Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya
Encyclopedia
Shri Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya or Ayyanki Venkata Ramanaiah (Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

: అయ్యంకి వెంకటరమణయ్య) (August 7, 1888–1979) is recognized as the "Architect of Public Library Movement in India". He is the first Indian to be awarded the Kaula Gold Medal. Through his career as an influential library leader throughout the entire country, Ramanayya was seen as a respected peer and mentor by S. R. Ranganathan
S. R. Ranganathan
Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan was a mathematician and librarian from India. His most notable contributions to the field were his five laws of library science and the development of the first major analytico-synthetic classification system, the colon classification...

.

Early career

He was born in Kunkuduru village of Ramachandrapuram
Ramachandrapuram, East Godavari
Ramachandrapuram is a village and a municipality in East Godavari district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located about 20 km from Kakinada and about 10 km from Mandapeta. The famous temple of Lord Shiva at Draksharamam is located about 5 km from here...

 taluq in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

 to Venkata Ratnam and Mangamamba. He studied in Tailor High School and influenced by Bipin Chandra Pal
Bipin Chandra Pal
Bipin Chandra Pal was an Indian nationalist. He was among the triumvirate of Lal Bal Pal.-Early life and background:...

 entered public service.

Shri Iyyanki entered public life in the year 1907 at the age of 19 and was instrumental in establishing the First State Library Association in Indian - Andhra Desa Library Association (1914), Bengal Library Association (1925). He contributed to the foundation of the Madras Library Association (1928), Punjab Library Association (1929) at state level and All India Public Library Association (1919) at the national level.

Between 1934-1948 he toured the coastal districts and organized library tours in large scale by the district secretaries. As a result hundreds of libraries are opened and many are reopened. He organized training camps for the library secretarires in 1920 and 1934. It is not exaggeration if one can say he toured almost all villages in Andhra Pradesh.

Accomplishments

Shri Ramanayya never worked as a librarian in the technical sense, but will be remembered for his accomplishments and dedication to the field. An active leader in Library Movement, he founded thousands of public libraries throughout India, and South India in particular. P. Ramachandra Rao describes the Andhra Pradesh library movement;

In the general context of the national library movement, the Andhra library movement was conspicuous and significant, unique and described as “swayambhuv” (self-born) by Iyyanki Venkataramanayya. It was a social movement with popular participation, organized with democratic ideals, more for imbibing political consciousness and spreading literacy rather than for mere organization of reading rooms and systematic libraries.


With unmatched missionary zeal, Shri Iyyanki founded literary journals like Andhra Bharati (1910), the first Telugu illustrated monthly from Machilipatnam, which catered to many generations keeping them informed of Telugu related information. He also founded the "Granthalaya Sarvasvamu" in Telugu in the year 1916 (the first professional journal on Library Science from Vijayawada), as well as the Indian Library Journal in the year 1924 (the first professional journal on Library Science published in English from Vijayawada) at his own cost and boosted the profession.

He helped establishment of Raja Rammohan Library in 1911 in Vijayawada. He started All India Citizens' Library Association in 1919.

Other works

With strenuous efforts and dedication, Shri Iyyanki organized hundreds of meetings and conferences at the national and state levels. The top national and international figures such as Dr. Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...

, Sir P.C Roy, and Desabandhu Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das was an eminent Bengali lawyer and a major figure in the Indian independence movement.-Personal life:...

 were reception committee chairmen or Presidents of different All India Public Library Conferences organized by Shri Iyyanki which took place in different parts of India. He was the first secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Library Association along with N. Krishna Rad in 1914, as well as the All India Public Library Association which started in 1919. He has been the live-wire of the Public Library Movement in India.

Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya Donated about 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of land in Ayyanki Village for development of various facilities. A Shiva Temple known as "Ganga Parwatavardhani sameta Sri Ramalingeswara Swamy" is constructed in the area - The temple is almost 100 years old as on July 2010. During 1999
Dr Iyyanki Venkata Ratnam son of Iyyanki Venkata Ramanaiah renovated the temple and made all arrangements for daily pujas. Further Sri Iyyanki Venkata Ramana, Sri Iyyanki Venkata Ranga Rao and Dr Iyyanki Venkata Murali Krishna [Grand Sons of Iyyanki Venkata Ramanyya and Sons of Dr Iyyanki Venkata Ratnam] made specific efforts to develop the temple. On 5 July 2010 Dr Iyyanki Venkata Murali Krishna performed the Vigraha Sthapana of Kala Bhairav and Hrungi and Bhrungi the Dwarapalakas of Ramalingeswara Swamy. Further development of the Temple complex being developed as "Shiva Ratna Kshetram"

Legacy and awards

The Indian movement to build libraries in several states and in the rural, less accessible areas, have been all due to his great organizing capacity, untiring energy and dedication as a selfless social worker. In addition to the Kaula Gold Medal, he was honored with the award of “Granthalaya Pitamaha” by the Maharajah of Baroda. The Government of India honored him with the Padmashri award, giving him a distinguished title which nationally recognized him as a distinguished citizen.

He was secretary Andhra Pradesh Library Association and organised an All India Library Meeting in the year November 12, 1912 in Madras. This meeting lead to the forming of Indian Library Association
Indian Library Association
Indian Library Association was established on September 13, 1933, on the occasion of the First All India Library Conference held at Calcutta . The ILA is the largest and renowned professional body in the field of Library and Information Science in India with a membership of more than 7000...

. Later ILA declared 14 November as National Library Day. Since 1968, 14-20 November has been celebrated as National Library Week
National Library Week
First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the United States each April, typically the second full week. The first National Library Week was held March 6–12, 1966.-External links:* from the American...

all over India and various programs are organised to let the public know about the libraries.
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