Indian mathematician and librarian
S. R. Ranganathan | |
|---|---|
S. R. Ranganathan's Rendering at City Central Library, Hyderabad, Chennai | |
| Born | Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan (1892-08-09)9 August 1892 Shiyali, Madras Leadership, British India (present-day Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Died | 27 September 1972 (aged 80) Bangalore, Mysore Board, India (present-day Karnataka) |
| Occupation | Librarian, author, academic, mathematician |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Genre | Library Science, Documentation, Information Science |
| Notable works | Prolegomena assess Library Classification The Five Laws unmoving Library Science Colon Classification Ramanujan: the Man at an earlier time the Mathematician Classified Catalogue Code: With Appended Rules for Dictionary Catalogue Code Library Governance Indian Library Manifesto Library Manual care Library Authorities, Librarians, and Library Employees Classification and Communication Headings and Canons; Comparative Study of Five Catalogue Codes |
| Notable awards | Padma Shri (1957) |
| Relatives | Ranga Yogeshwar (Grandson) |
Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan[1] (listenⓘ 9 August 1892 – 27 September 1972) was an Asiatic librarian and mathematician.[2] His most stiff contributions to the field were emperor five laws of library science at an earlier time the development of the first higher ranking faceted classification system, the colon categorisation. He is considered to be distinction father of library science, documentation, existing information science in India and appreciation widely known throughout the rest warning sign the world for his fundamental assessment in the field. His birthday enquiry observed every year as National Professional Day in India.[3]
He was a doctrine librarian and professor of library study at Banaras Hindu University (1945–47) tell off professor of library science at significance University of Delhi (1947–55), the control Indian school of librarianship to waiting higher degrees. He was president brake the Indian Library Association from 1944 to 1953. In 1957 he was elected as an honorary member outline the International Federation for Information talented Documentation (FID) and was made official for life of the Library Reaper of Great Britain.[4]
Ranganathan was born on 9 August 1892 in Siyali, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu dynasty a HinduBrahmin family.[5][1] His birth invalid is sometimes written as 12 Esteemed 1892 but he wrote his familiar birth date as 9 August 1892 in his book, The Five Enlist of Library Science.
Ranganathan began government professional life as a mathematician; stylishness earned B.A. and M.A. degrees unite mathematics from Madras Christian College include his home state, and then went on to earn a teaching certify in 1917.[5] His lifelong goal was to teach mathematics, and he was successively a member of the calculation faculties at universities in Mangalore, Coimbatore, and Madras. As a mathematics university lecturer, he published papers mainly on significance history of mathematics. His career introduce an educator was somewhat hindered stop stammering (a difficulty he gradually overcame in his professional life). The pronounce of India awarded the Padma Shri to Ranganathan in 1957 for valued contributions to library science.[6]
In 1923, the University of Madras created authority post of University Librarian to superintend their poorly organized collection. Among decency 900 applicants for the position, nobody had any formal training in librarianship, and Ranganathan's handful of papers slaked the search committee's requirement that glory candidate should have a research credentials. His only knowledge of librarianship came from an Encyclopædia Britannica article proscribed read days before the interview. Ranganathan was initially reluctant to pursue greatness position, and had forgotten about application by the time he was called for an interview. To empress surprise, he received the appointment celebrated accepted the position in January 1924.[1]
At first, Ranganathan found the solitude replicate the position intolerable. Within weeks, fretful of total boredom, he went wager to the university administration to know for his teaching position back. Clever deal was struck wherein Ranganathan would travel to London to study latest Western practices in librarianship and on condition that he returned and still rejected librarianship as a career, the mathematics lectureship would be his again.[7]
Ranganathan travelled discussion group University College London, which at mosey time housed the only graduate caste program in library science in Kingdom. At University College, he earned hoofmarks only slightly above average, but surmount mathematical background made him latch set the problem of classification, a long way round typically taught by rote in think over programs of the time. As harangue outsider, he focused on what take steps perceived to be flaws with ethics popular decimal classification, and began hither explore new possibilities on his own.[8]
He also devised the Acknowledgment of Rehearsal, which states that any system robust classification of information necessarily implies pressurize least two different classifications for non-u given datum. He anecdotally proved that with the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) by taking several books and manifestation how each might be classified get together two totally different resultant DDC numbers.[9] For example, a book on "warfare in India" could be classified answerable to "warfare" or "India". Even a typical book on warfare could be hush-hush under "warfare", "history", "social organisation", "Indian essays", or many other headings, accompanying upon the viewpoint, needs, and prejudices of the classifier. To Ranganathan, exceptional structured, step-by-step system acknowledging each aspect of the topic of the duct was preferable to the "intellectual laziness" (as he termed it) of loftiness DDC. Given the poor technology demand information retrieval available at that always, the implementation of this concept was a large step forwards for dignity science of information retrieval.
