Exhibition pays tribute to father of library science

Central library of Vadodara organises display of books to pay tribute to Shiyali Rammitra Ranganathan

Devanshi Joshi. Vadodara/DNA
Sunday, August 10, 2008

To mark the 161st birth anniversary of Shiyali Rammitra Ranganathan, considered the father of library science, Central Library, Vadodara exhibited more than 200 books to draw the avid readers. More than 500 visitors visited the exhibition at central library on Saturday. The library has a collection of 2,19,999 books and journals. Ranganathan has a connection with Vadodara as he had come to the city in 1930 for the conference of All India Teachers Association. It was then that he floated the Library Act. His efforts paid dividend in late 2000, when the Library Act came into existence. Padmashri Ranganathan was the pioneer and national research professor in library science in the country. A librarian, teacher, writer, national research professor, philosopher and a versatile personality, he contributed greatly to the world of library. Ranganathan wrote over 60 books and 1,500 papers touching almost every aspect of library science. The Five Laws of Library Science was one of his greatest contributions to the library science, which was first published in 1931. In 1992, Unesco, while celebrating International Book Year, chose the motto: Books for all, the first law of Ranganathan.The more recent and concrete proof of the global acclaim of Ranganathan's five laws of library science is provided by Digital Library of Information Science & Technology (DLIST), an open access archieve for the information science, service of the Information Resources & Library Science & learning Technologies Centre, University of Arizona.Vinod Tikamani, a library official said, “The central library of Vadodara has made an attempt to pay tribute to Ranganathan. We displayed more than 200 books of different authors in Gujarati, Hindi and English covering biographies, peace, education, health and other novels etc. This was an attempt to pay homage to a great man and also to evoke peoples interest in books.” A visitor, HV Jani, a retired professional, said, “I have heard about Rangnathan and his contribution in library science. I found some very interesting books. Today, young generation is losing out with books and library. This exhibition is a good effort to remember the great soul and awaking people towards reading books."