A  Tribute to Padmashree Shiyali Ramamitra         Ranganathan on Librarian Day

 

 

Growing up

• Born on August 9, 1892 in Shiyali (present day Sirkazhi) Madras, India
• Father: Ramamrita Ayyar, Mother: Seethalakshmi
• First child and first grandchild of both maternal and paternal parents
• LIFE SPAN: 1892-1972.

Education

• Madras Christian College (Madras): Mathematics BA 1913, MA 1916l
  • Teachers College (Saidapet): Teaching License 1917
  • University of London, School of Librarianship: Honors Certificate 1925

A Few Achievements:

• First librarian at Madras University 
• Responsible for the reorganization of Indian Libraries
• Founder of the Madras Library Association 
• Founder of the Documentation Research and Training Center in BangalorelCo-founder Indian Library Association  

Contributions to Library Community:

• The term “Library Science”
• Library Administration and Management  Reference Service
• The Five Laws
• The Colon Classification

Positions Held 

• Member Imperial Library Committee (1932-1934

 • Committee on National Central Library (1948) 

• International Committee Of Library Experts, United Nations (1948) 

• Faculty, UNESCO International School on Public Librarianship (1948) 

• Advisory Committee of INSDOC, New Delhi (1951) 

• International Committee on Bibliography of UNESCO (1951-1953) 

• Board of Studies in Library Science, Osmania University (1960)                                            

  Secretary

 • Lunch Club, Presidency College, Madras (1922-1923) 

• Mathematics and Science Section, Madras Teachers' Guild (1922-1923) 

• Madras Library Association (1928-1948) 

• Library Service Section of All Asia Educational Conference, Benaras (1930)

 • Indian Adult Education Association (1949-1953) 

• FID committee on general classification. (He was also the Chairman of the FID Committee) (1954-1964)

President/Chairman 

• President, Indian Library Association (1944-1953)

•     Chairman, Documentation Committee of Indian Standards Institution (1947

 •    Vice President, FID (1953-1956)

 •    Vice President, Indian Adult Education (1953) 

•      Chairman, FID Committee on General Classification. (He was also the Secretary of the FID Committee) (1954-9164)

 •   President, Madras Library Association (1958) 

•       Chairman, Library buildings , fittings and furniture committee of the Indian Standards Institution (1958) 

•     Vice President, FID (1958-1961) 

•   Chairman, Library Committee University Grants Commission, New Delhi (1958-1959) 

•   Chairman, Review Committee on Library Science, University Grants Commission (1960) 

•   Chairman, Library Science Courses Committee, University of Madras (1960) • Chairman, Expert Committee on Library Science, Banaras Hindu University (1960) 

•   Chairman, Committee for Library Science Course, Mysore University (1960) 

 •   Chairman, Preservation of Documents Section, Indian Standards Institution, Kanpur (1961) 

• Chairman, Committee to draft the Library bill for Mysore State (1962)

Founder

 • Professor B. Ross endowment in Mathematics at the Christian College, Madras (1925)

 • Abgila (1949) 

• Library Research Circle, Delhi (1950) 

• Delhi Seminar in Library Science, University of Delhi (1950)

 • FID Committee on General Classification (1954)

 • Annals of Library Science (1956)

 • MP Library Association (1958)

 • Documentation Research and Training Center, Bangalore (1962) 

• Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science (1963)

 • Library Science with a Slant to Documentation (1965)

Editor 

• Editorial Board, Modern Librarian (1937-1947) 

• Editorial Board, Indian Librarian (1947)

 • Abgila , Indian Library Association (1949-1953) 

• Associate Editor, Libri (1951) 

• Annals of Library Science (1956-1963)

 • American Documentation (1959)

 • Library Science with a Slant to Documentation (1965-1972) Consultant

 • UNESCO for preparing the place of machinery in literature search (1950) • Jaffna Public Library (1952) 

• Library Development Plan for Kerala State 20

Positions held in Conferences/Seminars

 • President, Pudukkotta Library Conference (1926) 

• Local Secretary, All India Public Library Conference held in Madras (1927) • President, First Library Conference of Central Provinces and Berar (1946) • President, All India Adult Educational Conference, Mysore (1948) 

