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National Librarian’s Day in India,

12th August

Dr. S R Ranganathan (1892-1972) Ranganathan, born on 9 August 1892, came from a moderate background in British-ruled India. He was born in the small town of Shiyali (now known as Sirkazhi), in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. Ranganathan began his professional life as a mathematician; he earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in mathematics from Madras Christian College in his home province, and then went on to earn a teaching license. His lifelong goal was to teach mathematics, and he was successively a member of the mathematics faculties at universities in Mangalore, Coimbatore and Madras (all within the span of five years). As a mathematics professor, he published a handful of papers, mostly on the history of mathematics. His career as an educator was somewhat hindered by a handicap of stammering (a difficulty Ranganathan gradually overcame in his professional life). The Government of India awarded Padmashri to Dr. S.R. Ranganathan for valuable contributions to Library Science.
Five Laws of Library Science: • Books are for use • Every reader his/her book • Every book, its reader • Save the time of the reader • A library is a growing organism
August 12th is being celebrated as National Librarian’s Day in India, in remembrance of national professor of library science, Dr S R Ranganathan (1892-1972), who had spearheaded library development in India.

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Remembering the Father of Library Science in India


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Libraries play a vital role in the development of our country. Dr S. R. Ranganathan, who is known as “Father of Library Science in India”, was the first person who identified the real need of libraries and library science education in our country.

Dr. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan was born on August 9, 1892 Shiyali, Madras and died on September 27, 1972 in Bangalore. India celebrates August 12 as Librarians Day in his honor. Dr Ranganathan’s teaching career started with the Government Arts College, Mangalore in 1917 and then he joined Presidency College in 1921 and taught Mathematics and Physics. In January 1924, Dr S.R.R. left Presidency College and took charge of the Madras University Library as University Librarian. He left for England in September 1925 to get trained in librarianship and completed 6- month Certificate Course in Library Science. During this time he visited many libraries and he found that the system of classification, cataloguing etc., was not scientific and there was a tremendous scope for the improvement in Library Science. On his return from London in 1925 he took immediate steps to reorganize the University Library to attract more readers and classified its contents on scientific basis. Dr SRR has written on almost all aspects of Library Science such as Library Administration, Classification, Cataloguing etc; he published Colon Classification in the year 1933 which is based on Hindu Philosophy and also developed the concept of Librametry that is application of statistics to Library Science. He started the Library Science Department in the year 1931 at Madras University; because of his interest Madras became the first State in our country to enact the Madras Public Library Act (1957) and he persuaded the UNESCO to establish the Documentation Centre in New Delhi. Dr S.R.R. was later invited to Banaras Hindu University and Delhi University. He was a Professor of Library Science in Delhi University from 1947 to 1955; Chairman of the UGC Library Commission and started DRTC (Documentation Research and Training Centre) at Bangalore to promote research activities in the field of Library and Information Science. He died on Sept. 28, 1972.

The best way to remember Dr S.R. Ranganathan is to publish good books, start well-equipped libraries in Schools and also popularize the Library movement in rural areas.

Dr S.R. Ranganathan formulated “Five Laws of Library Science”; they are:

1. Books are for use

2. Every reader has his/her book

3. Every book has its reader

4. Save the readers’ time

5. Libraries are growing organizations

Dr. Ranganathan received D. Litt from Delhi and Pittsburg Universities in recognition of unique service to Library Science and was also the recipient of Rao Sahib and Padmashri awards from the Government of India. He founded the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science in 1963. He was also nominated as National Research Professor of Library Science in 1965. Let’s remember this renowned Academician-cum-Librarian and restore the glory of Libraries even in the Internet Age to see that the Youth Readers use these resources to the maximum extent.

 
 
 

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