Feature

A Little World of Books…

Tabassum Mokhduma

CULTURE and education are two major things that identify a nation. A nation is only said to be developed when it is rich in culture and education. Libraries play a major role in this aspect. Libraries are very important in creating ideal citizens.

The CU Central Library was launched in the month of November, 1966. It started with limited staff and only 300 volumes of books in the stock and was housed on a temporary building covering a floor area of only 1200 square feet.

At the end of 1973, the library was shifted temporarily to the present administrative building. In 1990 the library was shifted to its own building which is the largest library building in Bangladesh. It is a three-storied building with mezzanine floor and the total floor area of the library is 56,700 square feet. Situated in the central point of the CU campus, it is surrounded by halls of residence and different faculty buildings.

The library collection consists of over 2,33,808 volumes of books of different interests and about 415 current periodicals subscriptions, of different Faculties, Centres and Institutes. CU central library is a regular subscriber of Reader's Digest, Newsweek, TIME, Far Eastern, Dhaka Courier, Economic Review etc.

The main collection consisting of books and monographs are housed in the ground floor and 1st floor. The collection of journals consists of current journals and over 33,967 bound back volumes arranged alphabetically by title. All the books and journals are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification number, so that documents of the same or related subjects are together. These can only be used within the library. The library houses separate study rooms for the students and teachers of different faculties. Furthermore, there is also provision of 12 rooms for individual study and research for M.Phil and PhD students.

The collection of references consists mainly of encyclopaedias, dictionaries, hand books, manuals, publisher's catalogues, books in print, government publications, World Bank, IMF, UNESCO, ILO, UNICEF, BBS, University publications, World Almanacs, Maps, different publications of the United Nations, different NGOs etc. The reference staffs assists in locating information and provide necessary instructions in the use of the reference materials and sources.

The rare collection includes more than 600 old manuscripts written in Bengali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, which were written during the period of 1872-1953. There are some manuscripts and other documents written on Vujapatra, Palm leaves, Tulat Paper etc. There are more than 2,900 old and rare books in Bengali, Persian, Urdu and Arabic. More than 575 thesis papers, 1750 research papers (photocopy) and 515 compact disks (CD) on different topics are preserved in this section.

Apart from all these books, the audio visual resource of this library is more than 900 in numbers. The collection section regularly buys and collects different local and foreign books, journals etc. To inform the students about new books, library authority circulates the list of new books to all the departments every three months.

Those who are not the students of CU can also use this library. But the external users are required to have letters of introduction from their respective organizations/institutes and need special permission from the librarian/authority.

The central library is managed by the Library Committee consisting of 15 members including Dean of all faculties headed by Pro-Vice-Chancellor as Chairman. The librarian is the Member-Secretary of the committee. The committee frames policies and provides necessary instructions for smooth functioning of the library from time to time.

The library remains open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the working days where 86 employees, including 9 officer works in two shifts.

A library helps to spread the light of knowledge. So, even the best library needs to be developed. On behalf of Star Campus (SC), I spoke to Mr. S. M. Abu Taher (SMAT), Librarian, CU Central Library about the plans and initiatives of the authority to raise the standard and facilities of the library.

SC: What initiatives are taken to lift the standard of the library?

SMAT: We have taken steps to bring the central library under computerized automation system. Necessary works are going smoothly to complete the project. We have already installed 14 computers and a server for this purpose. Moreover, very recently, the World Bank and CU authorities signed an agreement to set up an information centre at the library.

SC: Do you think the present collection is adequate enough to help the readers?

SMAT: Definitely not. As we have limited collections, we cannot lend books and other reading materials to students. Though we are buying and collecting reading materials regularly, still it's not enough. I think people should come forward and donate books or other reading materials to help increase the collection of library.

SC: What should be done to encourage students to read more books?

SMAT: I think we should organize more seminars and provide quick and better service to the students to develop good reading habits. And we should also increase the collections of new books, journals and magazines of varied interests to attract the students.