The Science and the Profession of Libraries

Overview

Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan is world-renowned in the field of library and information science.There is hardly any aspect of library science that he has not touched and made significantcontributions to it. His Five Laws of Library Science laid the foundations of library and informationservice; and his Prolegomena to Library Classification, Colon Classification along with ChainProcedure are seminal contributions to knowledge organization (subject structuring, classificationand indexing).Dr. Ranganathan received many honours – the Nationl Research Professorship in Library Science inMarch 1965 conferred by the Government of India- D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) by the Delhi University in1948, Doctorate in Library Science by the University of Pittsburgh in 1964, Padma Shri in 1956, and theMARGARET Mann award in 1971 by the American Library Association for his contribution toCataloguing theory and practice.Born in August 1892, Dr. Ranganathan earned his M.A. in Mathematics from Madras. He started as alecturer in mathematics and physics in some of the constituent colleges of Madras University.Chance events led him to accept the Madras University Librarian's post in 1924. After a year's study atthe School of Librarianship and Archives in London, he returned to the Madras University Library andfor the next 20 years, worked ceaselessly to make that library a model academic library. In 1945 hewas invited to the positions of Honorary Professor of Library Science by the Benares Hindu University(1944-47), then Delhi University (1947-56) and later the Documentation Research and TrainingCentre (DRTC) of the Indian Statistical Institute at Bangalore (1962-1972). Earlier he was associatedwith the establishment of such information institutions as INSDOC(CSIR), and DocumentationSectional Committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi. He founded the SaradaRanganathan Endowment for Library Science in 1963, with the objective of promoting research inlibrary science and dissemination of the research results. He wrote more than 2000 research papers,about 60 books and founded and edited five periodical publications during his life-time.Ranganathan passed away on 27th September 1972, leaving indelible marks in most facets of libraryand information science

Author Biography

Dr. A.Y. Asundi is a former Professor and Chairman, Department of Library and Information Science and Officer-In-Charge of IT Centre, Bangalore University, Bangalore.He has a rich blend of experience both as a practitioner and as a teacher for nearly four decades. He has served as a visiting faculty at ISI/DRTC, Bangalore. Dr. Asundi was also a member of the Advisory Committee of IFLA/SIG on LIS Education in developing countries. Dr. B.M. Meera, currently Chief Librarian at the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru has rich experience of managing academic libraries. Dr. Meera also served at the Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru for 24 years. She has more than 20 research papers in national and international journals and has 40 conference papers. A past Vice President of KALA, Dr. Meera is recipient of 'Award of Excellence' on the occasion of International Women's Day in 2010 and 'Granthalaya Sewa Puraskara' in recognition of her record of excellent library services by the Department of Public Libraries, Government of Karnataka.