology Physical Anthropology Biology

Sciences

16 th ed. 1958 Anthropological Prehistoric archeology Anthropology Physical anthropology Biology

and biological

sciences

17 th ed. 1965 Anthropological

Human races Somatology

Biology

and biological

sciences

(Ethnology) (Physical

anthropology)

18 th ed. 1971 Life Sciences [Unassigned] Human races Physical anthropology Biology



21 st ed. 1996 Life Sciences

biology

Physiology and related

subjects

Biochemistry Special system in

animals

22 nd ed. 2003 Life Sciences

Biology

Physiology and related

subjects

Biochemistry Specific physiological

systems in animals

23 rd ed. 2011 Biology Physiology and related

subjects

Biochemistry Specific physiological

systems in animals

Table 2: Changes of nomenclatures of the classes 571 to 574

From the 1 st edition to 14 th edition the class 573 was

represented by Natural history of man. But from 15 th

edition to 20 th edition the class was renamed as Physical

anthropology. But due to complexity of the subjects the

class was renamed as Special system in animals in 21 st

edition and Specific physiological systems in animals in

22 nd and in 23 rd edition.

The class 574 was represented by Homologies from 1 st

edition to 12 th edition of DDC. For the next two editions it

was renamed as Physiological and Structural biology. But

from 15 th edition to 20 th edition the class was represented

by Biology as it was excluded from the main class 570 for

the renamed of the class as Biological sciences or Life

Sciences. But from 21 st edition the class was unassigned as

the subject Biology was again added with the main class

570.

3 Changes of Nomenclatures and

Incorporation of the Subjects under the Classes

from 575 to 579

The class 575 of DDC under study represents Evolution

and Species from its 1 st edition to 15 th edition. From 16 th

edition to 17 th edition it again renamed as Organic

evolution, where Genetics added with it from 18 th edition.

But from 21 st edition nomenclature of the class is totally

changed to Specific parts of and physiological system in

plants.

In the 1 st edition of DDC the class 576 was represented by

Embryology and from 2 nd edition it was renamed as Origin

and beginning of life and continued up to 14 th edition.

From 15 th edition to 20 th edition the class was represented

by Microbiology. But from 21 st edition the omitted subject

of Evolution and genetics in class 575 is included in this

class as Genetics and evolution.

125



Edition

Year of

publication

575 576 577 578 579

1 st ed. 1876 Evolution Embryology Spontaneous Generation Microscopy Collectors’ Manuals

2 nd ed. 1885 Evolution Origin and Beginnings of Life Properties of Living

Matter

3 rd ed. 1888 Evolution Origin and Beginnings of Life Properties of Living

Matter

4 th ed. 1891 Evolution Origin and Beginnings of Life Properties of Living

Matter


Matter


Matter


m\Matter

8 th ed. 1913 Evolution Origin and beginnings of life Properties of Living

Matter

9 th ed. 1915 Evolution Origin and beginnings of life Properties of Living

Matter

10 th ed. 1919 Evolution Origin and beginnings of life Properties of living

matter


matter


matter


Phylogeny

matter


Phylogeny

matter

15 th ed. 1951 Evolution Microbiology Chemical properties of

living matter

16 th ed. 1958 Organic

evolution

(Phylogeny)

17th ed. 1965 Organic

evolution


evolution

and

genetics


evolution

and

genetics

20th ed. 1989 Evolution

& genetics

21st ed. 1996 Specific

parts of

system in

plants

22nd ed. 2003 Specific

parts of and

physiologic

al system in

plants

23rd ed. 2011 Specific

parts of

system in

plants

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Microscopy

Biological

techniques

Microbiology Philosophy of biology Microscopes

& microscopy

Microbiology

General properties of

living matter

Microscopes

& microscopy

Microbes General nature of life Microscopy in

biology

Microbes General nature of life Microscopy in

biology

Microbiology General nature of life Microscopy in

biology

Genetics & evolution Ecology Natural

history of

organisms

Genetics and evolution Ecology Natural

history of

organisms and

related

subjects

Genetics and evolution Ecology Natural

history of

organisms and

related

subjects

Collectors’ Manuals







Collectors Manuals

Collectors Manuals

Collectors Manuals

Collectors Manuals

Collectors Manuals

Collectors Manuals

Biological and

natural history

collections

Collection and

preservation of

biological specimens

Collection and

Preservation of


Collection and

preservation of


Collection and

preservation of


Collection and

preservation of


Microorganisms,

fungi, algae

Microorganisms,

fungi, algae

Natural history of

Microorganisms,

fungi, algae

Table 3: Changes of nomenclatures of the classes 575 to 579

126



The class 577 in DDC represented as Spontaneous

Generation in 1 st edition, Properties of living matter from

2 nd to 14 th edition, Chemical Properties of Living Matter in

15 th edition, Philosophy of biology in 16 th edition, General

properties of living matter in 17 th edition. Then the class is

renamed as General nature of life from 18 th to 20 th edition

and Ecology from 21 st edition to 23 rd edition.

