Maulana Azad Library
 Night view of Maulana Azad Library | |
| Established | 1875 (formally in 1877) |
|---|---|
| Location | Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh |
| Branches | 100 |
| Collection | |
| Size | 1.4 million volumes |
| Other information | |
| Budget | 23.37 Million Rupees |
| Website | http://www.amu.ac.in/malibrary.jsp?did=10066 |
The Maulana Azad Library is the library of Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India. It consists of a central library and over 100 departmental and college libraries. These libraries cater to the needs of graduate, postgraduates, students of professional courses and research scholars.
The seven-storey building is surrounded by 4.75 acres (1.92 ha) of lawns and gardens. It has about 1,400,000 books.
Dr. Amjad Ali serves as the current librarian of the library. [1]
History
The Central Library was set up in 1875, when the university was established as a madarsa called Madarsatul Uloom. In 1877, the madarsa became Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental College. Robert Bulwer-Lytton, the viceroy of India, laid the foundation stone, and the library was named the Lytton Library.
The library was named Maulana Azad Library in 1960, when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated its present building.
Holdings
The library's collection includes about 1,400,000 books, along with periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, paintings and photographs. It aims at supporting students from all departments of the university.
The library has a sizeable collection of early printed books in many languages including Latin translation of the Arabic work Book of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham (965-1039) published in 1572.[2] The Library holds an invaluable collection of 15,162 rare manuscripts, one of which written on parchment in Koofi script is claimed to be inscribed by Hazrat Ali (the fourth Caliph of Islam) 1400 years ago. [3] Other items in the collection include several farmans (decrees) issued by Mughal rulers (including Babur, Akbar, Shahjahan, Shah Alam, Shah Alamgir, and Aurangzeb); a "shirt" on which the whole Qur'an is inscribed in khafi script; the Ayurved written in Telugu; and works by Bhasa written in Malayalam on palm leaves.
The Oriental Division of Maulana Azad Library consists of about 200,000 printed books and periodicals. Donations received have been designated as special collections by the names of their donors. The Urdu collection with more than 100,000 books forms the largest part of the Oriental Division. A substantial number of rare and out-of-print publications of the 19th century belong to the Scientific Society of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Fort William College (Kolkata), Delhi College, Agra College and from the Royal Printing Presses of the courts of Delhi and Oudh.
Among the large collection of Mughal paintings is the painting of Red Blossom by Mansoor Naqqash, court artist of the Emperor Jahangir. Some valuable Sanskrit works translated into Persian have also been preserved in the library. Abul Faiz Faizi, an eminent scholar of Akbar's court translated several Sanskrit works into Persian, such as Mahapurana, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharat and Lilavati.
Building and services
The building has seven stories. It is surrounded by 4.75 acres of lawns and gardens. More than 5,000 students, teachers and other members of the university daily visit the library and use its services. It has five reading rooms with seating capacity of 1150. The reading rooms open 18 hours a day. The library provides the campus with access to online journals through a Computer Lab. Digital resources on many subjects are made accessible through a Digital Resource Centre. All the issuable books are bar-coded for automated check in and check out. The university has established book banks for the benefit of students of certain professional courses.
43,000+ e-journals have been added to the e-resources of the Library which are accessible on Campus wide Network of the University. Access to Open Access Library (OALib), a database of over 2,000,000 full text indexed papers covering research topics relating to almost all academic disciplines, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, material science, medical science, social sciences, and humanities is also available.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.amu.ac.in/amulib.jsp?did=10066
- ↑ Opticæ thesaurus Alhazeni Arabis libri septem, nunc primùm editi: Eiusdem liber De crepusculis & nubium ascensionibus. Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri x / Omnes instaurati, figuris illustrati & aucti, adiectis etiam in Alhazenum commentarijs, à Federico Risnero
- ↑ http://www.amu.ac.in/amulib.jsp?did=10066&lid=Manuscripts
- ↑ http://www.amu.ac.in/amulib.jsp?did=10066
Coordinates: 27°52′48″N 78°04′48″E / 27.8800°N 78.0800°E
External links
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