The library was set up in 1955 in the Bardawan House, which was built in 1906 by the British Raj for the maharaja of Bardawan in Bengal.

"The Bardawan House is in no way an ideal place for a library. The walls are damp and rainwater seeps through the ceiling," a librarian said.

Through years, the collection of books increased, but the space remained the same. Although the library is open to the members of the academy and researchers, lack of space does not allow more than 16 researchers to sit at a time.

The authorities could not even take a simple measure to make copies of the rare books for the use of researchers.

The condition of Rajmala or History of Tripura Rajas is so bad, it tends to rip apart with the turn of pages.

Its first edition published in 1929, Rajmala is a gateway to the political, social and economic structures of the 19th and 20th century Bengal.

The chief librarian, Selina Hossain, has felt the urgency of photocopying the two volumes of Rajmala for use of the researchers.

"The library has no photocopier. We get books copied from outside," she said.

The rich collection includes the books and documents received from the Zaminderbari of Muktagachha. The first edition of 12 volumes of Arabian Nights, translated by Sir RF Burton and published in 1897, was kept in the chamber of the zaminder.

The library boasts the first edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1771, now up for use by researchers. But the condition of the volume is as bad as other old documents.

The first map of Bangladesh, the Rennel's Bengal Atlas, was also received from the Muktagachha Zaminderbari and kept in the academy library.

To have a perfect vision for the British government of the strategic position of Bengal, famous British geographer Major James Rennel made the Bengal Atlas in 1979 after the war of Palassey.

The Bengal Atlas has the original course of rivers in Bengal after the war. Rennel detailed the place of the Palassey war in his map. The Bengal Atlas also shows the detailed map of the Dhaka city of 1979, then known as Jahangir Nagar.

The government budgeted Tk 2 lakh for collection and maintenance of books and documents in the library in fiscal 2003-4 and Tk 3 lakh was allocated for cataloguing and technical purpose.

The library needs microfilms to preserve its historical books and documents. The untouched and unpacked microfilm machine, imported in 1985, is a testimony to mismanagement and misuse of state funds.

It is alleged that the microfilm machine was not unpacked, as the academy could not appoint an operator with a monthly salary of Tk 8,000 or so.

Another microfilm machine has to be imported to save the library's valuable resources from decay.