Scientific documentation in Sri Lanka (Ceylon): Prolegomena to co-operation and co-ordination

Znt. Libr. Rev. (1974) 6, 125-145

Scientific Documentation in Sri Lanka (Ceylon): Prolegomena to Co-operation and Co-ordination

H. A. I. GOONETILEKEt

The nature and purpose of documentation has been pithily defined by S. C. Bradford, a pioneer constructive practitioner, in his Documentation (1950) :

The art of documentation is the art of collecting, classifying and making readily accessible the records of all kinds of intellectual activity. It is the process by which the documental& is enabled to put before the creative specialist the existing literature, bearing on the subject ofhis investigation, in order that he may be made fully aware of previous achievements in his subject, and thus be saved from the dissipa- tion of his genius upon work already done. It is the result of the realization of the gap between the making of a record in any sphere of activity and the placing of that record in the hands of the individual who can use it as the basis of new achieve- ment.

It is pertinent to remember that while documentation emerged from librarianship and the need for bibliographic organization at specific levels, and is still irretrievably linked to librarianship in its widest sense, it possesses enough attributes and dimensions of its own to qualify for essential differentiation. They are now, more or less, twin arts, to a great extent complementary and interdependent. With this brief definition, however familiar, as the overture, it is now apposite to dwell on the practical necessity of documentation in the newly awakened countries of Asia, as the only means of avoiding wasteful effort in the progress of intellectual activity and social advance.

KEY ROLE OF SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

In recent years there has been much discussion at national and regional levels of the present unsatisfactory situation of library and documentation services in the Asian region in relation to their role in educational, social and economic development. It is insufficiently recognized that

t The Library, University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

126 H. A. I. GOONETILEKE

libraries played an important part in the programmes of economic, cultural and social development, and that resources invested in libraries were a form of capital investment which paid high dividends. The function of libraries and documentation centres as promoters of economic and social growth needs to be appreciated with greater awareness than now, and an improvement in the quality and scale of bibliographic organization would provide an impetus to research in the sciences and technology, and facilitate the application of this research to development. Development can be seriously retarded in an environment where documentation activity is both sluggish and conservative. The specialized information needs of the community need to be catered for at a consistently dynamic level. In countries where, quantitatively, education has made giant strides, qualitatively a tendency to lose ground in development is noticeable when the supply of information and specialized data does not possess character and system. It is vital, therefore, for libraries and documentation centres within a country to be organized in such a manner as to make co-operation and co-ordination possible on a national, regional and international basis.

Almost every country in Asia has been engaged, since achieving independence, in breaking free of the constraints of a colonial economy and its inevitable stagnation, and working towards a new system in which economic iniquities and social inequalities would be eliminated. To this end development planning has been adopted as an instrument of policy. With a view to effecting rapid economic and social transformation, all national decisions in the area of development have to be guided, stimulated, co-ordinated and directed by government bodies or agencies. Calculated and deliberate control of the economic performance and a continuous assessment of the objectives reached, so that policies and plans may be refashioned, have become the prevailing modes of developmental activity. In the pursuit of an accelerated economic growth, each Asian country has been haunted by its own special dilemmas, and faced by agonizing choices between the imperatives of traditional passion and twentieth-century realism, the strident clamour of the under-privileged and the affluent whine of the privileged, the congenial dictates of agriculture and the alluring sophistications of modern technology and industry, The resolution of these conflicts has been taking place in a climate, not particularly well informed, and conversant with the facts, so that wrong decisions bring in their wake fresh disasters and problems. It is in the amelioration of these tensions and a proper evaluation of their influence on human performance that documentation can provide a steadying hand, leading to dispassionate assessment, crucial to intelligent solution in turn. The vast flood of literature, in printed and other pseudo-

SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION IN SRI LANKA 127

print forms emanating from a host of institutions, threatens to pollute the intellectual environment, so that it is more than ever necessary to seek the cutting edge of selective documentation out of this enveloping cultural smog. The sweeping tides of science and technology have in recent years freed man both physically and intellectually from the bonds of earth, and have extended his knowledge and his powers dramatically. But this explosive growth brings in its train previously unknown problems both material and spiritual, which tend to erode cherished beliefs and sharpen alienation and rootlessness. Questions of public policy arise from the pace of unprecedented economic growth, and these social questions go a-begging because only documentation can close the gap. For example, many of the present litany of ills which afflict developing countries are the consequence of conventional economic development in recent decades. Today’s urgent demands cannot be attended to in yesterday’s limited paradigm-there has to be continuous reanalysis and re-assessment of the development process, and long periods of dispassionate constructive thought so that social concerns can be dissected with true understanding. The desperate urgency for development per se is played upon all the time by competitive considerations stemming from the cultural, political and social environment. The basic question “Economic development at what social cost”? goes virtually unasked. For the process of decision-making in poor countries to produce conclusions that are substantially correct, the highest degree of relevant data needs to be supplied at every stage of preliminary survey and feasibility study. The milieu in which decision-makers appraise and initiate projects must be a highly informed one, in which all possible alternatives are explored, so that the interacting package of political, social, economic, technical and cultural forces is truly dismembered and recognized. In these tasks the arts of documentation have a pre-eminent role in creating an accurate built-in consciousness of all the inter- locking considerations that can make or mar the final decision.

