Dr. Jaspal Singh, Vice Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala released the book, “Pioneers of Library Movement in India: A Tribute by Satkal” at the Inaugural Session of the First World Punjabi Diaspora Conference on 11 December 2012 in the Science Auditorium of Punjabi University, Patiala. Congratulating Dr. Jagtar Singh, editor of the book, and Professor Jagindar Singh Ramdev, Founder & Chief Patron of Satkal, the Vice Chancellor said that this book would certainly inspire the younger generation of library and information professionals to emulate their role models from the book. This book was also released at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi on 12 December 2012 by Padmashri Alok Mehta, Chief  Editor, National Duniya, a leading Hindi Daily. Speaking about the book, he said that this book provides valuable information about library pioneers which was earlier either not available or widely scattered. He underlined the need for more such books to inspire people. Speaking at this occasion, Sh. K. K. Banerjee, Director General, Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Kolkata, and Chief Guest of the function said that the book is a unique contribution of Satkal to the professional literature, and it must be a long-term project of Satkal to publish more such books on living luminaries as well. Prof. Jagindar Singh Ramdev updated the audience about the mission and activities of the Satinder Kaur Ramdev Memorial Trust for Advancement of Librarianship (Satkal), and Prof. Jagtar Singh, editor of the book enlightened the people about the background and contents of the book. Dr. H. K. Kaul, Director, DELNET: Developing Library Network, New Delhi delivered the “Satkal Annual Lecture 2012” on “Essential Skills for LIS Professionals in 21st Century.” 
Professor P. B. Mangla, Tagore National Fellow, said in his presidential address that library and information professionals must focus their energies on preserving and serving knowledge and information to the stakeholders.  Dr. Jagtar Singh, President Satkal, Dr. R. C. Gaur, Librarian, JNU jointly organized the book release ceremony and the Satkal Annual Lecture at JNU, New Delhi.
 
About the Book
This book contains profiles of fifty six library doyens written by forty three library and information science experts. The main purpose of this book is to present profiles of library pioneers under one cover which either were not written yet or bits of information about them were widely scattered within different sources. This book is a inimitable source of information about the moorings of the library pioneers, how they joined this profession, what challenges they faced, and what message they have left for the next generation of library educators and practitioners. Besides being an asset to the professional literature on the contributions of library pioneers in India, this book is a humble tribute to the pioneers by Satkal. Besides 48 photographs of librarian pioneers, and 08 photographs of Satinder Kaur Ramdev Memorial Trust for Advancement of Librarianship (Satkal), this book includes articles on Prof. jagindar Singh Ramdev, Founder, and Patron-in-Chief of Satkal, Mrs. Satinder Kaur Ramdev in whose memory the Trust has been founded, and  the Satkal.  The book also includes a list of contributors in the beginning and an index at the end. The book is published by Punjab Library Association (PLA) in December 2012. It contains LII preliminary and 328 main pages, and is priced for Rs. 995/- and US$ 25. The orders for purchasing this book can be sent to The Secretary, Punjab Library Association (Regd.) C/o Department of Library and Information Science, PunjabiUniversity, Patiala-147002 (Punjab).For more details of the book contact Dr. Jagtar Singh:  jagtardeep@gmail.com Jagtar Singh, editor of the book
 
Excerpts from the Book
            Though the book contains profiles of 56 pioneers, yet only a few excerpts are given here for the benefit of the list members in view of the constraints of space and time.
 
