The document discusses the major departments of a library, including acquisition, processing, circulation, reference, periodicals, and maintenance. The acquisition department is responsible for selecting, procuring, and receiving new materials for the library. The processing department classifies and catalogs new materials. The circulation department manages lending materials to users and tracking loans. The reference department assists users in finding information. The periodicals department handles serial publications. And the maintenance department ensures materials are properly shelved and stored.

1. Assignment
Topic: Major Departments of a Library
Submitted to,
Mr. Anwarul Islam
Lecturer
Department of Information Science & Library Management
University of Dhaka
Submitted by,
Rajib Hossain Khan
Roll no.: 38
3rd year 5th semester
Department of Information Science & Library Management
University of Dhaka

2. Major Departments of a LIBRARY
The libraries have been in existence from the beginning of the civilization or better still from the
time when man learnt the art of recording & communicating ideas. Libraries provide the
incentive to the development of educational, social, & cultural activities. According to Dr. S. R.
Ranganathan, “Libraries are not mere store houses; they are springs from which knowledge
flows out to irrigate the wide field of education & culture”.
The word ‘Library’ comes from the Latin word ‘Libraria’, which means a place where books &
other writings are kept.
According to UNESCO’s Terminology of Documentation, “Library is an organized collection of
printed books & periodicals or of any other graphic or audio-visual materials & the service of a
staff to provide & facilitate the use of such materials as are required to meet the informational,
research, educational or recreational needs of its users”.
ALA Glossary of Library & Information Science defined ‘Library’ as, “A collection of materials
organized to provide physical, bibliophic, & intellectual access to a target group with a staff that
is trained to provide services programs related to the information needs of the target group”.
Major Departments of a Library: A library as an organization has to perform some basic
functions to serve their customers. To perform this function a library proceeds with some
separate departments. These are shown in a diagram,
Library
Acquisition Processing Periodical Circulation Reference Maintenance

3. Acquisition Department: It is an administrative unit of a library which performs acquisition
services. Acquisition is the process of obtaining books & other documents for a library.
The functions of this department are as follows,
 Selection
 Procurement
 Choosing the supplier
 Ordering
 Receiving the order
 Accessioning
 Passing the bill
Selection tools: Document selection is the rock on which library service is built. The ultimate
aim of selection is to make the most effective use of the allotted fund.
Some selection tools aid the selection process. These are,
1. Reviews (Book Review Digest)
2. Publishers Catalogue (Publisher’s Weekly)
3. National Bibliography (Bangladesh National Bibliography)
4. Subject Bibliography (Library Literature)
5. Trade Bibliography (Books in Print)
6. Indexing Journal (Cumulative Book Index)
In this edge of automatic environment libraries are now handling their acquisition activities by
using pre-written or customized software. As www.amazon.com is the largest database for
shopping reading materials, it is used for online acquisition.
Other renowned websites are:
I. www.booksbank.com
II. www.bookclubs.mcgraw-hill.com
III. www.booksinprint.com

4. Processing Department: This department transforms the collection of documents into
serviceable units. It is also called by Technical Department.
The main functions of this department are:
I. Classification
II. Cataloguing
Classification: Classification determines the place of a book on the shelves. After receiving the
documents from the order section, the following jobs are performed for classifying the books;
 Duplicate checking
 Determining specific subject
 Allotting class number
 Assigning book number
 Assigning subject headings
 Checking the class number & subject heading
 Maintenance of staff manual
Some of the prominent classification schemes used in libraries are;
I. Dewey Decimal Classification
II. Universal Decimal Classification
III. Library of Congress Classification
IV. Colon Classification
Cataloguing: The readers seek documents through various approaches such as author, title,
series, translators, editors, etc. The catalogue helps the reader in this context.
The following are the jobs which are involved in cataloguing;
 Preparation of the main entry
 Preparation of shelf list
 Preparation of added & reference entries
 Label pasting
 Label writing & assigning location marks
 Checking of the catalogue cards
 Alphabetization of cards
 Card filing
 Cataloguing updating work
 Releasing work

5. As a result of automated cataloguing users can search through OPAC & computerized catalogue
now-a-days.
Circulation Department: This administrative unit is in charge of all the activities connected with
lending items to members of the user group. Circulation refers to the activity of a library in
lending books to borrowers & keeping records of the loans.
Most often circulation work includes;
 Registration of members
 Lending of documents
 Charging of over dues
 Reservation of books
 Renewal of books
 Maintenance of records
 Maintenance of statistics
 Inter-library loan
 Miscellaneous jobs
Charging: Charging is the recording of the loan of an item from the library collection, including
identification of the item & the borrower with the date due.
There are different types of charging systems in use. They are;
 Day book system
 Ledger system
 Machine charging system
 Dummy system
 Temporary system
 Card system
 Browne charging system
 Newark charging system
 Ranganathan’s readers ticket
 Computerized circulation control system
In barcode environment, the user of information can submit their ID cards & the information
professionals can scan ID card & activate the borrowing status. If the computer allows the
borrowing facilities, the document is scanned for accession number & is issued to the user.

6. Reference Department: The department of a library which supplies information requested by
library users & assists users in locating needed information, using all available reference
sources, & performs other information services.
The functions of this department in a library may be;
 Routine work
 Enquiry work
 Ready reference service
 Guidance
 Compilation of study aid materials
 Long range reference service
Digital reference services like e-mail, web forms, FAQs, text-based chat, video conferencing, are
now replacing conventional reference services. Now-a-days a reference librarian is available
online to chat with library users for any query regarding library via instant message, which is
possible due to Meebo software.
Periodical Department: The administrative unit of a library which has charge of serial
publications & may be responsible for ordering, checking, cataloguing & preparing for binding.
Generally periodicals in a library are acquired by following means;
I. Acquisition through gifts
II. Acquisition through exchange
III. Institutional membership
IV. Acquisition through subscription
As a consequence of subscription, periodical department has to perform the following roles;
 Invite quotations
 Selection of periodical publication
 Appointment of vendor
 Making order
 Payment
 Recording the receipt of periodicals
 Display of the periodicals
 Accessioning
 Binding
Due to the blessings of e-journal, periodical department are now providing online access to
their e-journal collections which are subscribed from INASP PERI, HINARI, AGORA, OARE, etc.

7. Maintenance Department: This administrative unit is responsible for continuous monitoring or
the proper stocking, arrangement & display of books on the shelves in the stack rooms & taking
care of them.
Broadly speaking, maintenance works include the following work to be done on regular basis;
 Dusting & cleaning of shelves
 Shelving of new books & returned books
 Shelf study & shelf rectification
 Identifying damaged books
 Shifting & resifting books
 Assistance to readers
 Stock verification
 Maintenance of book tags
 Maintenance of shelf list
RFID technology helps the maintenance department in order to manage the stock as the RFID
tags carry the relevant data of a stock.
Library Activities: The departments mentioned above perform libraries operational activities.
On the basis of these operational activities, library provides the following services;
 Reading room facilities
 Documentation services
 Current Awareness Services (CAS)
 Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI)
 Indexing & Abstracting services
 Translation services
 Bibliographic services
 Reprographic services
 Reference services
 Internet services
 Lending services
In this edge of information society the libraries are now adopting ICT’s in a large scale to
provide the right information to the right user at the right time and being transformed as an
information institution.