Unfortunately concepts of economic and social planning have not yet been introduced into the field of libraries. No Asian country has yet attempted to build up a national library system which could integrate the resources and services of all types of libraries. It is important for the best possible use ofscarce resources to be effectively planned in the area of librarianship as in any other field of human activity. No library can stand alone and be self-sufficient. Co-operation and co-ordination between libraries leads to the strength of the whole system becoming available to any one sector in it. This is the only way to increase the potential of the resources to make a distinctive impact on social and economic development. In the field of documentation, with which we are concerned, the


special libraries serving a specialized body of users in a specialized subject, are an important segment of the total national resources. Besides their own special functions they have a national responsibility which they cannot evade. The institutional means to encourage this responsibility and to draw it out have to be established. In recent years there has been a wholesale expansion of specialist library and documentation services as an integral support at the different stages of activity in research, design, production, business and management. This is an essential corollary to the developments in science, technology and industry. The rapid drive for industrialization and greater economic productivity, and the corresponding increase in the intellectual output and scientific man-power have led to the development of documentation techniques at increasingly optimum and expeditious levels.

Arising from what has been said before, the swift rate at which countries in the region have risen from a dependent to a sovereign status, and the increased tempo of progress the world over owing to the scientific explosion now taking place have also made it imperative that the solutions to a country’s problems must be worked out indigenously rather than by experts in a foreign location. Local and foreign experts have to put their heads together to postulate and solve its peculiar problems. Each country must, therefore, build up its own scientific and technical potential appropriate to its conditions, and not rely solely on the scientific knowledge created abroad. Unfortunately the rate at which this potential has developed has been quite inadequate to match the needs and aspirations of the people. Here again documentation has to step in to organize and co-ordinate on a comprehensive basis the nation’s scientific effort to bend it relevantly towards required progress under the umbrella of the development plan.

Before leaving this rather laboured background, which has drawn heavily on hackneyed and borrowed jargon, it is appropriate to consider the special role of social science documentation, neglected, as it has been, largely due to the preponderance of the spectacular claims of science and technology. This almost one-sided pursuit of documentation in the area of Big Brother Science has led too often to technological man disturbing the ecosystem. Social science documentation restores the balance and will help to bring the essential environmental and social issues into proper focus. This is all the more necessary in our part of the world if it is not to succumb to the siren voices of claimant materialism. The rather conservative norms, values and marginal outlooks of scientific documentation have to be viewed in the more critical and radical perspectives which social science documentation affords. National science policies and natural-physical scientists hold the centre of the stage when the


exigencies of social life give great urgency to the solution of complex and volatile problems to which only social science has the answers. Com- parisons with the pure and applied sciences have always been to the disadvantage of the social sciences, characterized as imprecise, accom- modating too much variety of approach, relying on value judgements, or unable to speak with one voice. On the other hand the contribution of the social sciences to forecasting in relation to the economy and society in which man lives is not negligible. Social sciences are not sciences of salvation, but languages of discourse, helping to reduce tensions and build consensus, and the variety within the disciplines contributes to a better understanding of the society under discussion. The difficulty of attaining objectivity or ideology-free judgements should not stand in the way of utilizing the models which social science research strives to con- struct. The alarming gap between public policy and advancing science and technology can only be bridged by the healing intercourse of data from hitherto disparate disciplines, needing to be yoked together in the common service of a sanguine and many-splendoured society. With these prefactorial formulations out of the way, we can now proceed to discuss the actual situation of documentation activity in Ceylon, and the urgency to attend to its wants in the future.

PRESENT STATUS OF SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION IN SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka, the beneficiary of a western-style system of State administra- tion and education for over a hundred years, and blessed with almost 85% literacy, and a booming educational industry, boasts of a wide assortment of libraries at the school, public, university, technical, special and government department levels. The development of special libraries and documentation units in the last two decades has been especially marked, but these libraries serving essentially documentation needs function independently of each other, and there is in consequence a frittering away of resources through wasteful duplication. The pattern of development since independence in 1948 indicates a great and gather- ing emphasis in the sectors of agriculture and industry. Old research institutions have been strengthened and new research institutes established from scratch in these two areas, but the heavy capital investments have not resulted in commensurate dividends in the sphere of development, as the application of scientific techniques for improvement and modernization has been hampered by the lack of an efficient system for the dissemination of technical data and information, The existing special libraries, though well-staffed and funded, are rather limited in


their operations. Since innovation and change are the order of the day, the importance of alert information and documentation services cannot be over-emphasized-old institutions must be elevated to a sterner view of their obligations, and both old and new types of special library must be linked together purposefully so that access to both national and international materials can be provided in the shortest possible time.

The main research activities are carried out on the five campuses of the University of Ceylon, and in the research institutes operating under different Ministries. The major research institutes are the Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (CISIR) ; the Tea Re- search Institute (TRI); the Rubber Research Institute (RRI); the Coconut Research Institute (CRI); the Medical Research Institute (MRI); the Fisheries Research Station; the Ayurvedic Research Institute; Central Agricultural Research Institute; the Irrigation Department; the Highways Department, the Forest Department, and the Industrial Development Board (IDB). In addition to these there are a multiplicity of Public Sector Boards and Corporations in the field of agriculture and industry which conduct specialized research, germane to their operations. Up to the last 10 years or so, scientific progress was achieved through the isolated advice and facilities offered by various government institutes which tended to operate in water-tight compart- ments with little or no co-ordination or orientation in terms of an overall national plan. Research and technical training facilities remained at a very low ebb, and no great leap forward was possible in these circum- stances. In line with current trends in most developed and developing countries, however, the Government has in the last four years assigned the responsibility for promoting and co-ordinating research activities to a particular Minister, At first this responsibility rested with the Minister of Housing and Scientific Research, and now rests with the Minister of Industries and Scientific Affairs. To advise the Minister on the conduct and support of research and the planning and execution of scientific development programmes in the national interest as well as to generate a genuinely indigenous process of inquiry, a high-powered National Science Council was set up by Act of Parliament in 1968. The main functions of this body are :

(1) To advise the Minister on (a) the application of science and scientific research to development for the benefit of the community; (b) the co- ordination of research in the various fields of scientific endeavour, so that work can be directed into the correct developmental channels; (c) the steps to be taken to maintain an adequate supply of scientific and technical persons in relation to the country’s needs; (d) matters of scientific policy, including the allocation of funds for research.

