A n n a ls o f L ib ra ry S c ie n c e and D o c u m e n ta tio n V o l. 4 2 , 2 ; 1 9 9 5 ; 5 4 -6 0 .

RESEARCH TRENDS IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE IN INDIAZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

AMITABHA CHA TTERJEE*

PRABHASH NARA YANA RA TH**
ASHOK PODDAR***

T h e a n a ly s is o f tr e n d s o f P h .D . le v e l r e s e a r c h w o rk should depend upon research to develop its knowl-

in lib r a r y a n d in fo r m a tio n s c ie n c e ( L IS ) a n d r e la te d edge base and its theoretical framework" [3].
to p ic s in In d ia n u n iv e r s itie s s in c e th e a w a r d o f fir s t
P h . D . d e g re e in 1 9 5 0 s h o w e d th a t th e y e a r s 1984- BACKDROP
8 8 w e r e th e p e r io d o f m a x im u m g r o w th in r e s e a r c h ,
a n d th e m o s t p o p u la r s u b je c t Though LIS education in India started as early as
h a d b e e n A c a d e m ic
L ib r a r ie s . T h e L IS D e p a r tm e n t in 1911, it was only after the W orld W ar II that it
o f K a r n a ta k a U n i-
v e r s ity is th e m o s t p r o d u c tiv e s c h o o l in th e fie ld . was gradually recognised as a full-fledged disci-
S u g g e s ts s o m e m e a s u r e s to p r e v e n t p o s s ib le d i- pline and separate departments were set up in uni-
lu tio n o f r e s e a r c h w o r k in th is s u b je c t. versities offering courses leading to bachelor and
master degrees. This eventually set the stage for
INTRODUCTIONmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA formal research activities in the subject. Informally,
however, Ranganathan was single handedly con-
"Research is the only sure way to constantly ex- ducting research in every sphere of LIS ever since
pand the fund of human knowledge and solve the he became the librarian of the Madras University
problems that face the mankind today" [1]. Re- Library. It was he who was responsible for institut-
search in the field of applied sciences and profes- ing Master Degree and Ph.D. programmes for the
sional disciplines has an added significance, since first time in Delhi University with the active coop-
through research they develop better and ad- eration of Sir Maurice Gwyer, the then Vice-chan-
vanced tools and techniques for their works which cellor of Delhi University, in 1948 and 1950-51
ultimately lead to improvement in service to and respectively. At present, formal research in LIS is
living condition of human being. Being a develop- conducted at four levels, viz., M.L.I.Sc, M.Phil.,
ing profession, the library and information science Ph.D. and D. Litt. The research projects at M.L.I.Sc
(LIS) d o e s not have a very long and inspiring re- level aim at providing hands-on training in appli-
search tradition. Librarians remained indifferent for cation of research methodology and involve el-
long to research in their own profession despite ementary level of research work. The M.Phil. level
the fact that they are the purveyors to research- research aims at advanced training in research
ers. Of late, the scenario has begun to change - methodology and is confined to only two universi-
thanks to social pressure and self-awareness [2]. ties, and D. Litt. has been awarded to only one
W hile justifying offering of Ph.D. programmes in candidate so far. Therefore, the dominant role in
LIS, W ilkinson has rightly pointed out that "if formal research in LIS is played by Ph.D. workers.
librarianship aspires to become a profession, it The present study mainly covers the research work

* Dept. of Library & Information Science, Jadavpur University, Calcutta - 700 032
" D e p t. of Library Science, Calcutta University, Calcutta - 700073
***1NSDOC Regionai Centre, IICB Campus, Calcutta - 700 032
#B ased o n th e p a p e r p r e s e n te d a t X IIA T l.IS N a tio n a l S e m in a r , B e rh a m p u r, June 3-6, 1994.

