Prithvi Nath Kaula (1924-2009) was an Indian

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

Library and Information Sciences Library and information science(s) or studies (LIS) is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of study that deals generally with organization, access, collection, and protection/regulation of information, whether in physical (e.g. art, ...

specialist and author who worked with the

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

, India. Kaula authored sixty books and monographs, six professional journals (founder-editor), over 400 scholarly journal, over 400

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...

, 43

bibliographies Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

and 6000

notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versio ...

. Kaula was also the recipient of the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

award in the year 2004.

Early life

Prithvi Nath Kaula was born in 1924 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

into a

Kashmiri Pandit The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region l ...

family. His family belonged to the

lower middle class In developed nations around the world, the lower middle class is a subdivision of the greater middle class. Universally, the term refers to the group of middle class households or individuals who have not attained the status of the upper middle ...

. He completed his higher education

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

in the

. In 1947, he was employed as a

Librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

with the ''Birla Education Trust'' in

Pilani Pilani is a small city situated in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, India. Administratively, it forms a part of Jhunjhunu district. The place became popular since the establishment of BITS Pilani.The city is also the home to some of the old ...

. He later on became the

at Central Library, BHU, Head of Department of Library and Information Science,

BHU Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. ...

and the Dean of

in the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaula, Prithvi Nath Scholars from Varanasi Banaras Hindu University alumni Banaras Hindu University faculty Banaras Hindu University people People from Srinagar 1924 births Indian people of Kashmiri descent Kashmiri people Kashmiri Pandits Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education 2009 deaths Indian librarians 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian essayists