(2) To initiate, promote and intensify fundamental and applied research with a


view to developing the economic resources of the country and promoting the welfare of the people.

(3) To collect and disseminate information relating to scientific and technical matters, and to publish reports, periodicals and papers on matters within its purview.

(4) To establish and maintain liaison with scientific organizations and workers outside the country.

(5) To do all other things in the furtherance of science and scientific research.

This was a step in the correct direction of stimulating scientific research and providing an impetus to technical progress at a national level. It was not long before the need to have a documentation centre satisfying modern requirements became clear. A vast quantity of scientific and research work by Ceylonese and foreign experts had been produced in the two decades since independence and there was, in addition, an even greater output of material in the form ofreports, records, lists, plans, maps, surveys,feasibilitystudies, memoranda, etc. produced by departments, corporations and private organizations involved in agricultural and economic development and planning. This inchoate mass of documentation lies buried in the rapidly forgotten files of government and private agencies, and is not known to workers in related fields. A well-organized information network became indispensable in this context, and the Government of Ceylon became alive to the urgency for the establishment of a national scientific and documentation centre to fuse and exploit the rich veins of information in the service of national development.

NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION CENTRE (CEYLON)

In a letter dated 3 October 1968, the Department of Foreign Aid, Ministry of Planning requested UNESCO to provide an expert, as early as possible, to advise on the establishment in Ceylon of a “National Library and Documentation Centre (Scientific)” under the apparent aegis of the Ministry of Scientific Research and Housing, to which the Consultant, Mr L. E. Samarasinghe, Programme Specialist in the Department of Libraries, Documentation and Archives, UNESCO, Paris was assigned on his arrival for a three-week survey in December 1968. His report issued in Paris in March 1969 (Serial No. 1159/ BMS.RD/DBA) stressed the early need for such a Centre to co-ordinate existing resources of scientific and technical information in the country; to develop its own resources of information relevant to the needs and demands of present and potential users; to provide the related bibliographical, abstracting and indexing services in the conventional forms; to be a depository of all materials in the fields of scientific research,


especially those concerned with the planning and execution of national development programmes and projects at central and district levels; and to educate and train personnel for these specialized duties and res- ponsibilities. The structure, functions, services and development of the projected National Scientific Documentation Centre were set out in some sophisticated detail in the context of the existing facilities and resources in the country, which had hitherto been subject to no cen- tralized direction or professional co-ordination. The consultant was apparently unaware at the time of the imminent establishment of the National Library Services Board, and, in fact, deplored in his report the considerable retardation of library development in Ceylon due to the absence of systematic attention to specialized and economic planning of library and documentation services at the government and special institutional levels. His proposals for the centre were thus projected in the absence of a national library authority, and, more particularly, the continuing lack of a National Library serving the purposes of a Biblio- graphic and Documentation Centre. He had, therefore, no alternative within the framework of his terms of reference, but to recommend that the Centre be set up as a separate autonomous institution, co-operating with existing libraries, providing scientific and technical documentation to serve the interest of “science, industry, agriculture, and later medicine and social sciences”.

Among the objectives of the Centre, long overdue, were the following, and they are quoted here from the report, as they afford a good con- spectus of the raison d’tftre of documentation in the service of new nations, whether in the fields of pure, applied or social sciences.

(a) The co-ordination of the resources of the different specialized libraries existing in Ceylon, particularly those connected with agriculture, industry, and technology, which have a direct bearing on the economic development of the country.

(b) The acquisition and storage of all documents pertaining to scientific and technical development, which would be of interest to the country and the publication of subject lists on these topics.

(c) The establishment of contacts and agreements with similar centres abroad, so as to ensure the rapid availability of the information and documents necessary to the different sectors in the country in need of such information.

(d) The harmonization of the methods and techniques used in the different libraries in the country through the establishment of a training programme within the centre, which will be adapted to meet the present lack of qualified personnel for specialized libraries in Ceylon.

(e) The establishment of reference collections (periodicals and reviews) which will supplement collections existing in other centres and the development of such collections in subjects which are of particular interest in economic and social development.


(f) The organization of a modem Reprographic Service, which will enable the rapid diffusion to scientists and organizations of material in the form of photo-copies, micro-films, micro-fiches, etc.

(g) The establishment of the Translation Service where information in languages other than English could be translated and made available rapidly to persons needing it. The Translation Service will also establish contacts with centres abroad, which have files of articles which have already been translated into the English language.

(h) To be a national depository for reports on the scientific work of the nation, both published and unpublished.

(i) To be a channel through which the scientific work of the nation is made known and available to the rest of the world.

The above is an excellent basic statement of the essential aims and functions of a National Documentation Centre in the context of any newly emergent Asian nation.

The Government approved, at Cabinet level in October 1969, the proposal to set up the Centre, and provided a sum of money for the initial capital expenditure on the construction of buildings and installa- tion of equipment, as soon as project aid from the United Nations Development Programme (Special Fund) was assured. A Governing Board was to manage and supervise the working of the centre, in liaison with the National Science Council, whose Secretary-General would be a member of the Board. The Council visualized that certain preparatory projects would have to be undertaken with immediate effect, before a fully co-ordinated Documentation Centre was established. A small component of local staff to be recruited early would undertake these preliminary operations. Among the immediate objectives were the following :

(a) Survey ofexisting library resources, so that a co-ordinated information channel and feed-back system can become operative without much delay; (b) Survey of user needs and demands. These to be run concurrently with the development projects in progress; (c) Establishment ofa system for providing basic reprographic facilities.

