Today (September 27, 1972) is the memorial day of Padmasree Sirkazhi Ramamurthy Ranganathan, the father of Indian librarians who introduced the five rules of librarianship.
Sirkazhi Ramamurthy Ranganathan (S. R. Ranganathan) was born on August 12, 1892 in Sirkazhi, Thanjavur district. He was born the eldest son of his father Ramamurthy and mother Seethalakshmi. Ramamurthy is an educated man from Upayavedanthapuram in Thanjavur district. He was engaged in paddy cultivation with a medium-sized plot of land. He could tell Ramayana stories to the people and was of good value to the people around him. Ramamurthy died suddenly in 1898, at the age of 30. Ranganathan was then six years old. He later grew up with his grandfather, who was a school teacher. Through him, Aranganathan was trained in Hindu texts. Thus, the influence of Hindu texts was also seen in his works on librarianship.
Ranganathan started his education at a school in Sirkazhi and later continued his education at a Hindu high school in the same town. He passed the matriculation examination in 1908 and 1909 in the first class. Ranganathan joined Madras Christian College in 1909, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1913 and a master's degree in mathematics in 1917. He later obtained a Certificate of Teacher Qualification from the Teachers College at Saidapet. Ranganathan married Rukmini in 1907 when he was 15 years old. In 1928, Rukmini died in an accident while bathing in the Tiruvallikeni Parthasarathy temple pool. Ranganathan has no children through this marriage. Ranganathan was married for the second time in 1929 to a woman named Sharda. Then they have a son.
After graduating, Ranganathan
taught mathematics and physics at government schools in Mangalore and
Coimbatore, and later at the Presidency College in Madras. He had a passion for
the teaching profession. However, the income was not enough. He applied for a
job as a well-paid librarian at the University of Madras to improve his income. In January 1924 he was appointed Librarian at the
University of Madras. He had no academic qualifications or experience as a
librarian. Also, he did not like the quiet atmosphere of the library as opposed
to the lively atmosphere found in schools. He decided to go back to teaching.
However, on the advice of the President of the Presidency College, the
librarian postponed the decision until he returned to London for training. Ranganathan went to London for 9 months of training and returned in 1925.
The library of the University of Madras was in very bad condition at that time. There was no proper organization or adequate staffing. The number of library users was also very low. Taking this position as a challenge, Ranganathan implemented several reforms to eliminate the shortcomings of the library and also categorized the books there and prepared a catalogue. The introducer of the Five Rules of Librarianship. Inventor of the Golan spinning system. Known as the father of Indian librarianship. He is also known in many parts of the world for his basic ideas in library science. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India for his contribution to librarianship. His birthday has been declared National Library Day in India.
Ranganathan has worked as a
librarian and professor of librarianship at various universities in India. He
also served as the Director of the Indian Library School, which was set up to
award higher degrees in Library. He has also been a member of various
librarians' institutes in India and abroad. Padmasree Sirkazhi Ramamurthy
Ranganathan, the father of Indian librarianship, passed away on September 27,
1972, in Bangalore at the age of 80.
Source By: Wikipedia
Information: Ramesh, Assistant
Professor of Physics, Nehru Memorial College, Puthanampatti, Trichy.
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