S.R. Ranganathan (The father of
library science)
Ranganathan was born in Shiyali
in Tanjavoor District of Tamil Nadu (then part of Madras Presidency) in his
maternal grandfather's house in North Rampart Street, (Vadakku Madavilaga
Theruvu) around
9.30 A.M.
on 9th August 1892. It was a Gayathri Japam day in the month of Adi of the year
Nandana. On that day and at that time, South Indian Brahmins recite Manthram to
Gayathri to redeem them from the sins committed by them thus far. His
Janmanakshatra was Danishta and Lagna Kanya. He was the first child of his
parents and the first grandchild of the grandparents both paternal and
maternal. His father, Ramamrita Ayyar, belonged to the village of
Ubhayavedanthapuram in the Nannilam Taluk at Tanjavoor District. He was a
landlord holding a medium-sized property of wet land, growing paddy, the
principal food crop of the Cauvery delta. He was a learned and cultured man,
used to giving Ramayana Pravachanam to small audiences was influential and was
held in high esteem by the people of the neighbourhood and by visiting officials.
Seetha lakshmi, mother of Ranganathan, was a simple and very pious lady. The
parents had three sons and a daughter — one of the sons died in its early age
and the daughter was born a posthumous child.
Ranganathan
married when he was fifteen years old in 1907. Rukmini was his wife's name. She
was very devoted to Ranganathan and an able house keeper. But she died in an
accident on 13 November 1928 at the Parthasarathy Koil Tank, Triplicane, Madras
where she had gone for a bath. The couple had no children. Ranganathan married
again in 1929 to Sarada in December 1929; she was also devoted to Ranganathan
and helped him to work ceaselessly for the cause of the library profession. She
even persuaded him to donate large sums of money for the Chair of Library
Science in Madras University and to the Endowment. She died at the age of 78
years on 30 July
1985 in
Bangalore. Ranganathan was blessed with only one son, Shri R. Yogeswar, born in
1932. He is an Engineer by profession and is an international consultant on
machine tool design and development. He has two sons and a daughter. All of
them are living in Luxembourg. Ranganathan had a simple taste for food. He
would not unnecessarily waste money and energy. He was sympathetic to good
people; encouraged intelligent students and guided them towards better goal and
achievements
Education
Ranganathan's education was initiated
on Vijayadasami day in October, 1897 with Aksharabyasam at Ubhayavedanthapuram
near Shiyali. After this, Ranganathan was admitted to a school in Shiyali, and
was handed to the care of Subba Ayyar, a brother of his maternal grandfather
and a primary school teacher. During his school days, Ranganathan came under
the influence of two of his teachers who shaped his mind -R. Antharama Ayyar
and Thiruvenkatachariar, the Sanskrit teacher. From them Ranganathan learnt
about the life teachings of nayanars (Shaivaite Bhaktas) and Alwars
(Vaishnavaite Bhaktas). Depth of scholarship and essence of life were ingrained
in Ranganathan which kept in good stead in his later life to make decisions at
crucial junctures. Ranganathan attended the S.M. Hindu High School at Shiyali
and passed Matriculation examination in 1908/1909. Ranganathan passed the
examination in First Class, inspite of sickness like anaemia, piles, and
stammering. In his high school career he came under the influence of P.A.
Subramanya Ayyar, a scholar on Sri Aurobindo. Ranganathan joined the junior
intermediate class at the Madras Christian College in March 1909. Even in those
days, there were paucity of college seats. Ranganathan was picked up for his
excellent marks in all the subjects and the principal. Prof. Skinner spotted
him in a crowd of students and admitted him into the course. Ranganathan passed
B.A. with a first class in March/April 1913. In June, same year, he joined the
M.A. class in Mathematics with Professor Edward B. Ross as his teacher. Being a
favourite student of Prof. Ross, Ranganathan had an excellent Guru-Shishya
relationship. More than class room discussions, corridor and staircase
discussions were taken recourse to. Ranganathan ingrained this trait into his
own discipline later on. Ranganathan did his Master's degree in 1916 and he
wanted to be a teacher in Mathematics. He also took a course in teaching
technique and gained L T degree from a teachers' college. During his college
days, Ranganathan cultivated intimacy with his teachers, Professors Moffat and
J.P. Manickam of Physics, Prof. Sabhesan of Botany, Prof. Chinnathambi Pillai
and L.N. Subramanyam of Mathematics. But Prof. Ross remained his favourite Guru
throughout his life.