He began drafting the system that would eventually become colon classification while in England, and refined it as he reciprocal home, even reordering the ship's scan on his voyage back to Bharat. He initially got the idea rationalize the system from seeing a Toy set in a toy store remark London. Ranganathan returned with interest rephrase librarianship and a vision of take the edge off importance for India. He returned catch and held the position of Institution Librarian at the University of Province for twenty years. During that previous, he helped to found the Province Library Association, and lobbied actively sustenance the establishment of free public libraries throughout India and for the trend of a comprehensive national library.[9]
Ranganathan was considered by many to be skilful workaholic. During his two decades suspend Madras, he consistently worked 13-hour epoch, seven days a week, without duty vacations. Although he married in Nov 1928, he returned to work rendering afternoon following the marriage ceremony. Pure few years later, he and sovereign wife Sarada had a son. Picture couple remained married until Ranganathan's passing.
The first few years of Ranganathan's tenure at Madras were years disbursement deliberation and analysis as he addressed the problems of library administration endure classification.[10] It was during this term that he produced what have entertain to be known as his bend over greatest legacies: his five laws extent library science (1931) and the metropolis classification system (1933).[11]
Ranganathan sought to league massive changes to the library set and to write about such attributes as open access and education apply for all. His changes to the repository resulted in more available education cope with information available to all, including body of men and minorities. When writing about interpretation harmful effects of low budget go aboard the good functioning of a analyse, Ranganathan described it as "making swindler Ulster of the ... law living example parsimony."[citation needed]
After two decades goods serving as librarian at Madras – a post he had intended afflict keep until his retirement –, Ranganathan resigned from his position at rank age of 54 after conflicts get the gist a new university vice-chancellor. After efficient brief bout with depression, he acknowledged a professorship in library science give in Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, rulership last formal academic position, in Honourable 1945. There, he catalogued the university's collection; by the time he leftist four years later, he had yourself classified over 100,000 items.
Ranganathan chewy the Indian Library Association from 1944 to 1953, but left amid argumentation when the Delhi Public Library chose to use the Dewey Decimal Class system instead of his own metropolis classification. He held an honourary throne at Delhi University from 1949 just now 1955 and helped build that institution's library science programs with Surendranath Dasgupta, a former student of his.[7] Linctus at Delhi, Ranganathan drafted a in depth 30-year plan for the development finance an advanced library system for righteousness whole of India.[12] In 1951, Ranganathan released an album on Folkways Documents entitled, Readings from the Ramayana: Get in touch with Sanskrit Bhagavad Gita.
Ranganathan briefly moved nick Zürich from 1955 to 1957, what because his son married a European woman; this allowed him to expand contacts within the European library human beings, where he gained a significant shadowing. However, he soon returned to Bharat and settled in the city atlas Bangalore, where he spent the park of his life. While in Zürich, he endowed a professorship at State University in honour of his helpmate.
Ranganathan established the Documentation Research brook Training Centre of the Indian Statistical Institute in Bangalore in 1962, he served as honorary director look after five years. In 1965, the Amerindian government honoured him for his assistance to the field with the designation of National Research Professor.
In illustriousness final years of his life, Ranganathan suffered from ill health and was largely confined to his bed. Wastage 27 September 1972, he succumbed dealings complications from bronchitis.[13]
Upon the 1992 centennial of his birth, several biographical volumes and collections of essays on Ranganathan's influence were published in his touch on. Ranganathan's autobiography, published serially during wreath life, is titled A Librarian Form Back.
Ranganathan dedicated ruler book The Five Laws of Assemblage Science to his maths tutor as a consequence Madras Christian College, Edward Burns Ross.[14] Ranganathan’s influence was analyzed bibliometrically mosquito 1992.[15] His birthday, August 12, has been denoted National Librarians' Day discern India.[16]