National Librarian’s Day is celebrated on August 12 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Padmashri Dr Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan (1892- 1972), a librarian and mathematician, considered the father of library science, documentation, and information science in India and is also widely known throughout the rest of the world for his contributions to the field. Dr Ranganathan dedicated his entire life to the library profession in India, leaving a rich legacy behind. His most notable contribution was the five laws of library science and the development of the first major faceted classification system, the Colon Classification.
“In this journey of life, librarians are like our ancestors
whose guidance we follow in order to continue our journey, so that the road we
travel becomes straighter and straighter,” says Dr Sandesh Dessai, Librarian at
Goa University, Dona Paula.
Colon Classification
System of library organization is general rather than specific in nature, and
it can create complex or new categories through the use of facets, or colons.
The category of dental surgery, for example, symbolized as L 214:4:7, is
created by combining the letter L for medicine, the number 214 for teeth, the
number 4 for diseases, and the number 7 for surgery. In Colon Classification,
there are 108 main classes (previously 33) and 10 generalized classes (broadly
divided between the humanities and sciences), which are represented by a mixed
notation of Arabic numerals and Roman and Greek letters. Each main class
comprises five fundamental facets, or groups: personality, matter, energy,
space, and time. Ranganathan’s main contribution to classification was the
notion of these fundamental facets, or categories.
Tiatr Academy of Goa
librarian, Mansi Mahendra Bandodkar says, “We celebrate National Library Day
irrespective of cast, creed or religion.” She further adds, “If you read, you
will survive, because reading can help improve yourself. The one who reads
gains knowledge, improves their vocabulary and understands new concepts.”
Marianita Paiva,
Senior Librarian at Goa State Central Library, Panjim, says, “Technology will
never replace a book. There’s nothing like reading a book, the pleasure of
flipping through pages. For college students, books are important for research
citations”. She further adds, “Books do not strain the eyes the way reading
from digital screens do and they help in improving concentration.”
Bookworm
is a library based organization in Goa with a vision to inspire and develop a
love for reading as a way of life, nurturing humane engagement in everyone. “We
believe that a library is a mirror and window for children across all age
groups where it opens out a whole new world of possibilities and should and
must be accessible to all, across all communities without discrimination,” says
Malcom Braganza, a member of the Bookworm Trust, Fontainhas.