SR Ranganathan

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Photo by SR Ranganathan's at the City Central Library in Hyderabad, India.

SR Ranganathan ( Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan ; born August 9, 1892 in Shiyali , Tamil Nadu , † September 27, 1972 in Bangalore ) was an Indian mathematician and librarian . He developed the "five laws of library science", the not very widespread but influential Colon classification, and coined the term information logistics . He is considered the father of library science in India .

His five-year career as a professor of mathematics at the universities of Mangalore , Coimbatore and Madras was hampered by his stuttering (a handicap that he was able to overcome throughout his life).

Ranganathan did not originally plan to become a librarian. But when in 1923 the University of Madras was looking for a librarian for the university library to organize the poorly organized collection, he was selected from 900 applicants.

His knowledge in the field of librarianship was limited to an article from the Encyclopedia Britannica at this time , so that he first went to London to study librarianship there. During this stay his interest in the problems of classification was aroused and in 1933 he drafted the basics of the Colon classification (a facet classification ).

When Ranganathan returned to India, he had become a passionate librarian, convinced of the importance of a functioning library system for the Indian nation. For the next twenty years he was the director of the Madras University Library. During this time he founded the Madras Library Association and was involved in the establishment of public libraries and an Indian national library .

In 1931 he published his "five laws of library science":

  • Books are for use ("Books are for use")
  • Every book has its reader ("Every book its reader")
  • Every reader his book ("Every reader his book")
  • Save the time of the reader ("Save the time of the reader")
  • A library is a growing organism ("A library is a growing organism")

After conflicts with the university management, Ranganathan gave up the position at the Madras University Library after 20 years and took over a professorship for library studies at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi .

Ranganathan lived in Zurich from 1955 to 1957 because his son had married a European woman. He soon returned to India, although during this time he was able to establish and maintain numerous contacts within the European library community. During this time he endowed a professorship at the University of Madras.

In 1957 he was awarded the Padma Shri , the fourth highest civil order in India.

In 1962, Ranganathan founded the Documentation Research and Training Center in Bangalore. In 1965 he was appointed National Research Professor by the Indian government in honor of his contributions to library science.

On September 27, 1972, he died of bronchitis after a long illness .

His grandson Ranga Yogeshwar worked as an editor and presenter for Westdeutscher Rundfunk .

Works

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MP Satija: ON HIS BIRTH CENTENARY. (pdf) Dr SR Ranganathan Birth Centenary Issue. In: DESIDOC Bull Inf Tech. DEFENSE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION , September 12, 1992, p. 6 , accessed on April 6, 2014 (English): “Inventory of his awards and honors is long. Important among them include Padma Sri in 1957 [...]. "

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ranganathan, SR
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ranganathan, Shiyali Ramamrita
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian mathematician and librarian
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Shiyali, Tamil Nadu
DATE OF DEATH September 27, 1972
Place of death Bangalore