54 A nn L ib Sci D oc
 RESEARCH TRENDS IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE IN INDIAmlkjihgfedcbaZ

carried out at Ph.D. level, but includes also the COVERAGE AND DATA COLLECTION
lone D. Litt. work.
As indicated earlier, the pace of research in LIS in
Ph.D. LEVEL WORK India was quite slow till 1970s; but during the next
decade, it accelerated considerably. For the
Dr. D.B. Krishna Rao was the first person to be present study, the whole period since 1950 has
awarded a Ph.D. degree in LIS in 1957. He worked been divided into four convenient time intervals.
under the guidance of Dr. Ranganthan. It was These are the periods before 1979; 1979-1983;
after two decades that the second Ph.D. degree 1984-1988; and 1989-1993, the first one being of
was awarded in the subject by Punjab University, a longer period for obveious reaosns. Prior to this
after which research in LIS gradually picked up. work, some other studies on Ph.D. level research
Nevertheless, research in LIS related subjects work in India have been conducted. These include
started even earlier, in 1950, when Calcutta Uni-
versity awarded a Ph.D. degree in science to i) a study conducted by Dev Raj Sharma in 1985
Minendranath Basu for his work relating to preser- [4]. He ana lysed the trend from 1950 to 1985
vation of museum articles and library materials. which listed 53 theses for which doctorate
Several Ph.D. degrees were awarded to other can- degrees were awarded during the above pe-
didates on LIS related topics even during the lull riod;
that followed the award of the first Ph.D. degree in
the subject. However, all such works were carried ii) a bibliography of research in LIS compiled by
out in departments other than LIS and under the Vijay Pathak and L.S. Ramaiah in 1986 [5]
guidance of scholars belonging to other fields. Be- which covers 56 doctoral theses;
sides, some library personnel and LIS teachers
have done research work leading to Ph.D. in LIS iii) a bibliography compiled by P.S.G. Kumar in
at universities abroad or Ph.D. on subjects other 1987 [6] that included 71 theses for award of
than LIS: Thus, there are four categories of re- doctoral degree. This bibliography included not
search work conducted by Indian library person- only doctoral theses on LIS submitted to In-
nel, including library workers and LIS teachers. dian universities, but also the theses of doc-
These are torate degrees by foreign universities;

i) research conducted in LIS schools in India on iv) a bibliography prepared by Dev Raj Sharma
topics related to LIS or inter-disciplinary top- in 1990 [7] which lists 56 theses for which
ics involving LIS; doctorate degree was awarded by Indian uni-
versities during 1985-1990; and
ii) research conducted in university departments
in India, other than LIS departments on topics v) a bibliography compiled by Dev Raj Sharma
related to LIS or inter-disciplinary topics involv- and D.K. Sharma in 1992 [8] listing 80 disser-
ing LIS; tations accepted by Indian universities for doc-
toral degree during 1990-1992.
iii) research conducted in LIS schools abroad on
topics related to LIS or inter-disciplinary top- In addition to above sources, data have also been
ics involving LIS; and collected from the University News; Herald of li-
brary Science; ILA Newsletter; IASLIC Newslet-
iv) research conducted in Indian universities on ter; IATLIS Newsletter; and UPLA Newsletter to
topics relating to subjects other than LIS. ensure comprehensiveness in coverage.

Since the purpose of present study is to investi- GROWTH STUDY

gate trends of research in LIS in India, the last two
categories of research work have been excluded The growth of Ph.D. level research in LIS in India
from its purview. HGFEDCBA may be observed in the following Table.

V ol 42 N o 2 June 1995
AMITABHA CHATTERJEE, PRABHASH NARA YANA RATH and ASHOK PODDARmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPO

Table 1 ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA ties in LIS in many of the universities where re-

