Paper Q

CONSTRU CTIVE DESTRUCTION OF A PERIODICAL

Studies the peculiarities of the All India Re-porter (Law), which is a multiple periodicalpublication which ceases to exist after itsvolume for a year is completed and broken intodifferent constituent periodical publicationsgoing into different places in the classifiedsequence. The Chart of Changes given in sec-tion 71 shows the play of all kinds of com-plexities in the case of this periodical pub-lication.

Contractions used in this article:

AIR:: All India reporter

CC Ranganathan (S R), Colon classifi-cation, ed 6, 1960.

CCC = Ranganathan (S R), Classified Cata-logue Code, ed 4, 1958.

1 INTRODUCTION

In section n 7 02 Kinds of complexities" ofperiodical publications, CCC gives the follow-ing as complexity of kind 63:-

"63 Multiple-periodical of which the issuescontain two or more periodicals with or with-out a generic title, but has to be split into in-dependent periodicals, either as sociated ornot, on the completion of a volume. II

V 7 N 4 Dee 7960

S RM N

RANGANATHAN ANDRAMAKRISHN AN

La bo u r Com mi ssion er s li brcr y. Madras

In the cas e of this complexity, obvious ly theoriginal host multiple-periodical ceases to existas an entity after the completion of each volume.For, each of its constituent periodicals shouldbe classified, catalogued, and bound separatelyas if the ir is sues did not appear tog ether withinthe cover-pages of the issues of one and samehost multlple-periodical. As the host periodicalceases to exist as a volume, there can be nomain entry for it. Perhaps, it is for this reasonthat CCC does not give any rules in its chapter76 in regard to such a multiple -periodical.

11 Example 1

However, Rarrganat han had himself designeda periodical with this kind of idiosyncracy. Itwas the Abg il a (that is, Annals, Bulletin, andGr a nt ha lav a of the Indian Library Association).This multiple -periodical started its career in1949. The first volume was completed in 1950;the second in 1952; and the third in 1953. Thus,three volumes were published in five years.There was a definite binding instruction thateach volume of the Abg ila should be split upinto three volumes entitled respectivelyAnnals of the Indian Library Association, Bul-letin of the Indian Library Association, andthe Granlhalaya of the Indian Library As s octa ;t ion - Aila, Bila and Gila. Each volume ofeach of these three periodicals had its own title-page, contents pages, and index pages, together

117

QH RANGANATHAN 8. RAMAKRISHNAN

formmg the preliminary pages. In spite of de-finite binding instructions, some libraries havepersisted in not splitting the host multiple -peri-odi ca l but binding it as if it were un s pl itt ab le ,These three constituent periodicals were asso-ciated periodicals since they all have one andthe same body as their sponsors and also coverone and the same class of knowledge.

12 Example 2

A more formidable example of complexityof "kind 63" is the All India Reporter (AIR).It is a multiple-periodical publication. It isa monthly. Each of its issues for V46 (195':1),for example, carries 21 different paginationscorresponding to its 21 constituent periodicalpublications. The page-numbering is conti-nuous for each constituent periodical publica-tions. In certain rnont hs there may not be anypages for one or other of the constituent peri-odical publications for the reason that there wasno matter to be printed in that issue. All the21 constituent periodical publications belong tothe same basic class, namely IIZ Lawn. Butthey do not all belong to the same compoundclass - that is, their specific subjects are alldifferent. In other words, they are not all onthe same class of knowledge. Therefore, these21 periodical publications are not even asso-ciated periodical publications. For, the defini-tion of an Associated Periodical is found asfollows in section 21m3 of CC:-

Two or more pe r iod ica l publications on thesame class of knowledge, sponsored by oneand the s a rr.e corporate body or other agency.

Accordingly, the 21 constituent periodicalsets will not occupy consecutive places in theclassified arrangement. They will get scat-tered to different places. The next sectiongives the relevant part of the main entry ofeach of the 21 constituent periodical publica-tions.

2 EXTRACT FROM THE MAIN ENTRIESOF THE 21 CONSTITUENT PERI-

ODICAL PUBLICATIONS

Z2anNiA II India reporte r: Statute and a rt ic le re-

ferencer.Z2m2, N1AII India reporter:J ou r na l

Z 2y 7nN1All India reporter: Supreme Court

118

Z2.928nN1All India reporter: Indian acts.

Z 211y7nN1A II India reporter: Madras

Z 212y7nN1All India reporter: Ke r al a .

