Ishvari Corea

Ishvari Corea (4 June 1925 – 14 May 2019) was a Sri Lankan librarian. She served as Chief Librarian of the Colombo Public Library for 27 years.^[1][2]

Biography

Corea was born in Araliyagaha Walauwa in Bandaragama; she was the fourth of five children of Don Bernard Wijesinghe Kannanagara and Beatrice Wijewardana Jayasekara.^[2] She attended Visakha Vidyalaya in Colombo and the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya.^[1] She graduated in 1949 with a degree in Sinhala.^[2]

After graduating from university, she taught at Visakha Vidyalaya for a short time, then joined the Colombo Public Library as deputy librarian in 1950. In 1959–60 she studied for a postgraduate qualification from the School of Librarianship and Archives of the University of London and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (formerly the Library Association, UK).^[1]

In 1961 Corea was appointed Chief Librarian of Colombo Public Library in 1961, a position she held for 27 years.^[2] Corea also helped establish the Sri Lanka Library Association, and served as its president.^[1]

Publications

• Corea, I. (1975). Libraries and people: Colombo Public Library, 1925–1975. Colombo: Colombo Public Library.^[3]
• Corea, I. (1978). A manual for public libraries in Sri Lanka. Colombo: Colombo Public Library.^[4]
• Corea, I. (1993). Encyclopaedia of information and library science. New Delhi: Akashdeep Publishing House.^[5]

Personal life

Corea was married to C. V. S. Corea, a homeopathic practitioner.^[1]