search work was conducted. The number of Ph.D.
G r o w th o f P h .D . le v e l r e s e a r c h in L IS degrees awarded reached the double figure in 1983
and since then, research activities maintained a
Year No. of Ph.D.s Year No. of Ph.D.s regular rhythm till 1991 except a brief set back
during 1986-88, the reason for which is difficult to
1950 1 1983 10 guess. A great spurt was noticed in 1992 when as
1957 1 1984 18 many as 47 degrees were awarded, the highest in
1963 1 1985 21 a year so far. In 1993, the figure has again dropped
1966 1 1986 5 to 16. It is possible that the information collected
1972 2 1987 8 for that year may be incomplete. The study of
1973 1 1988 9 growth that were achieved during the four time in-
1977 4 1989 13 tervals mentioned earlier reveals that upto 1978,
1978 3 1990 17 14 degrees were awarded, which increased to 23
1979 2 1991 21 during 1979-83 registering a growth of 64 percent.
1980 4 1992 47 The figure further increased to 61, during 1984-
1981 4 1993 16 88, the growth rate increasing to 165 percent, and
1982 3 to 114 during 1989-93, the growth rate dropping to
87 percent. It is possible that when the full infor-
Total 212 mation for 1993 is available the rate may go up but
certainly it is not expected to match the growth of
Note: The figure for 1992 includes one D Utt. previous period. Hence, the period 1984-88 may
be termed as the period of maximum growth in the
field of LIS research in India.
It is evident that research activities in the field of
LIS were ata very low ebb till 1982. Only 28 Ph.D. SUBJECT ANALYSIS
degrees were awarded in 33 years. No degree was
awarded during 1951-1956 and 1958-1962. Sig- The analysis of the subjects on which researches
nificantly, majority of these research works, at least have been conducted has been presented in Table
17, were conducted in departments other than LIS 2. It shows that upto 1978 the most popular area
departments under the guidance of specialists in of research was Library Movement/Library Legis-
other subjects. The main reason was possibly non- lation (7 theses); during 1979-83 it was Library
existence of LIS departments and/or Ph.D. taclli- ClassificationfTheasaurus (5 theses); during1984-

Table 2

S u b je c t- w is e a n a ly s is

Sl.no. Subject Number of Ph.D.s (including one D. Litt.)

Before 1979-83 1984-88 1989-93 Total

1979 HGFEDCBA

1. Academic Libraries 1 3 10 15 29
2. Archives 2 2
3. Bibliometrics/Citation
Studies 5 10 15
4. Cataloguing 1 1

(Contd.)

56 A nn L ib S c i D o c
 RESEARCH TRENDS IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE IN INDIAmlkjihgfedcbaZ

Table 2 ( ..Contd.)

Slono. Subject Number of Ph.D.s (including one D. Litt.)

Before 1979-83 1984-88 1989-93 Total

1979

5. Children's Literature 1 1 2
6. ClassificationfThesaurus 2 5 2 2 11 HGFEDCBA
7. Indexing 1 5 5 11
8. Knowledge/Communication 2 2
9. Librariesll nformation 2 2 4
Centres (general)
10. Library & Information
Science Education 1 7 8
11. Library & Information Services 2 4 6
12. Library & Information Systems 1 1 3 5
13. Library Automation/Computer 3 6 9
Application
14. Library Cooperation/
Resource Sharing 1 1 2 4
15. Library Management 3 1 4
16. Library Movement! 7 1 2 5 15
Library legislation
17. Library Profession/
Library Professionals 1 5 6
18. National Libraries 1 1 2
19. Periodical Publications 1 1 2 4
20. Personal Contribution 2 2
21. Preservation 1 1 1 3
22. Public Libraries 1 2 4 8 15
23. Reference Sources! 4 5 5 14
Information Sources
24. Special Libraries &
Information Centres 2 6 8
25. Universe of Subjects 1 2 3
26. Users Studies/Use Studies 2 2 6 17 37

14 23 61 114 212

88 Academic Libraries (10 theses); while during received continuously increasing attention during
1989-93, studies relating to users were the most the next three periods. During 1979-83 two per-
popular topic of research with 17 theses. Research sons worked on this subject; during 1984-88, 4
on Academic Libraries maintained a continuous up- persons; and during 1989-93, 8 persons did so.
ward growth trend from one thesis before 1979 to Indexing on which Ph.D. level research began dur-
3 during 1979-83; to 10 during 1984-88; and to 15 ing 1979-83, became a popular topic during the
during 1989-93. User/Use studies was the sub- subsequent periods (5 each). On Library Automa-
ject of research in two cases each, upto 1978 and tion/Computer Application three persons worked
during 1979-83, but in subsequent periods it be- for the first time during 1984-88, but it attracted 6
came the subject of research in 6 and 17 cases persons (i.e. double) during the subsequent pe-
respectively. Public Libraries was taken as a topic riod. On the other hand, topics relating to Classifi-
of research in one case only before 1979, but it cationfThesaurus which became popular during

