I S K O

In memoriam A. Neelameghan

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of Professor Arashanipalai Neelameghan's passing on July 28, 2014.

Professor A. Neelameghan was Head at the Documentation Research and Training Centre, Indiana Statistical Institute in Bangalore, India until 1984. He was also associated with the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science and the Ranganathan Centre for Information Studies.

He was also formerly Head, Section on Institution Building and Networking, UNESCO/PGI, Regional Advisor for Asia-Pacific, UNESCO//PGI. He undertook Technical Assistance missions to developing countries in Asia, Arab League States, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean sponsored by UNESCO/PGI, UNDP, IDRC, etc. These missions included formulation of national information policies, development of information institutions, organizing and teaching in national and regional training workshops in information studies. He established a regional post-graduate program for training science information specialists in South Asia at the University of Philippines in Manila, the School of Information Studies for Africa at the University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a similar program for Latin America at the University of Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela, and a national training program for China in Beijing. He initiated the regional information network ASTINFO for Asia.

Following graduate and post-graduate studies in Madras, India, he studied documentation and information science in USA on Rockefeller Foundation and Fulbright scholarships. He worked in various special technical information centers in India before joining the Documentation Research and Training Centre, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore, established by Dr. S.R. Ranganathan in 1962, retired as Professor and Head, in 1984. He was associated with the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science (1963-2014) and the Ranganathan Centre for Information Studies (1993-2014), both not-for-profit national charitable trusts promoting research, lectures, and publications in information studies.

He contributed much to the field of knowledge organization. He took over as Chair of FID/CR from Mr. Rasmus Mölgaard-Hansen and soon after this organized in 1975 the FID/CR 3rd International Conference on Classification Research Conference in 1975 in Bombay. He was also a member of the FID/SRC-Group (Subject Reference Code) as a forerunner which, after 1974, became the BSO panel.

Prof. Neelameghan was one of the editors of International Classification which is now known as the journal Knowledge Organization. He was chair of the 2nd International Conference of ISKO on 'Cognitive Paradigms in Knowledge Organization' held in Chennai, India in 1992. He is also one of the editors of the ISKO Conference volume 'Categories and Relations in Knowledge Organization' (Volume 13 in the series Advances in Knowledge Organization), 2012.

His works included "S. R. Ranganathan's Postulates and Normative Principles: Applications in Specialized Databases Design, Indexing and Retrieval", 1997. His most recent work was on expressing the concept of time in knowledge organization systems.

His contribution to the field of knowledge organization is honored in the festschrift "Knowledge Organization, Information Systems and Other Essays: Professor A. Neelameghan Festschrift" 2006 edited by K. S. Raghavan and K. N. Prasad.

Sincerest condolences to the members of his bereaved family, to his friends and colleagues.

 

© ISKO 2014 : last updated 2014.08.05