“In my opinion, the present book … is a unique contribution to the professional literature. It contains fifty six profiles of library doyens from Indiawho have made profound contribution in the field of library movement. It traces … the history of library development of around 150 years, from 1861 to 2012, through the profiles of library pioneers. Besides others, the book includes profiles of five Padma Shris, namelySh. Iyyanki Venkata Ramanaiah, Dr. S. R. Ranganathan, Prof. S. Bashiruddin, Sh. B.S. Kesavan, and Prof. P.N. Kaula.  ... I not only believe but am sure also that this book would certainly inspire the younger generation of library and information professionals to emulate their role models.” Dr. Jaspal Singh, Vice
Chancellor, PunjabiUniversity, Patiala  I agree with Albert Einstein that World is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on, and do nothing. I would like to die in the thought that I did something for the advancement of librarianship and education. My fellow professionals, life is very short and we never have enough time for gladdening the hearts of those who travel the way with us. Make haste to be kind. Be happy. It is a way of being wise. Anytime you think someone owes you something, it is a limit on your happiness. I would like to die in the thought that I did something for the advancement of librarianship and education. The book 'Pioneers of Library Movement in India: A Tribute by Satkal' is one more humble contribution to the professional literature by the Trust" Prof. Jagindar Singh
Ramdev, Founder, and Patron-in-Chief, SATKAL
 
“He had a firm conviction that it was possible for everyone, even an ordinary man, to develop the same kind of love for books that he had. Sayajirao believed that if a library is once opened in a community, the people would get used to books to such an extent that they would continue to support it forever. If this had been true, all the money, labour, and energy expended by modern public libraries even today for publicity and
promotion to generate and sustain interest of the people for books and reading would be uncalled for. In fact, there is always a need for sustained effort to bring the reader to the library or even to reach him at his home. An effective library service cannot be maintained without extensive library propaganda.” Murari Lal Nagar(Quoted in Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III: A Visionary Ruler)
 
“He (W. A. Borden) apparently displayed his ingenuity to the fullest extent and labored hard. With a splendid cooperation of his Indian colleagues, he was able to work wonders, creating a remarkable Library System in the progressive State of Baroda. Mr. Borden, Mr. Motibhai Amin, Mr. Kudalkar, Mr. Dutt and Mr. T.D. Waknis were major resource persons in translating Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad’s ideology and thinking of library movement, to implementation stage." P. S. G. Kumar (Quoted in Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III: A Visionary Ruler)
 
“There is no doubt that Dickinsonwas the founding father of modern librarianship in British Indiaand for that matter of Pakistan. If his wish for further work of reorganizing libraries had been accepted by the then British authorities, libraries in this part of the world would have progressed far rapidly than these did in the next 40 years after his departure from India.”            Mumtaz A. Anwar, Hon. Professor, DLIS, University of the Punjab, Lahore
 
“The moving spirit behind library movement in Andhra was Padmashrt Iyyanki Venkataramanayya. Popularly known as Iyyanki. …He completed his school education in 1903. He could not prosecute his studies further owing to his deep involvement in the National Movement. Iyyanki realized that illiteracy was the root-cause of the social and economic problems of India. He felt that libraries were as powerful as educational institutions in eradicating illiteracy. This led him to start the library movement. He joined the Ram Mohun Library as its Secretary in 1911. This library made rapid strides under his leadership. He also worked as the Secretary. Andhra Desa Library Association from its inception in 1914 to 1939. He built-up the Andhra Movement as a model to the entire country.” P. S. G. Kumar, Former Head, DLIS, NagpurUniversity, Nagpur
 
“He (Ranganathan) was of the strong conviction that libraries are force in education including adult education. His dream was to provide free book service to all Indians. …Crusader in him never stifled the scientist he was. He possessed a radical and fertile mind. His deliberations on the theory of library science metamorphosed its very face. In his first book The Five Laws of Library Science (1931), now a classic (reprinted many times); he gave library science its normative principles. This book is a sum and summary of his entire library philosophy and became the fountain head of all his later writings.” M. P. Satija,Former Professor & Head, DLIS, GNDU, Amritsar
 