From the 1 st edition to 14 th edition the class 578 of DDC is

represented as Microscopy. Then it renamed as Biological

Techniques in 15 th edition, Microscopes and Microscopy

in 16 th and 17 th edition. In its 18th edition it renamed as

Microscopy in Biology and again the class changed its

nomenclature to Natural history of organisms in its 21 st

edition and continued up to 23 rd edition.

From 1 st edition to 14 th edition the class 579 is represented

as Collector’s Manuals, and then it changed its

nomenclature to Biological and Natural History

Collections in 15 th edition, Collection and preservation in

16 th edition, Collection and Preservation of Specimens in

17 th edition, Collection and preservation of biological

specimens from 18 th to 20 th editions. From 21 st edition the

class again renamed as Microorganisms, fungi, algae.

Findings

1 In most of the editions of DDC the class 570 is

represented by the subject Biology.

2 The subjects Archaeology is added with Biology

from 10 th edition to 14 th edition of DDC.

3 In 15 th edition the class was represented by the

subject Biological Sciences.

4 From 1970’s to the first decade of 20 th century

i.e., from 18 th edition to 22 nd edition the class was

represented by the subject Life Sciences.

5 The subject Biology has been treated separately

under the class 574 when the class 570 is represented by

either Biological Sciences or Life Sciences but in 21 st and

in 22 nd edition of DDC Biology is added with Life

Sciences to represent the class 570.

6 In 16 th and 17 th edition of DDC the subject

Anthropology has been treated under the class 570 with

Biological Sciences though it was separately treated under

the class 572 in its different editions of DDC. From 20 th

edition of DDC the subject Anthropology has been treated

under the class 590.

7 So, there is no uniform pattern to treat the class

570 in different editions of DDC to cover subordinate

subjects under the class.

8 Up to 16 th editions the class 572 has been

represented either Ethnology or Anthropology or both

Ethnology and Anthropology. In its next three editions the

class has been represented as Human races but from 21 st

edition the class is renamed as Biochemistry.

9 The class 575 was represented by Evolution or

Evolution and Phylogeny up to 15 th edition. Then it

renamed as Organic evolution or Organic evolution and

Genetics up to 20 th edition. But from 21 st edition scope of

the class was totally changed and renamed as Specific

parts of system in plants.

10 The class 576 was represented by either

Embryology, Origin and beginning of life or

Microbiology up to 20 th edition of DDC. The subject

Genetics and Evolution was shifted from the class 575 to

576 in 21 st edition of DDC.

11 The nomenclature of the class 577 was Properties

of living matter up to 14 th edition. Terminological changes

have been found from 16 th to 20 th editions and the class is

represented as Ecology from 21 st edition.

12 In the same way Microscopy was the

nomenclature of the class 578 up to 14 th edition but it

renamed as Natural history of organisms from 21 st edition.

13 The nomenclature Collector’s Manuals of the

class 579 ultimately changed to Microorganisms, fungi,

algae in its latest editions.

Conclusion

127


Due to development of subjects and to cover the subjects

under a class the nomenclature of a class has been changed

from edition to edition. Though, up to 14 th edition of DDC

nomenclature of the classes under study remains almost

same and changes of terminology of the classes begin from

15 th edition of DDC. But changes of nomenclature of the

classes begin in 21 st edition and remain same for the last

two editions. The limitation of pure base notational system

has also been found at the time of assigning the

nomenclature of a subject or shifting of a subject from one

class to another class.

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About Authors

128


Mrs Sudeshna Panda is a research scholar in the


Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal. She

has passed the M Lib I Sc in the year 2016 and has

qualified the West Bengal SET in the year 2018. She

has contributed a number of research papers on

Library and Information Science in book and

journals.

Dr Pijush Kanti Jana, working as Professor in the


Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal. He

obtained the degree of M Com from Calcutta

University, M Lib I Sc and Ph D from Vidyasagar

University. He began his professional career at

Vidyasagar University as Lecturer in Library and

Information Science in the year 1992. His published

works include Cataloguing in Public Library;

Objective Studies in Library and Information

Science; Towards a Knowledge Representation

Model on Anthropology; Access to Social Science

Information and Glorious 100 Years of LIS

Education in India: Introspect and Prospects. Dr

Jana has also contributed several research papers on

different aspects of Library and Information Science

in national and international journals of repute.

Apart from teaching, research and professional

activities, he also associated with Public Library

Movement and Development in the District of

Paschim Medinipur. He is Life Member of BLA,

IASLIC and IATLIS.

― Josh Hanagarne

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