• UGI USER
  • Aug 17, 2023
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National Library of India.

 

  • The National Library, the largest library in India, is one of the four authorized libraries allowed to receive copies of all publications issued throughout the nation under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954. The library serves as a permanent repository for all books and printed materials created in India or written by international authors, regardless of where they were published or what language they were written in.
  • The former Calcutta Public Library, founded in the first part of the 19th century, is where the National Library got its start. Mr. J. H. Stoqueler, the Editor of the Englishman, was mainly responsible for the establishment of the Calcutta Public Library. On March 21, 1936, the library, located on the ground level of Dr. F.P. Strong’s home as a civil surgeon, opened to the public.
  • The notion of creating a public library was first proposed by Lord Curzon. He noted two libraries with extensive book collections: the Imperial Library, which was established in 1891 by the union of many Secretariat libraries, and the Calcutta Public Library.
  • The Imperial Library (Indentures Validation) Act was passed in 1902, and the reconstituted Imperial Library was officially opened to the public at Metcalfe Hall on January 30, 1903, by Lord Curzon with the intention that it should be a library of reference, a working space for students, and a repository of materials for the future historians of India, in which, to the best of their ability, every work written about India at any time can be seen and read.
  • From the beginning, the Bengal Government granted the library the right to request any book it had acquired under the terms of the Press and Registration of Books Act of 1867, free of charge. With the acquisition of 2,333 volumes from the Library of Congress in 1907, the Imperial Library took the first step towards expanding its collection through the exchange of publications with institutions abroad. Around 3,50,000 books made up the Imperial Library’s entire collection in April 1947.
  • The “Imperial Library (Change of Name) Act” of 1948 replaced the Imperial Library, which had existed prior to India’s Independence, with the NATIONAL LIBRARY. In accordance with Article 62 of the 7th Schedule of the Union List of the Indian Constitution, it was given special status as an institution of national importance. On February 1, 1953, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the then-Union Minister of Education, opened the library to the general public.