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.
Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan (S.R.R.) 12 August 1892 – 27 September 1972) was a mathematician and librarian from India. His most notable contributions to the field were his five laws of library science and the development of the first major faceted classification system, the colon classification. He is considered to be the father of library science, documentation, and information science in India and is widely known throughout the rest of the world for his fundamental thinking in the field.
His birthday is observed every year as the National Librarian's Day in 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. As a mathematics professor, he published papers mainly on the history of mathematics.
In 1923, the University of Madras created the post of University Librarian to oversee their poorly organized collection. Among the 900 applicants for the position, none had any formal training in librarianship, and Ranganathan's handful of papers satisfied the search committee's requirement that the candidate should have a research background. Ranganathan was initially reluctant to pursue the position (he had forgotten about his application by the time he was called for an interview there). To his own surprise, he received the appointment and accepted the position in January 1924.
At first, Ranganathan found the solitude of the position was intolerable. In a matter of weeks, complaining of total boredom, he went back to the university administration to beg for his teaching position back. A deal was struck that Ranganathan would travel to London to study contemporary Western practices in librarianship, and that, if he returned and still rejected librarianship as a career, the mathematics lectureship would be his again.
Ranganathan travelled to University College London, which at that time housed the only graduate degree program in library science in Britain. At University College, he earned marks only slightly above average, but his mathematical mind latched onto the problem of classification, a subject typically taught by rote in library programs of the time. As an outsider, he focused on what he perceived to be flaws with the popular decimal classification, and began to explore new possibilities on his own.
In 1957, Ranganathan moved over to Bangalore. He did not plan for any institutional organization of documentation activities. But it happened that Bangalore began to be industrialized and was in its ascendancy towards metropolis. Ranganathan was helping as an adviser, the INSDOC, the Planning Commission, and the University Grants Commission. However, soon Ranganathan's solitude ended. Many young librarians of Bangalore began to gather around him. Informal discussions and research investigations were carried out to publish books and other research papers. The crowning point of Ranganathan's activity was in the founding of the Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC), Bangalore under the auspices of the Indian Statistical Institute in 1962. The main functions of this Centre are centred around research and teaching activities in library and information science.
In 1965, Ranganathan was recognised by the Government of India and made him the National Research Professor in Library Science. This was also an honour to library science and librarianship. At that time, only four other National Research Professors were there. They were Dr. C.V. Raman (Physics), S.N. Bose (Physics), P.V. Kane (Law), S.K. Chatterjee (Literature and Linguistics). Ranganathan was honoured by Delhi University and Pittsburgh University by awarding Doctor of Letters degrees in 1948 and 1964. Ranganathan received these awards and honours in simple and humble stride and advised his students to do hard work saying that reward would come in appropriate time. He used to say God has chosen me as an instrument, the honour done to me should act as an incentive to the younger generation to devote their lives wholeheartedly to library science and service. Most of his salary as National Research Professor and the royalties on his books were donated to the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science (1961).
While he himself contributed to the field of library service, science and profession, he catalysed a human movement whose manifestation is witnessed even today. He wrote sixty books and 2000 articles.
The Five laws of library science is a theory that S. R. Ranganathan proposed in 1932, detailing the principles of operating a library system.
Many librarians from around the world accept the laws as the foundations of their philosophy.
These laws are:
- Books are for use.
- Every reader his or her book.
- Every book its reader.
- Save the time of the reader.
- The library must be a growing organism.
Notable work:
- Prolegomena to Library Classification
- The Five Laws of Library Science
- Colon Classification
- Ramanujan: The Man and the Mathematician
- Classified Catalogue Code: With Additional Rules for Dictionary Catalogue Code
- Library Administration
- Indian Library Manifesto
- Library Manual for Library Authorities, Librarians, and Library Workers
- Classification and Communication
- Headings and Canons
- Comparative Study of Five Catalogue Codes
The Government of India awarded Padmashri to Dr. S.R. Ranganathan
The Government of India awarded Padmashri to Dr. S.R. Ranganathan in 1957 for valuable contributions to Library Science.
Ranganathan on a 1992 stamp of India
Wishing you all Professional Librarian Friends and Library Science Faculties
"HAPPY LIBRARIAN DAY"
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._R._Ranganathan
https://www.isibang.ac.in/~library/portal/Pages/SRRBIO.pdf
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