V ol 42 N o 2 June 1995 57
AM/TABHA CHATTERJEE, PRABHASH NARA YANA RA TH and ASHOK PODDARmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPON

1979-83 (5 theses). after only two persons work- ses); Reference/Information sources (14 theses);
ing during the previous period. lost its popularity ClassificationfThesaurus (11 theses) and Index-
during subsequent periods HGFEDCBA
( 2 theses each). On the ing (11 theses).
whole the most popular subject for research in LIS
has been Academic Libraries (29 theses). followed LIS SCHOOLS' ROLE
by User/Use Studies (27 theses); Bibliometrics/Ci-
tation Studies (15 theses); Puiblic Libraries (15 the- The role played by different LIS schools in further-
ses); Library MovementlLibrary Legislation (15 the- ing research in LIS has been shown in Table 3 .

Table 3 ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

Q u a n tita tiv e a n a ly s is o f re s e a rc h in L IS s c h o o ls

No. of Ph.D. degrees awarded

LIS school
Before 1979 1979-83 1984-88 1989-93 Total

Karnataka University 5 9 9 23
Punjab University 2 1 11 3 17
Rajasthan University 3 6 8 11
Andhra Unlversity 2 2 10 14
Gulbarga university 1 3 9 13
Delhi University 1 2 6 9
Jiwaji University 2 7 9
Banaras Hindu university 1 5 2 8
Burdwan University 1 6 7
Poona University 1 1 2 3 7
Calcutta University 2 2 1 5
Vikram University 1 4 5**
Utkal University 5* 5
Calicut University 4 4
Jadavpur University 4 4
•
Other Schools & Subject Depts. 65

Note: Schools here include non-liS departments where researches have been conducted.
The table shows the details of only those schools which have produced at least four theses .
• The figure includes one D Litt degree .
•• The figure includes 2 Ph.D. theses by one scholar ..

The table indicates that though the LIS Department Rajasthan University (17 degrees), Andhra Univer-
of Kamataka University initiated Ph.D. programme sity (14 degrees) and Gulbarga University «13
quite late during 1979-83, it has emerged as the degrees). Significant!y. Delhi University which
most productive school in the country for research started Ph.D. programme in LIS for the first time in
in the field with 23 Ph.D. degrees awarded till 1993. the country and also awarded the first Ph.D. de-
The other major schools in decreasing order of pro- gree in LIS and Calcutta University which awarded
ductivity are the LIS departments of Punjab and the first Ph.D. degree in science on a topic related

58 A nn Lib Sci D oc
 RESEARCH TRENDS IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE IN INDIA.mlkjihgfedcb

to LIS are lagging far behind with 9 and 5 Ph.D. (11 degrees).
degrees respectively. Utkal University is the first
and the only university to have awarded the GUIDES' ROLE
highest degree of D. Litt. in LIS, while Punjab
University awarded the highest number of Ph.D. The role of different guides as far as conducting
degrees during any five year period in 1984-88 the research in LIS has been shown in Table 4

Table 4 ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

R e s e a rc h g u id e s ' c o n tr ib u tio n

Name of guide No. of candidates Name of guide No. of candidates

guided guided

S R Gunjal 14 K A Isaac 4
M R Kumbhar 12 M R Riswadkar 3
J S Sharma 10.5 HGFEDCBA S N Srivastava 3
C R Karsidappa 7 A Tejomurty 3
P B Barua 6 P Dhyani 3
P N Kaula 5 Guides with less than
K S Deshpande 6 three candidates 66
M Mahapatra 4.5
K ?iva Reddy 4 Candidates whose guides
S R Ijari 4 could note be verified and
S M Tripathi 6 those who did Ph.D.
CD Sharma 4 without guide 47

Total 212

Note: In case where a person has quided a candidate jointly with another guide,
the number of candidate has been taken to be 0.5.

