Ranganathan Was Born in 1892 in Shiyali in The Tanjur
district Of Madras State.
His Family Belonged to the Brahman Community.
QUALIFICATION: M.A.(maths)
-- then Librarianship.
He received his B.A. in 1913, and an M.A. in Mathematics
in 1916.
In 1917,he received a Professional Teaching Certificate
from Teacher's College, Saidapet, Madras.
He then taught Physics and Mathematics at Government College
,Mangalore; Government College, Coimbatore;
and Presidency College, Madras.
Then he studied at the School of Librarianship, University
College, London , under W.C. Berwick Sayers,
the chief librarian
of the Croydon Public Library.
Ranganathan received an honors certificate from the school
at the end of his stay.
WIFE: Sarada Ranganathan
Sarada Ranganathan Endowment trust for Library Science,
founded by Ranganathan in honor of his wife.
The purpose of the endowment is to promote
and publish research in library science.
CONTRIBUTION:
THE FIVE LAWS OF LIBRARY SCIENCE,
These were published
in 1931.
The five laws are the following
simple statements:
1) Books Are For Use,
2) Every Reader His Book,
3) Every Book Its Reader,
4) Save The Time Of The Reader,
5) A Library Is A Growing Organism
COLON CLASSIFICATION
Not until 1933 did Ranganathan publish his first major
work on his new classification system ,The Colon
Classification.
Its basic principles,however, require the analysis of a
subject to determine its various aspects, called facets,
and the synthesis of a class number from the numbers assigned
in published schedules to different facets.
Thus, Colon Classtilcation is known as an analytico -synthetic
classification system.
Ranganathan was the first to fully explicate facet
theory,and his work has had a major impact on
modern classification schemes
CLASSIFIED CATALOGUE CODE
In 1934, just a year after The Colon Classification came out,
Ranganathan published another important work, the
Classified Catalogue Code.
Ranganathan maintained, however,that a catalog should
consist of two components:-
One part should be classified by
subject, reflecting the library's classification system,
with class number entries.
The other should be a dictionary catalog, including
author,title, series, and similar identifiers,
as well as alphabetized subject entries.
The function of a catalog is to itemize works so they
can be found by author, title, series, and so forth.
It must also allow readers to review the selection of works
on a given subject
CHAIN INDEXING
To determine subject entries for the dictionary catalog,
Ranganathan devised an ingeniously
Simple method called chain indexing.
This method
simply uses each facet of a subject,
together with its immediately preceding facets, as an
index entry.
Thus, all important aspects of the subject,
from the
most general to the most specific, are automatically covered.
Chain indexing can be adapted to other classification
systems as well.
PUBLICATIONS:
Although Ranganathan's works on classification and
cataloging are his best recognized contributions,
he published over 50 books and 1,000 papers on all aspects
.
In 1935, he published the first edition of his influential
book,
LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION , in which he broke down library
Work into approximately 1,000 component jobs
By precisely identifying many different library functions,
he was able to simplify and streamline library routine.
He also wrote extensively on the physical layout and
furnishings of libraries.
In addition, he founded and edited three periodicals:
The Indian Library Association Annals, Bulletin,and
Granthalaya(the Hindi component of the journal);
The Annals of Library Science;
&
Library Science with a Slant to Documentation
CONTRIBUTIONS TO LIBRARY SCIENCE
EDUCATION
Ranganathan worked tirelessly to professionalize library
education in India.
One of his first achievements,in 1929, was to found a library
school that was later incorporated
into the University of Madras.
He also instituted a master of library science degree
in 1948 and a doctoral program in 1950, both at the
University of Delhi.
These were the first higher degree programs in library
science
offered in India, and probably in any of the Commonwealth
countries.
Ranganathan greatly influenced the curricula and
textbooks for such courses.
Ranganathan's crowning accomplishment in library education
was to found the Documentation
Research and Training Centre at Bangalore, under the auspices
of the Indian Statistical Institute. The
center, is devoted solely to research and advanced training
in documentation and information science.