• President, All India Library Conference, Nagpur (1949) 

• President, Gwalior Library Conference (1950) 

• Secretary, Seminar on Literature for Neoliterates, Okhla, Delhi (1953)

 • Director, Seminar on Social Service Research on Libraries (1959) 

• President, Bengal Library Conference at Nawadwip (1959) 

• Director, UGC Seminar on Work flow from publisher to reader - workflow in college and university libraries (1959) 

• Chairman, Indian Library convention, Delhi (1959) Chairman, Documentation Section, Second Indian Standards Convention, Hyderabad (1959)

 • Director, Govt. of India, Seminar on School Libraries, Bangalore (1962) 

• Director, Govt. of Andra Pradesh Seminar (1962) • Director, National Seminar , DRTC, Bangalore (1963)

 • Director, MWF - Masters' course and T, Th and PhD course, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (1964) 

• Chairman, International Study Conference on Classification, Elsinor, Denmark (1964) 

• Director, International Seminar on Colon Classification, Rutgers University, USA (1964) 

Honours/Awards

 • Rao Sahib Govt. of India (1935) 

• D.Litt (Honoris causa), Delhi University (1948) 

• Honorary Fellow, Virginia Bibliographic Society (1951)

 • Patron, Delhi Library Association (1954) 

• Honorary member, Indian Association of Special Libraries and Information Centres (1956)

• Padmashree , Govt. of India (1957) 2

• Honorary Vice President, Library Association, London (1957) 

 • Honorary Fellow, International Federation for Documentation (1957)

 • D.Litt (Honoris causa), University of Pittsburgh, USA (1964)

 • National Research Professor for Library science, Govt. of India (1965) • Honorary Fellow, Indian Standards Institution (1967) 

• Margaret Mann Award, American Library Association (1970)

 • Grand Knight of Peace , Mark Twain Society, USA (1971) 

He published over 50 books and 1,000 papers on all aspects of library science. In addition, he founded and edited three periodicals:

• A bgila,
• The Indian Library Association Annals, Bulletin,
• Granthalaya

General Works

• Five Laws of Library Science (First Edition in 1931). 
• Education for Leisure (First edition in 1945). 
• Preface to Library Science (First edition in 1948). 
• Library Service for all (First edition 1965).
• Library Organization and Library System 
• Model  Library Act (First edition in 1935).
• Post-War Reconstruction of Libraries in India (First edition in 1944). National Library System: A plan for India (First edition in 1946). 
• Library Development Plan for India (First edition in 1950)
• Library Legislation, A Handbook to Madras Library Act (First edition in 1953). 
• Education and Library System of the Nation (First edition in 1971).

Book Selection 

• Library Book Selection (First edition in 1952). 

Classification

• Colon Classification (First edition in 1933)
• Prolegomena to Library Classification (First edition in 1937).
• Library Classification: Fundamentals & Procedures (First edition in 1944). 
• Elements of Library Classification (First edtion in 1945).
• Classification and International Documentation (First edition in 1948). Classification, Coding and Machinery for Search (First edition in 1950). 

Cataloguing 

• Classified  Catalogue Code (First edition in 1934).
• Dictionary Catalogue Code (First edition in 1945). 

Library Administration

• Library Administration (First edition in 1935). 
• Library Organization (First edition in 1946).
• Library Manual (First edition in 1951).

Some interesting facts about S.R.R.

• Workaholic, spent hours in the library; even during his leisure hours

• Had a stammering problem which he gradually overcame during his professional life

 • Initiated the first graduate course in Library Science in 1948, in Delhi University 

 •In spite of the good salary he earned, he adopted a Gandhi-like simplicity in diet and dress. He ate only lightly, shunned coffee and tea, and wore plain homespun garments.

•He usually walked barefoot to the library and worked there barefoot, saying that the library was his home, and no one wears shoes in his own home.

•As for his real home, it was sparsely furnished and lacked electricity, although he could have easily afforded these amenities.

Some of his followers viewed him as a yogi.
He concentrated his whole body, mind, and soul on the discipline of library science, so they felt he had embraced it as a path to spiritual perfection.

Thanks and Grateful to all of you.......