Since the work of co-ordination and co-operation was to begin from scratch, an over-all co-operative effort was to be made to develop a documentation network structure within the framework of the already existing facilities and resources available. The existing special libraries and data centres were producing a variety of documentation aids, independently of each other, the value of which services was not being ade- quately recognized. Sheer economics and a rational approach should have dictated this from the beginning. The Centre, when in full function, was to be equipped to provide the following services: Document Procurement Service; Scientific and Technical Information Service;


Translation Service; Reprographic Service; National Science Library Service; Training in Documentation Service. Though the paper work had been done, no firm or practical ideas had emerged in the Ministry of Industries and Scientific Affairs, however, up to October 1971, though UNESCO had made a positive offer to fund its establishment, in accordance with the report, either as a national or regional centre. There was, in consequence, a real danger of this valuable aid lapsing and the Centre being lost to Ceylon, if quick and concrete proposals were not put up to responsible authorities. It was at this juncture that the Ceylon National Library Services Board stepped into the picture to re- juvenate the concept in greater depth and significance.

THE CEYLON NATIONAL LIBRARY SERVICES BOARD AND THE NATIONAL DOCUMENTATION CENTRE

The Ceylon National Library Services Board (CNLSB) was established in 1970, in terms of an Act of Parliament No. 17 of 1970, to serve as the principal institutional framework for co-ordinating and developing all types of libraries, bibliographical centres and similar bodies, especially those maintained with state funds. Under Part III, Section 14 of the Act, the Board was given wide powers to plan, assist and promote the organization and development of library services, at public, school, university, government and special library levels. Up to then, as has been seen, governmental library and documentation activities, especially had taken place in a rather haphazard, isolated, uncontrolled and even wasteful context. With the setting up of the Board as the principal library authority in the country, it was hoped that future development could and would be conducted with a greater regard for relevance, realism and rationale taking into consideration the state of the national resources, needs and finances.

The foremost task vested in the Board was the establishment and maintenance of a National Library for Ceylon, proposals for which had been in the air and on paper at Government level for nearly 15 years. The functions, objectives and scope of the National Library as envisaged by the Board are as follows. The functions of the National Library, acting as the principal legal deposit library in the country, will be to preserve the national culture; to develop all appropriate means, systems and procedures which will make available the total library resources of the nation for the benefit of the whole community; and to establish rela- tions with the libraries of other countries since no country is self- sufficient today. More particular primary purposes would be to collect, preserve, organize and develop a national collection of library materials


in all forms, including a comprehensive collection relating to Ceylon and its people; to serve as a national reference and research library; to compile the Ceylon National Bibliography and provide ancillary bibliographical services as required; to compile Union Lists of Serials and a Union Catalogue of Ceyloniana; to be the central inter-library loan authority both within the country and outside; to serve as a national bibliographic centre for the dissemination of information on a national and international basis, and to assist in general in the field of library co-operation and exchange; to serve as the National Documentation Centre in the field of pure and applied science, technology, industrial and agricultural research, social sciences and humanities; and to provide assistance to and co-ordination of all government libraries, whether Departmental, Institutional or Special. As the immediate objective of fulfilling the demands of a National Documentation Centre loomed large, the Board was attracted to the project of the National Scientific and Technical Documentation Centre (NSTDC) which had been hang- ing fire since 1969. On learning of the urgency of this important matter, the CNLSB resolved at its 15th meeting on 27 November 1971, on the advice of its National Library Committee, that, in its opinion, the offer by UNESCO to establish the NSTDC in Ceylon should be accepted and acted upon immediately, as further delay may result in Ceylon losing this valuable offer. The Board was further of the opinion that

(a) the NSTDC should form part of the activitives of the National Library of Ceylon; (b) the NSTDC should be administered and developed by the National Library with the advice and collaboration of the Government Institutes and Departments already active in the fields of scientific and technical documentation; and (c) the NSTDC will supplement, service and co-ordinate appropriate activities in these fields.

This stand was adopted in view of the organic connections that should exist between a National Library and a National Documentation Centre, and also stemmed from the positive advantages that would accrue to a developing country if the NSTDC was to be included as a major component of a National Library.

(a) Expedite the establishment of both the National Library and the NSTDC. (b) Reduce the recurrent expenditure needed for two institutions by avoiding

duplication of expenditure on identical services and equipment. (c) Enable Ceylon to draw on whatever foreign aid is available for capital

expenditure realistically. (d) Stimulate the immediate commencement of a co-ordinating library service

and bibliographic centre, by the preparation of Union Lists of Serials, Union Catalogues, National Bibliographies, Indexing and Abstracting Services, Current Awareness Lists, etc. .


(e) Make use of the National Library Authority under the Act of 1970 to manage and administer the institution efficiently.

(f) Ensure that the NSTDC would not be lost to Ceylon in the event of further delay.

These views were formulated with due care and deliberation, taking into account the desirability of providing such documentation services at an integrated national level, and also that a National Library serving the total needs of the community, from the specialist to the layman, would be in a better position to conduct the Centre under the umbrella of its co-ordinated and wide-ranging bibliographical and documentation activities, without reflecting poorly or detracting from the sphere of scientific and technical documentation contemplated by the National Science Council and its parent Ministry. It also recognized that the crafts of documentation whether in the fields of science and technology or the arts and social sciences are basically an extension of the techniques of librarianship and bibliographical control applied with greater system and pin-point elaboration. The Board was confident that all the functions and services of the NSTDC envisaged in the Consultant’s report could, therefore, be conveniently and more economically carried out in the framework of a National Library cum Documentation Centre, without deviating from or distorting in any way the desired objectives. The views of the Board were further buttressed by the observations of Dr 0. A. Mikhailov (Director, Division of Libraries, Documentation and Archives, UNESCO) who arrived in Ceylon in March 1972. He expressed himself in favour of the proposal to amalgamate the proposed NSTDC with the proposed National Library, even though the NSTDC should have precedence. He pointed out that while developed countries have national libraries and documentation centres as separate institutions, developing countries, just starting out, cannot afford the luxury of independent centres. He was aware of 45 countries in which amalgamated institutions existed with success. In the peculiar circum- stances of Ceylon, in the current financial situation and the acute scarcity of trained personnel, it would be wasteful, he contended, to plan separate Documentation Centres or operate the NSTDC outside the context of the National Library.