Z 213y7nNAll India reporter: Mysore.

Z 216y7nN1All India reporter: Andhr a Pradesh

Z231y7nN1All India reporter: Bombay

Z 237y 7nNiAll India reporter: Rajasthan.

Z243y7nN1All India reporter: Punjab.

Z245y7nN1All India reporter: Himachal Pradesh.

Z247y7nN1All India reporter: Jammu and Kashmir.

Z252y7nNiAll India reporter: Allahabad

Z 255y7nN1All India reporter: Madhya Pradesh.

Z2791y7nN1AII India reporter: Tripura.

Z2792y7nNiAll India reporter: Mani pu r ,

Z271y7nN1ALLIndia reporter: Orissa.

Z273y7nN1All India reporter: Patna

Z275y7nN1A Ll India reporter: Calc utta.

Z 277y 7nN1All India reporter: Assam.

3 BINDING

Each of the above 21 constituent periodicalpublications has its own title page and otherpreliminary pages. Each admits of being boundas a separate volume. This should be done.Then only each volume will go along with theother materials on its host subject. Forexample, the volume's on Madras will get shelvedwith the other reports of the Madras High Courtsuch as Indian Law reports: Madras series. andother books and periodicals bearing on the lawsof the State of Madras. Bringing all of them to-gether in this way is necessary to satisfy theLaws of Library Science. Similar remarks apply,for example, to the other volumes got out of themultiple-periodical All India reporter.

An lib $C

CONSTRUCTIVE DESTRUCTION OF PERIODICAL

4 WRONG INSTR UCTION

04

However, wrong instruction is implied inthe binding direction given in the issue entitled

111959 Annual Index" in the foLLowing form:-The printed blocks below are the actual size

of the respective volumes of AIR 195'9 and maybe cut out and pasted on the volumes.

1

AIR

1959

(VOL 46)

STATUTE & ARTICLES

REFERENCER

ACTS

JOURNAL

2

AIR

1959

(VOL 46)

SUPREME COURT

3 4

AIR AIR

1959 1959

(VOL 46) (VOL 46)

ALLAHABAD ASSAM

ANDHRA PRADESH BOMBAY

5

AIR

1959

(VOL 46)

CALCUTTA

HIMACHAL PRADESH

JAMMU & KASHMIR

KERALA

V 7 N 4 Dee 1960

6

AIR

1959

(VOL 46)

MADHYA PRADESH

MADRAS

MANIPUR

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Q4 RANGANATHAN & RAMAKRISHNAN

7 8

AIR AIR

1959 1959(VOL 46) (VOL 46)

MYSORE PUNJAB

ORISSA RAJASTHAN

PATNA TRIPURA

41 Presupposition of the Instructions

The above binding instruction implies clubb-ing together the volumes of two, three, or fourconstituent serials. The volume on the SupremeCourt is the onLy exception to this. This set ofbinding instructions evidently presupposes analphabeticaL arrangement of the volumes in alibrary. They had been designed as early as1922 when the All India reporter started. Atthat time classified arrangement had not comeinto use in the world. But. classified arrange-ment is now becoming the ruLe. Not only theLaws of Library Science recommend it; butalso the new generation is getting accustomedto it; in some countries, it is also demandingit.

5 CHOICE

The question, then, is "Is the Indian Libraryprofession to change over to the classifiedarrangement as its own discipLine requires,or is to continue to be guided by the bindinginstruction of the pubLishers?" An advocatesaid, "We do not experience any difficultyeither in the alphabeticaL arrangement or inthe cLubbing of the vo lu rne s reLating to differentStates as indicated by the binding instructions. •The trouble here is the old old trouble. Thisuser has never seen any other arrangement, norhas he seen the volumes of the'ALl India r epo r J

ter bound separateLy for each State. His testi-

mony is not therefore well informed. AsCutter had put it the readers believe in whatthe librarian accustoms them to do. It istherefore up to the profession to decide theproblem on its merits. It has been decidedalready in favour of classifiea arrangementby most of the progressive libraries. TheBritish national bibliography and the Indiannational bibliography are already po pu la r is ingclassified arrangement by their very makeup. It is onLy a question of time' for the rea-der's preference to be vocaLLy expressed.As a matter of tact, the editoriaL in theJanuary issue of the Journal part of the1953 volume refers to a demand by the usersfor the Reports of each State to be issued outseparateLy.