Librarianship
Ranganathan left Presidency College in
January 1924 to take appointment as the first librarian of Madras University.
It was natural for Ranganathan - who was a lively teacher and had thrilling
intellectual experiences with students and faculties of the Presidency College
- not to opt for the post of librarian, even though it carried a handsome
salary. Ranganathan quite often narrated to us that he never wished to be a
librarian. He said that Providence had made him one, for which he never
regretted in his later life. In spite of his diffidence and lack of interest,
his colleagues and supervisors - being keen on using his innate abilities — saw
to his appointment as the Librarian of the Madras University in 1924. He took
charge of the University Library at 4.00 P.M. on Thursday, 4th January 1924.
But Ranganathan was back within a week at Presidency College to plead with the
Principal, I have come with a specific request. I can't bear the solitary
imprisonment day-after-day. No human being, except the staff. How different
from the life in the college. The principal, Mr. Duncan, had to pacify him by
saying: If you feel bored even after you return from England, I shall certainly
take you. I shall see that your place in the college is not permanently filled
up till you come back from your travel and training abroad. [Ranganathan (SR).
A librarian looks back. Herald of Library Science. Ranganathan left for England in September 1924
and returned in July 1925, after 9 months of study-cum-observation tour. In
England, Ranganathan came in close contact with W.C. Berwick Sayers, Chief
Librarian of Croydon Public Library and a lecturer in the University School of
Librarianship, London. Under his guidance, Ranganathan visited a large number
of libraries. He witnessed how the libraries there had become community reading
centres. He also found how the libraries rendered service to various strata of
the society: to children, to the working class and to women, besides other
groups. This made a lasting impression on his mind; it considerably changed his
outlook and he discovered a social mission in his mind; thus he discovered a
social mission for the library profession and for himself. The impact of these
experiences was expressively stated in 1931 by Sir P.S. Sivaswamy Aiyar, one of
the enlightened statesmen of Madras Presidency at that time: He has brought to
his task extensive knowledge of literature on the subject of libraries,
personal acquaintance with methods of management of libraries in Britain,
trained analytical intellect and a fervid but enlightened enthusiasm for the
library movement. He has been the pioneer of the library movement in the Madras
Presidency and has been carrying on an energetic propaganda to spread it. He
knows how to rouse and sustain the interest of the reader. [Foreword to
Ranganathan (SR). Five laws of Library Science.
After returning to Madras, Ranganathan
began a mission for librarianship. He began to reorganise the University
Library. His first concern was to attract more readers to the library and
provide facilities for them. He took it upon himself to educate the public on
the benefits of reading to one's society and to oneself. He charged the library
with a mission of self-education for every one. He used mass media to make the
library hub of activity. The University Library soon acquired a niche in the
world of the enlightened public of Madras. The Government of Madras took a keen
interest in this and offered a handsome annual grant on a statutory basis.
Within the library, Ranganathan
initiated behind the scene work in several aspects of ab initio. Here emerged
the Five Laws of Library Science, the Colon Classification, the Classified
Catalogue Code and the Principles of Library Management. Active reference
service began to blossom. He introduced open shelved system and provided open
access. This gave impetus for readers to come quite often. The atmosphere throbbed
with human activity and intellectual atmosphere. Ranganathan designed a
functional library building near Madras Beach. All these changes did not happen
in a piecemeal but were developed in a holistic manner, inspired by his Five
Laws of Library Science:
Books are for use
Every reader, his book
Every book, its reader
Save the time of the reader
A library is a growing organism
Outside the library, Ranganathan,
launched an endless and eternal mission. He gathered the enlightened persons of
the area and formed the Madras Library Association, which became the living
symbol of the library movement. Ranganathan worked as the Founder Secretary
from 1928 until he left Madras in 1945. He pushed the library movement to all
the comers of the Madras Presidency, which at that time covered almost
two-thirds of South India. Looking at his efforts today, after nearly 60 years,
we see that the public library network is quite widespread in South India. The
seed sown by Ranganathan has been cultivated for nearly 60 years, and it is
currently yielding fruits. A school of library science was also initiated by
Ranganathan in 1929, first under the auspices of the Madras Library Association
and later taken over by Madras University. Ranganathan was the director of the
school for nearly 15 years. Later in 1957, during centenary celebrations of the
University, he donated his life's savings of one lakh rupees to the University
to endow a chair known as Sarada Ranganathan Professorship in Library Science.