A series of discussions between officials in the three Ministries of Planning, Education, and Scientific Affairs, and CNLSB and National Science Council representatives took place in an attempt to re-activate the question of a Documentation Centre side-tracked since 1969, and to put it back on the rails in a new and realistic national setting. The amal- gamation proposals received scant attention from the Ministry of In- dustries and Scientific Affairs and the National Science Council, and


the view was maintained very strongly that the NSTDC should be administered as a separate unit by the National Science Council, though it could form one of a chain of special libraries, whose work could be co-ordinated by the CNLSB at a later stage when the National Library and Documentation Centre began to function in earnest. The attempt to have a single central institution covering all documentation activity in the national interest, pursued on valid, practicable, viable and economic grounds has not met with success. The Board still believes that such an integrated institution would be both economically advantageous and professionally rational. A National Documentation Centre should not serve a narrow clientele of specialists, but the needs of a wider group who wish to use the results of modern science and technology profitably have to be catered for as well. The Five Year Plan lays great emphasis on small-scale industry and agriculture, and documentation will have a beneficial impact on those connected with such activities. When public funds are used for the organization and operation of information services, the widest possible use has to be made of them, and any arcane or esoteric documentation practices have to be eschewed if there is to be any realistic commitment to progress on a broad economic and social plane.

The dialogue described above has not been without value. A fillip has been provided to the urgency for setting up the NSTDC, without any further delay. The National Science Council is offering the entire ground floor of its building, so that the setting up of the Centre can commence immediately on the lines of the preliminary objectives outlined earlier. It will be financed by an annual Government grant. The duration of the project (building and equipment) has been scheduled for 34 years, to commence 1 January 1974. Project budgets covering the UNDP contribution and the counterpart Sri Lanka Government contribution have been drawn up, With the coming into being of the NSTDC it is fer- vently hoped that a substantial beginning will be made on an effective and planned basis to secure the proper co-operation and co-ordination of all special library activity in Sri Lanka, now rather needlessly and ex- pensively dissipated over a wide spectrum of science and technology. Any further fragmentation of documentation services could be curbed, and the prevailing waste and duplication of effort, in the present impressive special library scene eliminated. Appendix II gives a List of Institutions and corporations likely to benejitfrom the services of the NSTDC.

THE NATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHIC AND DOCUMENTATION CENTRE

Having failed to influence the authorities responsible for the NSTDC


into accepting an integrated plan, which would have made the initial work of commencing the National Library easier, the CNLSB is now concentrating on the short-term objectives of a National Bibliographic Centre, which could assist the demands of social science documentation, and co-ordinate what activities exist in this area. In the absence of a National Council of Social Science Research and Documentation as in India and other countries, which maintains strong data libraries and documentation centres overseeing current research in the social sciences, besides promoting research and facilitating its utilization, the Board envisages building up a Documentation Centre which could supplement the existing resources besides serving as the co-ordinating nerve-centre. As the project for a full-scale National Library, with the scope and functions described earlier, would take many years to accomplish in the prevailing climate of economic stress, the objectives of a National Bibliographic Centre appear immediately attractive as a basic transi- tional phase in the establishment of a full-fledged National Library. The primary bibliographical and documentation projects devolving on such a Centre would be the following :

(1) The compilation of the Ceylon National Bibliography (C.N.B.) which has been done in the Department of National Archives from its inception in 1963. In this connection arrangements have reached finality for the C.N.B. unit, and the office of the Registrar of Books and Newspapers hitherto in the National Archives Department to be transferred and vested in the CNLSB. All printed materials received under the Printers and Publishers Ordinance would similarly be transferred, ensuring that the Centre became the principal legal deposit library. It is envisaged that the Ceylon National Bibliography would be published under the aegis of the CNLSB from the latter part of 1973.

(2) The compilation of the retrospective Ceylon National Bibliography (1885- 1962). The year 1885 marked the operation of the Printers and Publishers Ordinance for the first time in Ceylon.

(3) The compilation and maintenance of a Union Catalogue of non-fiction books in all fields of knowledge (excluding perhaps the obsolete) in the major libraries of Sri Lanka. The simple device to ensure the success of such a National Union Catalogue would be for each participating library to pre- pare an extra catalogue card for each non-fiction title. The benefits of such a Union Catalogue will be immeasurable for library co-operation, and savings released through non-duplication could be utilized to ensure more complete coverage of foreign materials. To attain completeness in such a Catalogue, already existing collections in libraries would have to be analysed on some realistic basis, though the task would be tedious and time-consuming. The Centre would have to assume the direction of this complex undertaking, taking into account the problems involved. The benefits of co-operative cataloguing and acquisition would be a valuable by-product.

(4) The compilation of a Union List of Serials in the major libraries of Sri Lanka. A Union List of ScientzJic Periodicals in Ceylon, recording a little over


4000 titles, was published in 1971 by the National Science Council. This is a useful basis on which to enlarge the scope of such a tool. A similar Union List of Periodicals in the Humanities and Social Sciences is being planned by the Board. This would provide an enormous boost to social science researchin thecountry.

(5) The compilation of other bibliographies, indexes, abstracting and current awareness services, especially in the field of social sciences and humanities.

(6) The compilation of a Register of Research in the Social Sciences (both retrospective and current). In this connection a Directory of Ceylonese Social Scientists would also be relevant as well as a Guide to Social Science Data Centres in Ceylon.

(7) Assist and stimulate national and international bibliographical projects, and to serve as an agency for promoting and maintaining national and international library co-operation. To co-ordinate inter-library loan operations both within and outside the country.

