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Feature

Dhaka University Central Library
the ocean of knowledge

Kazi Ahmed Farhan & Amanat Ahmed

More than 30 thousand students and teachers of Dhaka University are members and Dhaka University Central Library is the service provider. The figure says that D.U. Central Library is one of the largest libraries in the country. It was established in the year 1921 simultaneously with the formation of the university. It started its journey with 18 thousand books which were acquired from the Dhaka College Library and Law College Library. Now it is more than an ocean by having more than 6.8 lacs books (approximate).

Book collection is done as per request made by the departments. This library has many rare collections of books, journals etc. There are 30 thousand manuscripts which were written in different languages. Beside this, it contains many rare manuscripts written on paper, palm leaf, banana leaf, stone, etc. This library has newspapers which were published in 1868 and onwards. All the newspapers published from 1955 till date are preserved in both binding and microfilm formats. This library has all the issues of Daily Azad which is the first daily newspaper of Bangladesh, and some other major dailies of present time.

Teachers and students are eligible for the membership in the DU Central Library. Registered graduates of DU can also be the member of this library.

From the library, teachers and students can borrow books. Teachers can borrow highest 10 books at a time. On the contrary, students can issue two science books whereas only one can be issued from other disciplines. The library can provide phtocopy of certain books/magazines/journals as per need. To give comfort to the readers, the reading rooms are air-conditioned.

This library remains open 6 days a week. From Saturday to Wednesday, it is kept open from 8am to 9pm. On Thursday, the library timing is 9am. to 5pm. Mr. Khandakar Fazlur Rahman is the librarian of this library and Syeda Farida Parvin is the librarian (Planning & Development).

This library has an Internet Browsing Centre for browsing. It is open from 9am to 4.30pm. Teachers and students have the access. They get access for 15 minutes by showing the ID card/ Library card. Books published in 1980 and onwards have been enlisted in the database by this library for better quenching the thirst. This will ultimately help to browse the Dhaka University Catalogs through internet.

Already the steps are taken to start “Bar Coded Borrower Card” for the members of this library. Soon the library authority will transform the library as a “Digital Library”.