            “He (S. Bashiruddin) was pioneer in many respects. He was first fullfledged AMU librarian. He brought all the books including the prestigious collection of manuscripts, for the first time, under one roof in MA library. He was the first to introduce ‘Certificate in Library Science’ in the University. He was the man who started first of all a postgraduate degree course as ‘Bachelor in Library Science’ in the country. He
was the first to open job avenues for girls in the University Library, Aligarh. He was the unique librarian who served four other university libraries after being relinquished from Aligarh. Dr. S R Ranganathan
was the ‘Father of Library Science’ in Indiawhereas Prof. Bashiruddinn was exceptionally a harbinger in the field of Library Science. In  recognition the Government of India awarded him Padma Shri in June 1976 although he deserved to be considered for a higher Padma award.” Habibur Rahman Chighani, Former Director, Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, Patna
 
            In the words of Keswan,"what is Marshall's contribution to librarianship?  The answer is he himself and in that answer is contained a world of significance. What he has done is to build a great tradition of
service to scholarship, both postgraduate and undergraduate which has to be seen to be believed. ...His professional life with its deep involvements and incorruptible integrity was so exemplary that he led without wanting to lead".  "We the librarians of Indiawould like to salute him on the occasion of his retirement and to say that we feel taller because he was and is one among us." K. Navalani, Former Professor & Head, DLIS, PunjabiUniversity, Patiala
 
 “I will now turn my attention to Kesavan’s contribution to the National Library, the Indian National Bibliography (INB), and his profession in Indiaand in other countries. Kesavan took charge of the Imperial Library in March 1948. The challenge that he first faced concerned Pakistan’s claim to a part of the stock of books in the Imperial Library and other governmental libraries as a consequence of partition. In a famous picture that appeared in the American weekly Time Magazine, Kesavan is seen as a harried librarian sitting
between two piles of books on either side labeled ‘India’ and ‘Pakistan’.” L. J. Haravu, Trustee, Kesavan Institute of Information and Knowledge Management, Mysore
 
 “Prof. Das Gupta was a great teacher, with amazing depth of knowledge, not just in Library related subjects but also in the entire universe of knowledge, with an unparalleled eloquence, always with convincing arguments and strong convictions. As an academician, he was respected by entire teaching community of the University and was a very popular friend of all departments and faculties. Even Vice Chancellors like C. D. Deshmukh had great regard for him. The two decades from 1946 to 1966, when he was in the Universityof Delhivirtually he was at the helm of affairs of every library matter in the country.”
C. A. Augustine, Former Head, DLIS, Universityof Kerala, Trivandrum
 
“During the five years of his (D. R. Kalia) directorship of DPL, his fame had spread like a forest fire both within the country and abroad. He reached the end of his five year tenure on 31 January 1956, starting 1 Feb 1951. His stars were in ascendance. A month before the end of his tenure, he had a chance meeting with Dr. Luther Evans, Director General of Unesco which was holding its annual conference at New Delhiin December 1955. Impressed with Kalia’s work at Delhi Public Library, Dr. Evans queried Kalia if he could possibly be available to Unesco for extending the benefit of his experience to countries where such experiences was required, of course when he was free from his present assignment. Kalia made his mind known to Dr. Evans in the affirmative. He was thirty-five at the end of his DPL tenure.” M. L. Saini, Former
Librarian, Universityof Delhi, Delhi
 
            "Dr. Sharma faced an uphill task of shifting the University Library from Simla to Chandigarh. However, with the co-operation of his colleagues, shifting was done smoothly by the middle of December, 1959. ...Dr. Sharma assisted Mr. Mons. P. Jeanneret, a French Architect, in designing Panjab University Library building and its furniture. ...A magnificent five storied building of the library with its valuable collection came into existence. The first air conditioned University Library in the country, situated in the heart of the University Campus, surrounded by the teaching departments and the University hostels, can claim to be the largest library in the region. The credit goes to Dr. Sharma and his dedicated colleagues who worked day in and day out. The library was formally inaugurated by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of Indiain October, 1963." D.R. Grover, Retired Faculty, DLIS and V.K. Grover, Deputy Librarian, A.C. Joshi Library, P.U. Chandigarh
 