(8) In the capacity of a National Documentation Centre to organize and co- ordinate library services in all Departments of the Government, and government-sponsored institutions, and to disseminate information on a national and international basis. It would work in close collaboration with the proposed NSTDC in this area, without overlap.

(9) Besides providing the main services, in response to requests from a whole range of inquirers in the public and private sectors, as in the case of the NSTDC, the Centre will build up a collection of published and unpublished materials in whatever form issued by government departments or corporations, learned associations, committees, commissions or individuals, com- mercial firms, foreign agencies operating in Ceylon, and all contributions by scientists and scholars, whether Ceylonese or not, pertaining to Ceylon, whether published locally or outside. Copies of relevant theses presented to local and foreign institutes of higher education would also have to be obtained to complete a basic reference and research collection.

Current thinking encourages the setting up of such a Centre, on modest lines initially, in the premises of the National Museum Library in Colombo, the premier government reference library, which is also one of the four legal deposit libraries, along with the National Archives, the Ceylon University Library in Peradeniya, and the British Museum Library. In the last two or three years some significant and useful work in the field of indexing and reference services has been started in this Library, and both realism and common sense support the establishment of a Bibliographic and Documentation Centre in this appro- priately congenial environment. It is not difficult to foresee that it would stimulate the earlier fruition of a National Library, with the Centre as the fertilizing nucleus. If this plan was adopted, important economies, both professional and resource-wise, could be achieved. It is intended that the special concern of this Centre will be the social sciences, and it will ensure that increasing amounts of data will be made available to social scientists, and the data more effectively spread and utilized. When in full and extended operation it will certainly help to make sure that all


special and academic libraries function as part of a unified, well- planned and co-ordinated programme. Appendix I gives a List of Academic, Special, and Government Libraries which could co-operate in Biblio- graphical and Documentation Services, co-ordinated by a National Documenta- tion Centre; and Appendix III provides a Select List of Basic Reference Aids in Scient$c Documentation on Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

CONCLUSION

This paper attempts to sketch in rather an impressionistic and rambling fashion the laboured progress in an Asian country towards a proper appreciation of the role of documentation in modern economic and social progress, and the imperative need to avoid duplication and waste by the adoption of co-ordinated and co-operative schemes of service. As a catalogue of good intentions, at least, it should serve to spur the authorities to action. A total picture has not been possible, though the salient features have been highlighted. It is surprising that Sri Lanka despite an impressive record of education, an efficient and well-trained bureaucracy, an explosive rate of literacy, and long-standing intellectual tradition has failed as yet to exploit the tools and processes of modern documentation in her surge towards increasing the gross national product. The sad inadequacies in bibliographic organization arise from insufficient awareness of the importance of the ways in which literature both of the sciences and the social sciences can be used to attack prob- lem areas and the endless frontiers of knowledge. The foregoing exposi- tion on current moves towards co-operation and co-ordination also provides an object lesson to other countries in the same queue. It is dis- tressing how an urgent national undertaking can be stifled in the em- brace of an unimaginative and slothful bureaucracy, be swamped by interminable paperwork, or more frustratingly be bogged down in the fashionable morass of committees, memoranda and reports. A seminar can often turn into an excruciating academic exercise inhibiting action and impending implementation, when concrete realistic solutions have already been discerned. The cool voice of professional reason is too often drowned in a chorus of fawning assent.

Poor countries, struggling to survive in the cut-throat world of twentieth-century commerce and national prestige, cannot afford to emulate affluent Western nations, and plan on lavish foundations and build on grandiose blue-prints. It is often the path of pragmatic wisdom, tempered by the fires of necessity and plain economy, to choose the less sophisticated scheme or the short-term objectives of a project to produce immediate beneficial results, instead of burying one’s head in grandilo-


quent memoranda or getting befogged by five-year pipe dreams. When well-administered, well-stocked libraries of standing are available in a country, it is possible, by intelligent manipulation and re-ordering of their resources and with the minimum inputs into the prevailing infra- structure, to bring about a comparatively radical transformation of laissez-faire documentary activity. In Ceylon it is possible to exploit almost immediately the raw materials of documentation through the existing framework, geared to a higher pitch. The problems inherent in the stated objectives are sometimes also of such magnitude and com- plexity that they cannot be overcome except by national and international effort. In times of economic stress and acute foreign exchange crises moreover, the things of the flesh are bound to take precedence over the affairs of the intellect. No attempt should be spared, therefore, in the present, to develop procedures and devices for making existing information quickly available. It is the noblest endeavour of the science and art of documentation to ensure that new discoveries are not lost, and that all further research takes place at the farthest point on the frontier which has been already sign-posted. This is as true in the field of social science as it is in the sciences, and all Asian countries ignore it at their peril.

.Note The views expressed in this paper are personal to the author, and are

not to be taken as representing in toto the official stand of the CNLSB of which he is a Member, or the University of Ceylon of which he is the Librarian on the Peradeniya Campus. In the interpretation of current trends, however, he has relied heavily on the following sources :

(1) UNESCO. Meeting of Experts on the National Planning of Library Services in Asia. Colombo, Ceylon 11-19 December 1967. Final Rebort. Paris, 26 April 1968. (COM/CS/l90/6).

(2) UNESCO. Ceylon. .National ScientiJic and Technical Documentation Centre. Con- sultant’s Report. 3-24 December 1968. Paris, March 1969. (1159/BMS/RD/ DBA) .

(3) Ceylon National Library Services Board. Board Documents, Minutes and Memoranda. Colombo, 1971-73.

(4) National Science Council. Scientific and Technical Documentation Centre. Memorandum. Colombo, 1972.

APPENDIX I

.List of Academic, Special, and Government Libraries which could co-operate in bibliographical and documentation services, co-ordinated by a National Docu- mentation Centre.

