Calcutta Public Library was
established in 1836. It was not a Government institution. It ran on a
proprietary basis. Any subscriber paying Rs 300 at one time or in three
instalments was considered a proprietor. Poor students and others were allowed
to use the library free of charge for a specified period of time. The then
Governor General, Lord Metcalf transferred 4,675 volumes from the library of
the College of Fort William to the Calcutta Public Library. These volumes and
donations of books from individuals formed the nucleus of the library.
Dwarkanath Tagore was the first proprietor of Calcutta Public Library.
Both Indian and foreign books,
especially from Britain, were purchased for the library. In the report of 1850
we find that the library has started collecting books in Gujarati, Marathi,
Pali, Simhalese and Punjabi. Donations were regularly received from individuals
and from the Government of Bengal and North Western Provinces.
Calcutta Public Library had a unique
position as the first public library in this part of the country. Such a tidy
and efficiently run library was rare even in Europe during the first half of
the nineteenth century. Thanks to the efforts of the proprietors of Calcutta
Public Library, the National Library has many rare books and journals in its
collection.
The Imperial Library
The Imperial Library was founded in
1891 by combining a number of Secretariat libraries. Of these, the most
important and interesting was the library of the Home Department, which
contained many books formerly belonging to the libraries of East India College,
Fort William, and the East India Board in London. But the use of the library
was restricted to the superior officers of the Government.
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Amalgamation of CPL
and Imperial Library
Lord Curzon, Governor General of
India in the early years of the twentieth century, is usually credited with the
idea of opening a library in Kolkata for public use. He found that the Imperial
Library and Calcutta Public Library were not being used as expected because of
limited access and lack of amenities. He decided to merge the collection of
Calcutta Public Library with that of the Imperial Library, subject to certain
terms.
The new library, called Imperial
Library, was formally opened to the public on 30 January 1903 at Metcalf Hall,
Kolkata. The aims and objectives of the Imperial Library were well defined in a
Notification in the Gazette of India:
‘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.’
John Macfarlane, Assistant Librarian
of the British Museum, London, was appointed the first Librarian of the
Imperial Library. After his death, the polyglot scholar Harinath De took over
the charge of the library. J. A. Chapman succeeded him in 1911. During
Chapman’s term, the library experienced remarkable growth and improvement.
After his retirement, Khan Bahadur M.A. Asadulla was appointed librarian and he
continued in office till July 1947.
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The policy of acquisition broadly
adhered to by the Imperial Library was outlined by Lord Curzon in his speech at
the inauguration: ‘The general idea of the whole Library is that it should
contain all the books that have been written about India in popular tongues,
with such additions as are required to make it a good all-round library of
standard works of reference.’
From the Imperial
Library to the National Library
After Independence the Government of
India changed the name of the Imperial Library to the National Library, with
the enactment of the Imperial Library (Change of Name) Act, 1948, and the
collection was shifted from the Esplanade to the present Belvedere Estate. On 1
February 1953, the National Library was opened to the public, inaugurated by Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad. B. S. Kesavan was appointed the first Librarian of the
National Library.
Check out The Imperial Library
(Change of Name) Act, 1948.
Website of National Library
The first official website of the
National Library (www.nlindia.org) was launched on 22 January 2002 at 4.30 p.m
by H. E. Sri Viren J. Shah, the then Governor of West Bengal, at the main
building. The website was designed by Cyber Animatrix Pvt. Ltd. At the
inauguration, H. E. Sri Shah, also released a CD ROM on the activities at the
National Library. The occasion was made to co-incide with the birth centenary
of Professor Nirmal Kumar Bose, the distinguished anthropologist and freedom
fighter. An exhibition of his publications was also organised.