From the above table, it appears that as many as CONCLUSION

99 theses have been submitted under the guid-
ance of the first 17 guides. Remaining 66 theses The above study has clearly manifested the cur-
have been submitted under the supervision of 56 rent trends in Ph.D. level research work in the field
guides. Prof. S.R. Gunjal is the most active re- of LIS. It has shown that altogether 209 persons
search guide in the field of LIS followed by Late have been awarded 211 *Ph.D. degrees and one D
Prof. M.R. Kumbhar and" J.S. Sharma. It may be Litt degree for their research work on various areas
noted here that many well-known teachers in LIS of LIS and related subjects till 1993 and research
have guided only a few candidates, some even activities in the field are constantly on the rise. This
less than three. This may be due to their other is certainly an encouraging sign for any subject and
assignments or to give more time to the respec- more so, for an emerging profession like LIS. The
tive candidates working under them. recent spurt in Ph.D. level research work is often

"Two scholars has been awarded two Ph. D. degrees each.

. V ol 42 N o 2 June 1995 59
AMITABHA CHATTERJEE, PRABHASH NARA YANA RA TH and ASHOK PODDARmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPON

attributed to the increasing importance being at- ing to on-going research projects between dif-
tached to this degree for the purpose of employ- ferent LIS schools.
ment, the increasing self-consciousness among the
library and information personnel and increased 7. Strict quality control should be effected for
opportunity for Ph.D. work. W hile appreciating this awarding the degrees in the subject.
trend, it needs to be ensured that this spurt does
not result in any dilution of research work, but helps REFERENCES
in further advancement of the subject and profes-
sion. To this end, the following measures may be 1. SATIJA (M P). Garnering the fruits of research:
taken. sources of LIS dissertations. ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFE
In KUMAR (P S
G) andVASHISHTH (C P), E d . Library and in-
1. Ph.D. programmes should be operated only in formation science in India. 1992. Sterling; New
those LIS schools where necessary infrastruc- Delhi.p.99.
tural facilitaties and competent guides are
available. 2. Ib id . p.100.

2. The subjects chosen for research work should 3. W ILKINSON (John). The Legitimization of
be of high standard which can genuinely lead librarianship. L ib r i. 33; 1983; 39.
to creation of new knowledge or new tools and
techniques for effective library and information 4. SHARMA (Dev Raj). Doctoral theses in library
work. science. H e r a ld o f L ib r a r y S c ie n c e . 24; 1985;
62-67.
3. The areas requiring special attention for re-
search work should be identified and taken up 5. PATHAK (Vijay) and RAMAIAH (LS), c a m p s .
for conducting research. The subject-wise Bibliography of research in library and infor-
analysis of Ph.D. theses shown above may be mation science in India. 1986. I.D.8.; Gurgaon.
of help for this purpose.
6. KUMAR (P S G). E d . Research in library and
4. The number of candidates to work under a information science in India: a bibliography of
guide should be limited. In some universities Ph.D., M.Phil and MLiS dissertations. 1987.
the limit is as high as 10 candidates, which is Concept; New Delhi.
not helpful as it is not possible for one person
to give equal attention to many candidates si- 7. SHARMA (Dev Raj). Doctoral thesis in library
multaneously. and information science accepted by Indian
universities (1985-1989). C L IS o b s e r v e r . 7 ;
5. Joint guidance should be encouraged for in- 1992; 39-43.
terdisciplinary subjects.
8. SHARMA (Dev Raj) and SHARMA (D K). Doc-
6. The wasteful research-in-parallel should be toral theses in library and information science
avoided by regular bibliographical control of accepted by Indian universities (1990-1992).
Ph.D. theses in LIS accepted in different uni- C L IS O b s e r v e r . 9; 1992; 39-45. HGFEDCBA
versities and/or exchange of information relat-

60 A nn L ib Sci D oc