“Ranganathan had remarked about Herald of Library Science when it was launched that it is the tenth organ of librarianship in India… This is second such organ to be started by my friend Prithvinath Kaula.
Alas after his demise, no issue has been published. It seems that Herald of Library Science has also died
along with him, though S R Ranganathan had wished that it will… live long under his care (Kaula).” A. S. Chandel, Former Head, DLIS, NEHU, Shillong
 
“I was very impressed by Ganesh Bhattacharyya. In my memory, the image of him is framed in gold. He influenced me on a professional level. A scholar with a theoretical bent; he made me understand the importance of the principles underlying systems for organizing information. Though such generalities derive from Ranaganthan, filtered through Bhattacharyya's systematic and imaginative mind, they had a power and persuasiveness that reordered my intellectual life; leading me to go India to study at the Documentation Research and Training  Center; later on to chair a working group at IFLA on the principles underlying subject heading languages; and eventually to write my book on the intellectual foundations of
information organization.” Elaine Svenonius, Professor Emerita, DLIS, UCLA, Los Angeles, California

"Shri Subba Rao has greatly contributed to the LIS profession by his active involvement in spear heading for the creation of an All India Library Service cadre and also parity in the pay scales and other service conditions of the library professionals. Most of his suggestions submitted through the Memorandum to the Fifth Pay Commission have been recommended by it and were accepted by the Government of India. In addition to this, he has also strived hard to sort out the anomalies in the pay scales recommended by the Fourth Pay Commission for the library professionals, some of which have been endorsed by the Fifth Pay Commission also. For these activities, he mobilized all the library professionals and organised seminars to find solutions to these thorny issues. He has also carried out research on the variation of exchange rates of major foreign currencies over five years based on RBI exchange rates vis-a-vis Good Offices Committee, and suggested a formula for adoption by the libraries. He rendered selfless service to the profession honestly and sincerely." R. C. Gaur, University Librarian, JawaharlalNehruUniversity, New Delhi
 
            "Professor Tikekar was such a magnet that organized information and staff through his five decades of experience in managing different types of academic libraries and teaching Library and Information Science to the students in the Universityof Mumbai. His method of teaching was both  anecdotal and experimental, and that was one of his major attributes. ...He had lately coined the slogan “A librarian Never Retires” which slogan he had printed on his last visiting card. ...Professor Tikekar was all for the modernization of libraries and he helped a number of libraries in their efforts to get modernized. He was of the view that ICT was set to make far-reaching changes in the library field and librarians should adopt ICT with devotion and high deal of expertise. He also advised the Departments of Library and Information Science to adopt new courses that will bring in new talent and introduce transformation of libraries. H.
K. Kaul, Director, DELNET, JNU Campus, Nelson Mandela Road, New Delhi
 
 
About the Editor
Dr. Jagtar Singh presently working as Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science, PunjabiUniversity, Patiala(India) has 30 years of teaching and research experience, and about 100 papers and five books to his credit. He is a recipient of the Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship (1992), the Ken Haycock Leadership Development Award (2005) (IASL), and PLA-Prof. M.P. Satija Award for Professional Excellence 2008. He has also been awarded Certificate of Appreciation by UNESCO for outstanding contributions to the Training-The-Trainers (TTT) in Information Literacy Workshop 2009. He is a
Standing Committee Member of the Classification and Indexing Section of IFLA. He has also served as Director-Asia, International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), as well as a Consultant Professor for the Ph. D Programme at the National Institute of Library and Information Sciences (NILIS), University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He has visited 20 countries on various academic assignments. He is the President of the Indian Association of Teachers of Library and Information Science (IATLIS), the Punjab Library Association (PLA), and the Satinder Kaur Ramdev Memorial Trust for Advancement of Librarianship (SATKAL). He is a Governing Council Member of the Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Kolkata. He is Chairman (South Asia) of the UNESCO Supported International Media and Information Literacy Survey (IMILS) Project, and also a member of the ‘Working Group on National Virtual Library, Modernization and Networking of Libraries’ of the National Mission on Libraries, Government of India.