Cataloguing of Indic Names in AACR- 2 (A Study)

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The present works covers the Sociological investigation on different aspects of the Indic names-of-persons, from linguistic point of view. It includes the whole country except the seven States in the North-East. The names selected for the study are those who flourished after the turn of the centry (1900). The Sociological Study has enabled to formulate the rules of cataloguing in conformity to AACR 2. In addition, guidelines have also been generated to help the users of AACR. The Accessions List-South Asia has been critically examined in the rendering of Indic names. It is found that 6.1% mistakes have occurred. It is hoped that this book wil be of use to Sociologists, anthropologists, and libary Scientists.

Kaushik, Devendra Kumar (born 1949) Scientist "E" and Head, Research and Development Facilities at the Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre (Desidoc), Delhi. He holds Ph. D. in Library and Information Science and M. Sc. in Physics. An alumni of the Florida State University, Tallahassee (USA), he had worked on the com- plexities of the Indic names as a part of his dissertation for the Master of Science degree. Afterwards, he further carried out the research in the subject. A versatile and experienced person, Dr. Kaushik has worked in the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi; Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; Bureau of Indian Standards; and Reasearch Centre Imarat, Hyderbad. He has contributed several articles in professional journals. He gave talks on Delhi television on different aspects of librarianship. In addition, he contributed to newspapers and magazines. He is life member of the Indian Library Association (ILA), New Delhi; Indian Association of Special Libraries and Information Centres (IASLIC), Calcutta; and Academy of Library Science and Documentation (ALSD), Hyderbad.

It was during 1985-86, while I was a student of Master of Science in the School of Library and Information Studies at the Florida State University, Tallahassee (USA) that I came across a few serious inconsistencies in rendering the Indic names-of-persons in the catalogue of the University Library. These were brought to the notice of Dr. Doris H. Clack, then Professor and teaching cataloguing, in the School. She advised me of taking up the subject as a part of my Master's degree dissertation. As time at my disposal to investigate the problem, was merely less than 4 months, and sufficient interaction with all categories of persons from various linguistic belts was not there in a small city like Tallahassee, it was not possible to cover all aspects of the subject. Nevertheless, I was able to submit the dissertation, which was well appreciated by Dr. Clack and others. Unfortunately, she passed away several years before the present work has come in its final shape.

My experience of the dissertation made me fully confident that I could further go deep into the subject. After a few years time, I vigorously carried out my task of collecting the requisite material from different parts of the country, and including major minorities. I also located more research papers on the subject. My working in DRDO too helped me immensely in actively coming in direct contact with persons of different linguistic regions. In addition, my frequent travelling to different parts of the country, by train as well as by air enabled me in establishing good contacts with persons of various cultures. My visits to the offices of Sikkim, Andamam and Nicobar, Lakshwadeep, etc. in New Delhi brought further clarity on their naming systems. The collectived data was scientifically analysed and was given the final shape of this book. It is hoped that this work will be effectively useful to the cataloguers, bibliographers and indexers.

India is a land of great diversity from the point of view of culture, with its society stratified into a large number of religious, ethnic and linguistic groups. These linguistic and religious groups settling down in different parts of the country had adopted different practices of naming their members. With the passage of time, due to several factors, further changes had occurred. In the present scenario, so many diverse practices of naming are in use that even within a given linguistic/ ethnic area more than one practice is discernible. During the ancient and medieval times, names-of-persons belonging to these groups had largely consisted of single words derived from Sanskrit, and where they were made up of more than one word, the words were mutually qualifying, and complimenting each other with none of them standing intelligible or distinct on its own. Names so derived and considered as structurally unitary pose no major problems for the cataloguers and bibliographers.