National Library Day is celebrated in India on the 12th of August every year in memory of Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, an exceptional librarian and mathematician who had spearheaded library development in India.” Dr. S R Ranganathan born on 9 August 1892, came from a moderate background in British- ruled India. He was born in the small town of Shiyali in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. Ranganathan began his professional life as a mathematician; he earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in mathematics from Madras Christian College in his home province, and then went on to earn a teaching license. His lifelong goal was to teach mathematics, and he was successively a member of the mathematics faculties at universities in Mangalore, Coimbatore and Madras (all within the span of five years). As a mathematics professor, he published a handful of papers, mostly on the history of mathematics. His career as an educator was somewhat hindered by a handicap of stammering (a difficulty Ranganathan gradually overcame in his professional life). The Government of India awarded Padmashri to Dr. S.R. Ranganathan for valuable contributions to Library Science.Towards Librarianship---
Ranganathan left Presidency College in January 1924 to take appointment as the first librarian of Madras University. It was natural for Ranganathan - who was a lively teacher and had thrilling intellectual experiences with students and faculties of the Presidency College - not to opt for the post of librarian, even though it carried a handsome salary. Ranganathan quite often narrated to us that he never wished to be a librarian. He said that Providence had made him one, for which he never regretted in his later life. In spite of his diffidence and lack of interest, his colleagues and supervisors - being keen on using his innate abilities — saw to his appointment as the Librarian of the Madras University in 1924.
Contributions---
* Five Laws of Library Science: • Books are for use • Every reader his/her book • Every book, its reader • Save the time of the reader • A library is a growing organism .
* colon classification - Its name "colon classification" comes from the use of colons to separate facets in class numbers.
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