PB Mangla

Professor PB Mangla
Born	Pramod Bhushan Mangla (1936-07-05) July 5, 1936 Chhachhrauli (Haryana)
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	University of Delhi, Panjab University, Columbia University, New York
Occupation	Librarian, academic, historian

PB Mangla also known as Pramod Bhushan Mangla is a former head, department of library and information science, Delhi University, and served on the DUP advisory committee. Mangla is the only professor in India who has been known as Vice President, IFLA (The Hague) in 1987-1991. Mangla has been a student of Dr. S.R. Ranganathan at Delhi University. He is the former Tagore National Fellow, Government of India.

Early life and family

Professor P.B. Mangla was born in Chhachhrauli (Haryana) on July 5, 1936. He comes from a princely state, which at that time was part of Punjab and was known as Kalsia state, and his father was the head of treasury in the state and his grandfather used to be a member of the state maharaja's cabinet. His initial education was conducted in a school in the state itself, after which the state merged into one of the states that established PEPSU in 1948. His father at that time moved to another princely state that had become partly from PEPSU., named Nabha and where he got higher education from him.

Education

He did his graduation and then a master's degree from the University of Punjab and was a master's student at Mahindra College, Patiala. He has higher education from Panjab University (Chandigarh), University of Delhi and Columbia University, New York (USA). He earned his Master's in History from Punjab University and his degrees in Library and Information Science (LIS) from the University of Delhi (MLIS) and then from Columbia University, New York (Master's Degree in Library Science). He was awarded a scholar at Columbia University during the 1960s.

Career

Mangla served at the University of Delhi for nearly four decades, of which 29 years as Professor of Library and Information Sciences. He had the distinction of being appointed a full professor at the age of 36. During his tenure at the University of Delhi, he held several positions, such as Head of the Department; Dean of the Faculty of Arts; Dean, Graduate Studies (Evening) (which had an enrollment of approximately 1,500 graduate students); and President of the Research Studies Board. He was a member of the Tribunal of the University of Delhi for almost three decades, as well as its Executive Council (EC) and the Academic Council (AC), which are the highest policy decision-making bodies of the University, for several years. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Delhi, namely Deshbandhu College and Dyal Singh College, for several years.

He worked in Iran as an expert and, in Guyana (West Indies), as a Unesco consultant for several years. He was a member of the Research Council of the CSIR's National Institute for Scientific Communication and Resource Center (NISCAIR); Working Group on Libraries of the National Knowledge Commission; Board of Directors, National Library (Kolkata), Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation (RRRLF) (Kolkata) and currently continues as a member of the Board of the Delhi Library and RRRLF. The last three organs are in general charge of the Ministry of Culture, Govt. from India; He was president of the Library Association of India (1981-1983); and Vice President, IFLA (The Hague) (1985-1991).

In 2003 he was invited by the United Nation to be one of the 5 Speakers from different parts of the world for a conference held at the UN Headquarters, New York. He was honoured with the Library Association of India (FILA) Scholarship in 1983 and the Membership of the London Institute of Information Scientists (M.I. Inf. Sc.) In 1979.

He has published books, research articles and edited professional journals, in India and abroad. He is currently a Tagore National Fellow under the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India since 2010. This scholarship scheme has been instituted by the Government of the Union. So far, he is the only academic honoured with this scholarship in the country in his field of expertise and has been called a "legendary scholar and authority in the field of library science."

Research publications

• India (in ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services), Chicago, ALA, 1993.
• Library and Information Science Education in India, Delhi, Macmillan, 1981 (Editor)
• Library Education in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, Advances in Librarianship. 10. Chap. VI. pp. 191-238, 1980.
• Training for Library Assistants, Guyana, UNESCO, 1979.
• Fifty Years of Librarianship in India: Seminar Papers, Delhi, ILA, 1983.
• Building Library Collections and National Policy for Library and Information Services: Seminar Papers, Delhi ILA, 1985 (Editor).
• Ranganation Memorial Lectures, 1982, Ujjain, Vikram University, 1982.

Editor of research journals

Professor Mangla is on the editorial boards of a number of LIS journals. For instance, he is associated with the following journals of repute as:

• Chairman, Board of Editors, Journal of Library and Information Science, Delhi University, Department of Library and Information Science, 1976-92.
• Member, Editorial Board, Annals of Library Science and Documentation (INSDOC), 1981-83.
• Member, Editorial Committee, Education for Information (North-Holland, Amsterdam), since 1983.
• Member, Editorial Committee, International Journal of Reviews in Library and Information Science, River Forest, Ill. (USA), 1983-90.
• Member, Editorial Board, Third World Libraries, River Forest, Ill. (USA), since 1990.
• Associate Editor, Libri (Muksgaard, Copenhagen), since 1987.
• Contributing Editor, Asian Libraries (Bangkok), since 1992.

Books

• Library and information science education in India: papers and recommendations of an all-India seminar, held at the Department of Library Science, University of Delhi, during 3-8 October 1977
• 50 years: library and information services in India
• Fifty years of librarianship in India, past, present, and future: seminar papers, Twenty-Ninth All India Library Conference, Mysore University, December 5-9, 1983 by Mohinder Singh
• Library and information science: parameters and perspectives: essays in honour of Prof. P.B. Mangla

Contributed articles

• Building library collections and national policy for library and information services: seminar papers, thirtieth All India Library Conference, Rajasthan University, Jaipur, January 28-31, 1985 by All India Library Conference
• Library and information services in India: states and union territories: on the eve of the new millennium

Awards and honors

During 1961-92, Mangla was awarded the Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship for higher education and educational travel in the United States.

• Elected as Member of the Institute of Information Scientists (London) in 1978 (M.I Inf. Sc.)
• Awarded Fellowship (Honorary) by the Indian Library Association in 1983, as part of Golden Jubilee Celebrations.
• Appointed as UGC National Lecturer, 1984-86.
• Shiromani Award for Human Excellence for 1990.
• IFLA Gold Medal and Citation, 1991.
• Felicitated by Indian Library Association for contributions to the profession in 1994, as part of Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.