6 PROBLEM OF SIZE

Even with alphabetical arrangement, bindinginstructions of the ALLIndia reporter couldhave indicated the binding of the volume of eachState separately. That would have given free-dom to adopt either alphabetical arrangement ora classified arrangement. Why has it deniedthis freedom? Evidently. it is the number ofpages needed to make a volume fill the hand asit works. The following statement of pagesthrows light on this.

Part Number of pages

Statutes & ArticleRefere.ncer 16 + 320

Acts 6 + 130

Journal 4 + 144

120

Total nu mb e r ofpages

620

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CONSTRUCTIVE DESTRUCTION OF PERIODICAL 063

Part Number of page s

Supreme Court 56 + 1400

Allahabad 44 + 800

Andhra Pradesh 36 + 672

Assam 12 + 240

Bombay 32 + 560

Calcutta 38 + 800

Himachal Pradesh 4 + 40

Jammu &. Kashmir 12 + 144

Kerala 22 + 416

Madhya Pradesh 28 + 432

Madras 32 + 560

Manipur 6 + 48

Mysore 16 + 272

Orissa 12 + 208

Patna 26 + 592

Punjab 34 + 648

Rajasthan 18 + 304

Tripura 6 + 56

Total number ofpages

1456

1552

844

1476

1106

1126

1066

61 Long View of the Problem

A Long view of this probLem of clubbing wilLeasily disclose its unheLpfulness. In 1959 wehad a combination of Statutes and ArticlesReferences, Acts and JournaL. In the year 1954the combination was Journal, Acts, SupremeCourt and Ajmer. It can be easily seen that thebinding of each voLume separateLy wiLLproveheLpful in the Long run.

62 Overcoming the DifficuLty ofThinness

A more heLpful method of making a boundvoLume fill the hand, if it is necessary, is tobind together the volumes of one and the sameState for a few consecutive years. In thismethod there is, of course, the difficuLty of

V 7 N 4 Dee 1960

maintaining the issues unbound for two or threeyears. This administrative difficulty s houl dnot however be given weight as against theultimate heLpfuLness to the user.

63 Extreme Case

In the extreme case of Manipur the volumefor the year consists only of 54 pages. It willtake perhaps five years to get a sufficient numberof pages to make a bound volume of its reports.But this is not peculiar to law reports. Alibrary has to deal with hundreds of pamphlets.It has a method for maintaining them. There isno reason why pamphlet-size law reports shouldnot be maintained in a similar way.

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Q7 RANGANATHAN lor RAMAKRISHNAN

7 CHANGES IN AIRThe All India reporter appears to illustrate all

the 18 possible irregularities listed in Rule 702of the CCC. In addition, it gets split up both

into a periodical and a serial. The chart in thefollowing section brings out the various changesthat have been coming over this periodical pub-licat ion :,

71 Chart of Changes

oN0'~

AjmereAllahabadAndh r a -Andh r a Pradesh -AssamBhopalBilaspur -BombayCalcuttaDacca -East PanjabFederal CourtHimachal PradeshHyderabadImperial ActsIndian ActsJammu and KashmirJournalKerala -KutchLahoreLower BurmaMadhaya Bh a r atMadhya Pradesh -MadrasManipurMysoreNagpurOrissaOudhPatnaPepsuPeshawar -Privy CouncilRajasthanRangoonSaurashtraSindStatues lor Articles (Refe r e nc e r )Supreme CourtTravancore CochinTripuraUpper BurmaV'indhy a Pradesh

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CONSTRUCTIVE DESTRUCTION OF PERIODICAL Q82

The AIR has made history evert in respectof its very birth. The first voLume to be pub-Lished was the one for 1922. This did not carrya voLume number. In fact there was no number-ing of the vo lu rne s tiLL 1943. The voLume for1943 was given the voLume number 30. Appar-ently one would expect the number of this voLumeto have been mereLy 22. How did it become 3D?This was due to the projection of the AIR into apr e vn at al period extending upto and inclusive of1914. The voLumes for 1914 to 1921 were pub-

