{"id":196,"date":"2018-07-11T09:46:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T09:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisp13.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&p=196"},"modified":"2018-08-02T07:13:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T07:13:32","slug":"major-public-libraries-of-delhi","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/lisp13\/chapter\/major-public-libraries-of-delhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Public Libraries of Delhi"},"content":{"raw":"
<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n1. Introduction<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n

Delhi was put on library map in the second half of the 19th\u00a0 century . \u201cIn 1865 the Delhi Society for Promotion of Literary\u00a0 and\u00a0 Cultural\u00a0 Activities was organized\u00a0 and\u00a0 this\u00a0 is\u00a0 said\u00a0 to\u00a0 be beginning\u00a0 of\u00a0 library\u00a0 movement\u00a0 in Delhi\u201d.The members (mostly Britishers) of this Society had earlier donated their personal collection of books and named the same as \u2018Delhi Institute Library\u2019 around 1862. Thus theyear 1862 could be said to be the beginning of the\u00a0 Library. This collection of books was initially placed in one of the rooms of Lawrence Institute ( now known as Town Hall, Chandni Chowk). This Delhi Institute Library has had different names during different periods of time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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From the above illustration we discover t<\/strong>hat after about 40 years of its existence in 1902 this Delhi Institute Library was formally inaugurated by the name \u2018Delhi Public Library\u2019 and shifted from Lawrence Institute to Kaccha Bagh in a small room with three members of library staff ( 1 Librarian + 1 Clerk and 1 Peon) to manage. Gradually the flow of visitors stared increasing, so the library started experiencing shortage of space as well as staff to manage the collection and its services. Regular flow of funds to meet the running expenses of Library was the other problem.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

An incident of 23 December 1912 changed the entire course of history of the Delhi Public Library for the good. On this day a bomb was hurled on the procession of Lord Hardinge by a mob of freedom fighters led by Lala Hardayal in the Company Bagh area of Chandni Chowk. Lord Hardinge, however, escaped unhurt. To mark\u00a0the event, a Committee was constituted under the chairmanship of <\/span>Rai Bahadur<\/em> Shiv Prasad for the construction of a building to house the Delhi Public Library. In a very short time a sum of Rs.70,000 was collected. Eminent people of the time contributed liberally. Khan Ali Hazi Baksh Ilahi contributed a sum of Rs 14,000 while the Maharaja of Kashmir contributed Rs.10,000. A magnificent building came up within a four years record time and was named as \u2018 Hardinge Library` (Vardhman Mahaveer Open University, Kota: M Phil Course Material MPLS-02 Library Systems. 2009 p74-75).<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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After 1951 many public library-cum-reading rooms have come up in the city of Delhi. Total number of such Library-cum-Reading rooms is over 250. Their collection ranges from 1,000 to 13,00,000 volumes. It Is noteworthy that some of these libraries are exclusively for children.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n1. National Bal Bhawan Library<\/strong>\r\n\r\n \r\n

National Bal Bhawan Library at Kotla Road, New Delhi was established in 1956 at the initiative of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India with the aim of educating children between the age group of 5 to 16 and fostering in them the habit of lifelong reading. It is open from 9am to 5.30pm. It follows open access and can seat 60 children at a time. It has children specific collection of 35,000 volumes. Though the Library does not use any Library Management Software, it does have a computer with Internet facility. Data conversion and Barcoding of collection is under way. DDC scheme of classification is being used to classify and organize the collection.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

In 1992 the Library got a new home which is very spacious and enough room for organizing various activities. The Library is fully funded by the Government and is supervised by a technically qualified lady librarian. There is separate room for the kids between the age group of 5-9. it is very well organized, quite attractive and fully decorated.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

There are two sections in the library \u2013 the Children\u2019s section and the Reference section. Children have easy access to the books in the library as they are kept in open shelves. The Reference section has a good collection of reference books related to arts, science, culture and literature. New books are regularly added so that children can keep themselves abreast with the latest developments in these areas.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

National Bal Bhawan\u2019s Library is not confined to print collection alone. Literary activities are also clubbed with the library activities. This is done by organizing various innovative and lively programmes such<\/p>\r\n\r\n