(1) University of Ceylon Library, Peradeniya Campus (includes Main, Engineering, Medical, and other Faculty Libraries).

142 H. .4. I. GOONETILEKE

(2) University of Ceylon Library, Colombo Campus (includes Main, Medical and other Faculty Libraries).

(3) University of Ceylon Library, Vidyodaya Campus, Nugegoda. (4) University of Ceylon Library, Vidyalankara Campus, Kelaniya. (5) University of Ceylon Library, Katubedde Campus, Moratuwa. (6) Central Library, Agriculture Dept, Peradeniya. (7) Research Library, Central Bank, Colombo 1. (8) Technical Library, Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, 363,

Bullet-s Road, Colombo 7. (9) Technical Library, Coconut Research Institute, Lunuwila.

(10) Library, Tea Research Institute, St Coombs Estate, Talawakelle. (11) Library, Rubber Research Institute, Dartonfield Estate, Agalawatte. (12) Library, Fisheries Research Station, Colombo 3. (13) National Museums Library, Edinburgh Crescent, Colombo 7. (14) Colombo Public Library, Edinburgh Crescent, Colombo 7. (15) Library, Hardy Institute of Technical Training, Gal Oya. (16) Ceylon Technical College Library, Colombo 10. (17) Library, Irrigation Dept, Bullers Road, Colombo 7. (18) Labour Dept, Library, Lower Lake Road, Colombo 7. (19) Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch) Library, Reid Avenue, Colombo 3. (20) Ceylon Medical Library, McCarthy Road, Colombo 7. (2 1) Undergraduate Library, Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai. (22) Archaeology Dept, Library, Edinburgh Crescent, Colombo 7. (23) Planning Secretariat Library, Ministry of Planning and Employment,

Colombo 1. (24) National State Assembly Library, Colombo 1. (25) Industrial Development Board, Library and Documentation Unit, 16 Gregory’s

Road, Colombo 7. (26) American Center Library, Galle Face Court, Colombo 2. (27) British Council Library, Galle Road, Colombo 3. (28) Medical Research Institute Library, Colombo 8. (29) Library, State Engineering Corporation, 48 Sri Jinaratna Road, Colombo 2. (30) Commerce Dept Library, Colombo 2. (31) Petroleum Corporation Library, Colombo 3. (32) Ayurvedic Research Institute Library, Nawinna. (33) Lever Bros (Ceylon Ltd) Library, 254 Grandpass Road, Colombo 14. (34) Library Dept of Census and Statistics, 6 Albert Crescent, Colombo 7. (35) Library, Geological Survey Dept, Sri Jinaratna Road, Colombo 7. (36) Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation Library, Torrington Square, Colombo 7. (37) Jaffna Central College Library, Jaffna. (38) Ministry of Education Library, Colombo 2. (39) Forest Dept Library, Colombo 2. (40) Survey Dept Library, Diyatalawa. (41) Geological Survey Dept Library, Colombo 2. (42) Meteorological Dept Library, Bullet-s Road, Colombo 7. (43) Government Analyst’s Dept Library, Bullers Road, Colombo 7. (44) Aquinas University College Library, Colombo 8. (45) Salt Corporation Library, Colombo 2. (46) Health Dept Library, Colombo 1. (47) Inland Revenue Dept Library, Colombo 1.


(48) Atomic Energy Authority (Ceylon) Library, 46 Gregory’s Road, Colombo 7. (49) Shell Co of Ceylon Ltd Library, Chartered Bank Building, Colombo 1. (50) Post and Telecommunication Dept Library, C.T.O., Colombo 1. (51) Insurance Corporation Library, Colombo 2. (52) Police Dept Library, Colombo 1. (53) Ceylon Steel Corporation Library, Oruwala, Athurugiriya. (54) Ceylon Law College Library, Hulftsdorp, Colombo. (55) Peoples Bank Library, Union Place, Colombo 2.

APPENDIX II

List of institutions and Corporations likely to benejt from the Services of the JVational Scient$c and Technical Documentation Centre

(1) Agrarian Research and Training (3 1) Department of Archaeology. Institute. (32) Department of Highways.

(2) Atomic Energy Authority (Ceylon) (33) Department of Marketing. (3) Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation. (34) Department of National Museums. (4) Ayurvedic Research Institute. (35) Department of Small Industries. (5) Building Materials Corporation. (36) Eastern Paper Mills Corporation. (6) Bureau of Ceylon Standards. (37) Fisheries Corporation. (7) Central Agricultural Research (38) Fisheries Research Institute.

Institute. (39) Forest Department. (8) Ceylon Bulbs and Electricals Ltd. (40) Geological Survey Department. (9) Ceylon Cashew Corporation. (41) Government Analyst’s Department.

(10) Ceylon Cement Corporation. (42) Industrial Development Board. ( 11) Ceylon Ceramics Corporation. (43) Irrigation Department. (12) Ceylon Cycle Industry Ltd. (44) Medical Research Institute. ( 13) Ceylon Electricity Board. (45) Meteorological Department. (14) Ceylon Hardboard Corporation. (46) Ministry of Education. ( 15) Ceylon Institute of Scientific and (47) Ministry of Planning and

Industrial Research. Employment. (16) Ceylon Leather Products (48) National Milk Board.

Corporation. (49) National Salt Corporation. (17) Ceylon Mineral Sands Corporation, (50) National Science Council. (18) Ceylon National Library Services (51) National Textile Corporation.

