When S.R. Ranganathan, born in Siyali (now Sirkazhi) in Mayiladuthurai district in 1892, finished post-graduation and took up teaching of mathematics, he must not have realised that he would be eventually recognised as the doyen of another field that he barely knew about then.
Destiny had other plans. While he was teaching mathematics in Presidency College, he was asked to take up the job of the first librarian of the University of Madras on January 4, 1924. In his own words, he had not even heard of the term, ‘library classification’, at that time.