The students of this school have taken leading parts at all levels of activity
- local, national, and international.
Having performed active library
service for 21 years, Ranganathan sought voluntary retirement in 1945 and
wanted to engage himself in active research. But he received an invitation to
develop the library system of the Banaras Hindu University, by the then
Vice-Chancellor Sir. S. Radhakrishnan. At Banaras, Ranganathan found the
library in a chaotic condition. He reorganized the entire collection
single-handedly, classified and catalogued about 100,000 books with a
missionary zeal during 1945-47. He also conducted the Diploma Course in Library
Science during the same period.
Ranganathan moved over to Delhi
University in 1947 on an invitation from Sir. Maurice Gwyer. He did not take
the responsibility of organising the library. He confined himself to teaching
and research in library science. Prof. S. Das Gupta, one of Ranganathan's
brilliant students, became the librarian of Delhi University. Delhi began
courses in Bachelor of Library Science and Master of Library Science between
1947 and 1950. It was probably for the first time in the whole of the
Commonwealth, Study Circle and Research Circle meetings were organized. The
Research Circle met every Sunday at his residence. Many new ideas and
innovations began to emerge. Team research began to develop. Ranganathan was
also elected the President of the Indian Library Association (ILA) and Shri S.
Das Gupta was elected as its Secretary. The Association was activated and as part
of its programme a confluence of three journals, viz.. Annals, Bulletin, and
Granthalaya were founded. An acronym ABGILA was given to this composite,
three-in-one periodical. The Annals contained research papers of the Delhi
Research Circle and soon gained international acclaim. While Ranganathan was in
Delhi, his international contacts began to grow. He had a close liaison with
Donker-Duyvis, the then dynamic Secretary-General of FID. Ranganathan was the
Chairman of the Classification Research Group of the International Federation
for Documentation (FID) between 1950-62, when he produced 12 research reports
for FID and from 1962 he was the Honorary Chairman of FID/CR till his death in
1972. While he was in Delhi, Ranganathan drafted a comprehensive 30 year plan
for the development of library system for India as a whole. He was intimately
involved in the founding of the Documentation Committee of the Indian Standards
Institution of which he was the Chairman till 1967. In 1950, the Indian
National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC, Delhi) was founded. During
this period, he also promoted the Madras Public Library Act. He also initiated
the Classification Research Group at London. He visited USA in 1950 under
Rockfeller Foundation and wrote the book Classification and Communication.
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, 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. Ranganathan was the
Honorary Professor of this Centre during 1962-72. He directe'' the
institutional activities with great efficiency and created an atmosphere of
academic excellence and simplicity. It was like a Gurukula. Around Ranganathan
were his young students eager to learn from him and Ranganathan was equally
eager to get the new ideas from them. 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). During the last five
years, Ranganathan abstained from travelling and did deep thinking and
intensive writing. He wrote many books and articles. He postulated Absolute
Syntax for indexing language. He kept on working on Colon Classification and
proved that the design and development a scheme for classification is a life
time activity. Until the end of his life, to the very last day, Ranganathan
kept on working. He died on 27 September 1972 after a fruitful 80 years of his
life. 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.
Ramamrita
Ayyar died (on 13 January 1898) rather suddenly after a bout of illness at the
age of 30, when Ranganathan was only six years old. Ranganathan's mother
survived this loss for nearly 55 years and died at Delhi due to a fire accident
at the home in January 1953. Ranganathan's another brother Nateshan died in
1964 at Madras and his sister is alive.
Reference
https://www.researchgate.net
shodhganga.library.ac.in
garfield.library.upenn.edu
අන්තර්ජාලයේ ව්යාප්තිය