Board. (52) Paddy Marketing Board. (19) Ceylon Oils and Fats Corporation. (53) Paranthan Chemical Corporation. (20) Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. (54) River Valley Development Board. (2 1) Ceylon Plywood Corporation. (55) Rubber Research Institute. (22) Ceylon Shipping Corporation. (56) State Development and (23) Ceylon State Hardware Constructional Corporation,

Corporation. (57) State Distillery Corporation. (24) Ceylon Steel Corporation. (58) State Engineering Corporation. (25) Ceylon Sugar Corporation. (59) State Fertilizer Corporation. (26) Ceylon Tourist Board. (60) State Film Corporation. (27) Ceylon Transport Board. (61) State Fisheries Harbour (28) Ceylon Tyre Corporation. Corporation. (29) Coconut Research Institute. (62) State Flour Corporation. (30) Department ofAgriculture. (63) State Gem Corporation.


(64) State Graphite Corporation. (65) State Pharmaceuticals

Corporation. (66) State Plantations Corporation. (67) State Printing Corporation. (68) State Timber Corporation. (69) State Trading Corporation. (70) Tea Research Institute, (7 1) Teacher Training Colleges.

(72) Technical College, Colombo. (73) Technical Colleges, Institutes and

Polytechnics. (74) University of Ceylon (Peradeniya,

Colombo, Vidyodaya, Vidyalankara and Katubedde Campuses).

(75) Water Resources Board. (76) Weaving Supplies Corporation.

APPENDIX I I I

Select list of basic reference aids in scient$c documentation on Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

(1) Sultan Bawa, M.U.S. (1953). List of the ScientiJic Periodicals in th Libraries ofCeylon. 143 pp. Colombo. Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science. Grouped in 19 sections. Superseded by:

(2) Senadhira, M.A.P. (1971). Union List of Scientific Periodicals in Ceylon; compiled for the Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science. General Research Committee. Colombo: National Science Council. 328 pp.

A little over 4000 titles are recorded for 48 libraries. This project was begun in 1967 with UNESCO assistance on the basis of a questionnaire distributed to participating libraries. Needs to be revised, errors, gaps and omissions made good, and a more comprehensive coverage achieved. Many Social Sciences periodicals are included.

(3) The Ceylon .NationaZ Bibliography, 1 (l), (Jan. 1963)-; Nugegoda (Ceylon) National Bibliography Branch, Dept of National Archives,

1963-(in progress) Monthly. An authoritative bibliographical record of current Ceylon publishing in

Sinhala, Tamil and English, based on the materials deposited with the Registrar of Books and Newspapers, under the Printers and Publishers Ordinance (No. 1 of 1885). At the beginning it was rather irregular in appearance, and in fact no issues between April 1963-December 1963 were published. It now appears monthly, but unfortunately over a year late. No annual cumulations have been issued so far.

(4) U.S. Library of Congress. American Libraries Book Procurement Center. New Delhi. Accession List: Ceylon, 1 (l), (March 1967)-; New Delhi, 1967-(in progress) . Quarterly.

Arranged alphabetically. Includes books, non-book materials and serials. A cumulative list of serials, cumulative author index, and cumulative subject index are found in the last issue each year.

(5) Amarasinghe, N. (1971). Theses Presented for Higher Degrees of the University of Ceylon (1942-1971). A classajkd list with author and title index. 35 pp. Peradeniya: University of Ceylon Library.

Lists in alphabetical order of subjects 114 theses accepted for post-graduate degrees of the University of Ceylon from inception to December 1971.

(6) Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research. Technical Library. (1972). Directory of Scientijc research projects in Ceylon--1970. 297 pp. Colombo: C.I.S.I.R.


(7) Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research. Technical Library. Current Technical Literature, I( 1). (January 1966) . . . in progress.

A useful classified current indexing service to articles in periodicals, books, pamphlets, standards and specifications, etc. received in the C.I.S.I.R. library.

(8) Ceylon Periodicals Index; compiled by V. B. de Silva. (1969), 1 (l), December 1969-; Colombo: The National Museum Library, Dept. of National Museums, (in progress). Bi-monthly.

A pioneer undertaking which supplies a long-needed reference tool. Indexes articles in English and Sinhala periodicals published in Ceylon and received through the Office of the Registrar of Books and Newspapers. Arrangement is by UDC with adaptations. Covers all articles in learned journals and those of potential research value in others. Annual cumulations in separate Sinhala and English sections with cumulative subject and author indexes. Tamil periodicals have not been indexed so far.

(9) Ceylon Periodicals Directory. Compiled by V. B. de Silva. (1971). Colombo: National Museum Library.

The first comprehensive guide to the periodical press in Ceylon. In three separate parts: I, Sinhala; II, Tamil; III, English. Covers all serial publications received in the Museum Library with a frequency of at least once in two years. In three sections : Alphabetical list of periodicals; classified list of periodicals; and publishers and their journals. There are separate annual supplements to each language part.

(10) Ware, Edith W. Bibliography on Ceylon; (Henry Field ed.) (1962). 181 pp. Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami Press.

Books and articles in alphabetical order of subjects, and within each subject group alphabetically by author. Two main sections: General, and Natural History. Approx. 7000 entries.

(11) Goonetileke, H.A.I. (1970). A Bibliography of Ceylon. A systematic guide to the literature, on the land, people, history and culture published in Western languages from the sixteenth century to the present day. Zug (Switzerland) : Inter Documentation Com- pany, 2 volumes (lxxx, 408 pp.; xi, 409-865 pp.). Reprinted 1973.

Covers over four and half centuries of writing on Ceylon in 16 Western languages, principally English, published in Ceylon and outside. The substantive core of the work is oriented towards the social sciences and humanities. Books, pamphlets, articles, government publications, theses, etc. are included. Covers the printed record only, and 11630 entries are classified in 30 main sections, with profuse sub-divisions. Complete bibliographic descriptions are provided, with annotation where necessary. Author index and full introductory material and tables. To be continued in five-yearly supplementary volumes. Ch 2 : Reference works pp. 10-53, documents comprehensively the entire field of reference literature (bibliographies, catalogues, directories, manuals, gazetteers, indexes, etc.) relating to Ceylon.