11/22/2020 Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya - Wikipedia

Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya

Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya or Ayyanki Venkata
Ramanaiah (24 July 1890 – 1979) has been called the Iyyanki Venkata
"Architect of the Public Library Movement in India".[1] He is the Ramanayya
first Indian to be awarded the Kaula Gold Medal.[2] Through his
career as an influential library leader, Ramanayya was seen as a
respected peer and mentor by S. R. Ranganathan.

Contents
Early career
Accomplishments
Other works
Legacy and awards
References

Early career Born 1890

Konkuduru, East
Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya was born in Konkuduru village, Godavari District,
Ramachandrapuram taluk, in East Godavari district, Andhra Andhra Pradesh
Pradesh, to Venkata Ratnam and Mangamamba.[3] He studied in Occupation Editor
Tailor High School. Known for the Architect of the
Influenced by Bipin Chandra Pal, Ramanayya entered public life free Public Library
in 1907 at the age of 19. He was instrumental in establishing the Movement in India
First State Library Association in Indian – Andhra Desa Library Parents Venkataratnam
Association (1914) and the Bengal Library Association (1925). He (father)
contributed to the foundation of the Madras Library Association
(1928) and the Punjab Library Association (1929) at state level Mangamamba
and the All India Public Library Association (1919) at the national (mother)
level.

Between 1934–1948, Ramanayya toured the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and organised large-
scale library tours. As a result, hundreds of libraries were opened and many others reopened. He
organised training camps for the library secretaries in 1920 and 1934.

Accomplishments
Ramanayya never worked as a librarian in the technical sense but he founded thousands of public
libraries throughout India, and South India in particular.[4] P. Ramachandra Rao describes the
Andhra Pradesh library movement;[5]

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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,
organised with democratic ideals, more for imbibing political consciousness and
spreading literacy rather than for mere organisation of reading rooms and systematic
libraries.

Ramanayya founded literary journals such as Andhra Bharati (1910), the first Telugu-language
illustrated monthly, which informed people of Telugu related information. He also founded
Granthalaya Sarvasvamu in Telugu in 1916, being the first professional journal on Library Science
from Vijayawada,[6] as well as the Indian Library Journal in 1924, which was the first professional
journal on Library Science published in English from Vijayawada.

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

Other works
Ramanayya organised hundreds of meetings and conferences at the national and state levels. People
such as Rabindranath Tagore, P C Roy, and Chittaranjan Das were reception committee chairmen or
presidents of different All India Public Library Conferences organised by him in various parts of
India. He was the first secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Library Association along with N. Krishna
Rad in 1914,[7] as well as the All India Public Library Association which started in 1919.

Ramanayya donated about 10 acres (40,000 m2) of land in Ayyanki village for development of
various facilities. A Shiva temple, known as Ganga Parwatavardhani sameta Sri Ramalingeswara
Swamy, exists because of him.

Legacy and awards

The Indian movement to build libraries in several states and in the rural, less accessible areas, can be
attributed to Ramanayya's organising capacity, energy and dedication. In addition to the Kaula Gold
Medal, he was honoured with the award of "Granthalaya Pitamaha" by the Maharajah of Baroda. The
Government of India honoured him with the Padmashri award.[8]

He was secretary Andhra Pradesh Library Association and organised an All India Library Meeting on
12 November 1912 in Madras. This meeting lead to the forming of Indian Library Association.[9]

References
1. Kaula, P.N. "A Study of Public Library Development and Services for Rural Uplift". Granthana:
Indian Journal of Library Sciences, Vol 8. Issues 1–2. 2001. pg 46.
2. Kaulaendowment awards medals scholarships (http://kaulaendowment.org/awards.html)
3. Luminaries of 20th Century, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad, 2005.
4. Satyanarayana, R. "Shri Iyynki Venkata Ramanayya and the Library Movement in India: A
Personal Tribute”. Annals of Library Science and Documentation,Volume 19. 1972. pg 157.
5. Rao, Ramachandra P. “The Significance of the Library Movement in Andhra, 1900–1948”. Library
Herald, Vol 20. Delhi Library Association. 1981. pg 152.
6. Singh, Sewa & Sukhbir Singh. "Library and Information Science Periodicals in India: a Study
Towards Standardization". Herald of Library Science, Vol. 29 (July–October 1990): pg 202.
7. Satyanarayana, R. "Shri Iyynki Venkata Ramanayya and the Library Movement in India: A
Personal Tribute”. Annals of Library Science and Documentation, Volume 19. 1972. pgs 157.
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8. Prof Kaula Endowment for Library and Information Science, Silver Jubilee Report (1975–2000)
9. Library day (http://librarykv2calicut.wordpress.com/tag/library-day/)

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