Ever since his return from England, Ranganathan had hoped to
establish a Western-style network of public libraries througho
ut India.
His first step toward achieving this end was to form the
Madras Library Association
in 1928, to promote development of public libraries in the
state of Madras.
He also drafted specific legislation to extend the public
library system beyond the state of Madras into other areas
of India.
In 1950, he published an influential work detailing plans
for a system of national, state, university,public, and
school libraries for the entire country.
COMMITMENT TO LIBRARY SCIENCE
Ranganathan's activity level throughout his lifetime
reflects a total, selfless commitment to library science.
During his 20 years of service as librarian of the University
of Madras,he took no leave.
He worked even on his wedding day,
returning to the library shortly after the ceremony.
When he retired from the Madras University library, it was
only to accept a series of appointments at other Indian
universities and to step up his involvement in international
activities.
He remained actively engaged in research until his death
in 1972 at the age of 80.
Although Ranganathan is widely acknowledged as the father
of library science in India,his activities
extended well beyond his country's borders.
In addition
to attending many international library and information
science
conferences, he traveled extensively on lecture tours to
library science schools throughout the US and Europe.
He also participated in the activities of such international
organizations as UNESCO, the International Federation
of Library Associations, and the International Standards
Organization.
He played a key role in setting policy for the United Nations
Library and he devoted much effort to international
Standardization of documentation
He also involved himself in every aspect of library work in
India.
In the course of his career, he was a member or chairman
of more than 25 committees which ad-
dressed such issues as library administration, education
of librarians,and library legislation.
CAREER
Ranganathan held several important offices in India during
his long career.
He served as president of the Indian Library Association from
1944 to 1953 and
as president of the Madras Library Association from 1958 to
1967.
He also served as vice president of the Governing Council of
the Indian Standards Institute from 1965 to 1972.
Although Ranganathan is widely acknowledged as the father
of library science in India,his activities
Extended well beyond his country's borders.
In addition to attending many international library and
information science
conferences, he traveled extensively on lecture tours to
library science schools throughout the US and Europe.
He also participated in the activities of such international
organizations as UNESCO, the International Federation
of Library Associations, and the International Standards
Organization.
He played a key role in setting policy for the United Nations Library and he devoted much effort to international
Standardization of documentation.
He was particularly active in the International Federation
for Documentation (FID).
He founded the FI committee on classification theory,
served as vice president of the FID coun
cil, and was elected an honorary member of FID.
He also
became honorary chairman of the FID committee on
classification research
HONOURS RECEIVED
Ranganathan's contributions were acknowledged
1964, he was named honorary president of the Second
International
Conference on Classification Research, Held in Elsinore,
Denmark.
He also received a number of other high honors.
In 1935 and 1957, respectively,the Indian government bestowed
on him the honorific
title Rao Sahib and the public service award Padmashri.
In 1948, he received an honorary doctorate of literature from
the University of Delhi.
In 1964, he received the same degree from the University
of Pittsburgh.
In 1965, he was made a national research professor by the
Indian government,
and in 1970, he received the Margaret Mann Citation in Cataloging and Classification of the American Library Association(ALA).
In 1965,
and in 1967, in honor of his seventy-first birthday,
his colleagues published
published two volumes of aestschrt dedicated to him.
After his death,
the FID,in 1976, established the Ranganathan award in his
memory.
This certificate of merit is awarded biennially for a recent
outstanding contribution in the field of classification,
LIFE STYLE
Besides his great capacity for work, Ranganathan
was renowned for his abstemious life-style.
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.
The money he saved through years of frugal living, he gave
away twice:-
In 1925 to endow a mathematics fellowship at Madras Christian
College in honor of his mathematics professor,
Edward B.Ross, and
In 1956 to endow the Sarada Ranganathan chair of
library science at the University of Madras in honor of
his wife.
This self-abnegation and devotion to work were grounded in a
deep spirituality.
As T.R. Seshadri,an associate of
Ranganathan,
writes, "Ranganathan was born and brought up at a time
when spirituality and religion still continued to be the
mainsprings of Iife."
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.
