Indian National Library
Coordinates: 22 ° 31 '59.7 " N , 88 ° 20' 0.4" O The Indian National Library ( bengalisch ভারতীয় জাতীয় গ্রন্থাগার Bharatiya Jatiya granthāgāra, Hindi भारतीय राष्ट्रीय पुस्तकालय Bharatiya Rastriya pustakālaya ) in Kolkata (Calcutta) is the largest library India .
It reports to the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of the Federal Government. The library was created to collect, distribute and preserve all printed material produced in India. It is located on the picturesque 120,000 m² Belvedere Estate .
Calcutta Public Library
The forerunner of the National Library was the Calcutta Public Library, founded in 1836 . It was a non-governmental institution and was privately run. Anyone who donated 300 rupees could become a partner . Dwarkanath Tagore was one of the earliest donors . At that time, 300 rupees was a huge sum, which is why students, among others, were temporarily allowed free use of the library.
The then Governor General Lord Metcalfe transferred 4,675 books from the library of Fort William College to the Calcutta Public Library . These and a few other donations formed the core of the new library. Indian and foreign, especially British, books have been purchased through donations from both private individuals and the government.
The Calcutta Public Library was the first public library in this part of the world. Even in 19th century Europe , such a well organized and efficiently run library was something special. Through these efforts, the current National Library has some extremely rare books and magazines.
Imperial Library
The second forerunner institution was the Imperial Library in 1891 through the merger of several government libraries in Calcutta. The most important of these was the British Home Office library , which had many books from previous holdings in the libraries of East India College , Fort William and the East India Board in London. However, use of the library was reserved for senior government officials.
Association of libraries
In 1903 Lord Curzon of Kedleston , the Governor General of India, outlined the idea of a public library. He found that neither the Calcutta Public Library nor the Imperial Library was busy and decided to merge the two libraries.
The new library was named Imperial Library and was opened to the public on January 30, 1903 in Metcalfe Hall in Calcutta. The Gazette of London reported:
- It is intended that it should be a library of reference, a working place for students and a repository of material for the future historians of India, in which, so far as possible, every work written about India, at any time, can be seen and read.
- "It [the Imperial Library ] is intended to serve as a reference library, a place of work for students and a repository for materials for future generations of Indian historians, as a place where, as far as possible, any written work on India can be viewed and read at any time."
The Imperial Library becomes the National Library
After independence, the Indian government changed the name of the Imperial Library to the National Library , and the entire inventory moved from the Esplanade to its current location on the Belvedere Estate, the former residence of the Viceroy of India , in Alipore . On February 1, 1953, the Indian National Library began its work.
In 2005 the National Library moved to the Bhasha Bhawan, a new building on the grounds of the Belvedere Estate.
statistics
- Number of books: more than 2,270,000
- Number of cards: more than 86,000
- Number of manuscripts: more than 3,200
- Reading rooms: more than 550
- Total shelf length: more than 45 kilometers
