Dr. S. R. Ranganathan

Here is biography of Dr. S. R. Ranganathan for your reading. 

Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan was born on August 9, 1892 at Shiyali, Madras, India and died on September 27, 1972. He was considered to be the father of library science in India and his work has had a profound influence worldwide. Ranganathan is considered by some as the greatest librarian of the twentieth century and to have contributed to the many connections between libraries throughout the world.

Ranganathan began his career as a mathematician and became a librarian in 1924, at the University of Madras. Ranganathan attended the University College of London from 1924 to 1925 in order to prepare for his work at the University of Madras. During his time in London, Ranganathan visited and studied public libraries, as well as college libraries, across Great Britain. The observations and studies Ranganathan made during his stay in Great Britain helped him to focus on subjects such as cataloging, c lassification and reference services. He appreciated the potential libraries had for helping societies to grow and flourish and this awareness helped Ranganathan in his lifelong promotion of libraries and library services.

Ranganathan focused his research on library services when he returned to India and developed his Five Laws of Library Science which helped changed the role of public and private libraries, as well as those in colleges and universities throughout the world. Ranganathan saw libraries as places of service and librarians as both scholars and teachers. Ranganathan was aware of the need for India and other countries to have literate populations and this must have been a significant influence in his life long focus on library services.

In addition to his work on library services, Ranganathan made considerable contributions to library understanding and use through his development of the Colon Classification system and the techniques of chain indexing for subject-index entries. Both of these techniques have had significant influence and impact on library systems throughout the world and continue to have impact as libraries grow and change in the modern electronic environment.

Bibliography

Kuronen, Timo, and Paivi Pekkarinen. "Ranganathan Revisited: A Review Article". Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 31 (1) (March 1999): 45-48.

Atherton, Pauline A. Putting Knowledge to Work: An American View of Ranganathans Five Laws of Library Science. Bombay, India: Vikas Publishing House PYT LTD, 1973.

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., s.v. "Ranganathan, Shiyali Ramamrita".

Created December 3, 1999

Authored by Margaret Pruiett. Contact at (mpruiett@utk.edu)