The chief cause for the variation in the number lishe d between 1927 and 1929. it is difficult toof parts is a constitutional one. It depends on the know how the epoch 1914 was chosen for thenumber of High Courts and the still higher courts first year of AIR. There does not seem to havein the country or pertaining to the country. This been any particular constitutional event duringin its turn has changed with the number of consti- that year. However the AIR has decided totuent States in the country from time to time. In have 1914 as the year of its retrospective birth.the constitutional history of India, we have had re-constitution of States quite often. Two of themajor re -c on st itu.t io ns occurred shortly after thedissection of India and later in the formation ofvirtually linguistic States. The effect of these isreflected in the chart of section 71. To see theeffect, one must examine the parts of the AIRprevaiLing in 1951 or 1952 and 1957 or 1958 on-wa r ds , More than one year is suggested ineach of these cases because it takes a fewyears for a constitutionaL change getting properlyreflected in the parts of AIR. Another cons t i >

tutionaL change affecting the number of partsof AIR relates to the courts higher than the HighCourts. Originally there was only the PrivyCouncil. Then we had the Privy Council andthe Federal Court functioning as two higherjudiciaL tiers. Currently there is onLy theSupreme Court.

72 Steady Parts

The onLy steady parts are those coveringALLahabad, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

73 Maximum and Minimum

The minimum number of parts in anyoneyear was 11. This occurred in the years 1914and 1915. The maximum number of parts hasbeen 29. This occurred in the year 1954.

74 CasuaL Factor

75 Transition Years

A constitutional change does not occur on 1January. Therefore in certain years parts ofthe AIR cor r e s porid ing to an old constitution asweLLas the next new constitution naturally co-exist. An outstanding example of this is theco-existence in 1950 of parts corresponding tothe Privy Council, the Federal Court, and theSupreme Court. Such a co-existence is alsocaused by the inevitable time-lage in the cov-erage of a court by the AIR.

V 7 N 4 Dee 1960

8 HISTORY

81 Rertorspective Birth

82 Numbering of Volumes and Parts

At any rate by 1943, the AIR had taken a firmdecision not to claim an ea r lie r year of birth;for, its vo lu rne s began to carry volume nurnberfrom that year onwards. The nu mber of thevolume for 1943 was fixed as 30. This impliesthat the number for the volume for 1914 is 1.This decision has been confirmed by the pub-licat ion of the retrospective volume-year tabLein a few issues from 1914 onwards. In addi-tion to volume -numbering, the first cover pageof each individual issue carries also the pro-gressive number for the issue. It is caLLedpart number. For example, the is s ue forDecember 1959 carried the part number 552.This figure shows that apparently the numberof the parts also had its retrospective originin part one of 1914. It is not po s s ib le to verifythe accuracy of this numbering. Because thenumber of a part occurs onLy in the wrapper ofits issue and once the volume is completed andbound after discarding the wrapper of all theissues, there is not trace of the number ofthe part anywhere in the volume. There is al soanother peculiarity. The title page and indexof a volume is usually brought out as if it werea separate issue but it carries no part number.

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083 RANGANATHAN

83 March of Policy

831 New POlicy in 1927

We have already shown in section 81 that oneoft he early, but unusual items of policy decisionwas made in 1927 to carry the publication backto 1914. In the Journal of 1953 the Editors wrotewith gratifications as follows: "AIR is a unique

. journal which aims to supply the entire currentcase-law of a vast sub-continent consisting of27 States in addition to the cas e of the SupremeCourt within the limits of one single publication.There is no similar journal in the whole of theworld including America. n

832 Notes of Unreported Cases

In 1955, the AIR experimented with Not e s ofUnr eport ed Cas es . However this was abandonedin the very next year on the g round that suchnotes without judgernent were of no use. How-ever, this experiment had added a new kind ofcomplexity in the AIR in respect of its indexes.In all years but 1754 and 1955, each part carriesits own index. But there is only a consolidatedindex for all the parts in 1954 and 1955. Thereason given for the consolidated index is asfollows:

RAMAKRISBNI\N

"In view of the fact that the Notes of Unre-ported Cases is not divided according to courts,it would be more useful to have a consolidatedsubject index so as to avoid the necessity ofreferring to two indexes even for cases of thesame court. n

833 Consolidated Index

The absence of individual indexes to the partscauses difficulty. Where is the consolidatedindex to be placed? If the constituent parts ofevery year had only a consolidated index, wewould have had no freedom to separate the consti-tuent parts as we have done. We should havetreated all the constituent parts of a year as ifthey form a single multi-volume entity. We havealready seen how unhelpful this should be. There-fore, it is a happy decision of the editors toabandon the policy of consolidated index.

834 New Documentation Aid

In 1959 the AIR has added a new constituentpart with the title "Statutes and Articles Refer-enc e r ", This is a very helpful documentationaid.

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