Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya or Ayyanki Venkata Ramanaiah has been called the "Architect of the Public Library Movement in India". He is the first Indian to be awarded the Kaula Gold Medal. Through his career as an influential library leader, Ramanayya was seen as a respected peer and mentor by S. R. Ranganathan.
Ramanayya never worked as a librarian in the technical sense but he founded thousands of public libraries throughout India, and South India in particular. P. Ramachandra Rao describes the Andhra Pradesh library movement; Ramanayya founded literary journals such as Andhra Bharati, 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, 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, as well as the All India Public Library Association which started in 1919. Ramanayya donated about 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. 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.