National Library of Bangladesh

বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় গ্রন্থাগার
(Bangladesh National Library)
(National Library of Bangladesh)
Established 1972[1]
Location Justice S.M. Murshed Sarani, Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagor, Dhaka
Coordinates 23°46′33″N 90°22′26″E / 23.7759°N 90.3740°ECoordinates: 23°46′33″N 90°22′26″E / 23.7759°N 90.3740°E
Collection
Size 500,000 total books
200,000 processed books
Access and use
Members 8,200
Other information
Budget 18,200,000 BDT
(1 crore and 82 lac)[2]
Staff 98[2]
Website www.nanl.gov.bd

The National Library of Bangladesh (NLB) (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় গ্রন্থাগার) is the legal depository of all new books and other printed materials published in Bangladesh under the copyright law of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1972, but it traces its origins back to 1891, before the Bangladesh Liberation War and its independence.

History

After the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, the government of Pakistan established the National Library of Pakistan in Karachi in 1962 and a provincial book deposit branch of the Pakistan National Library in Dhaka in 1967. In fact, that book deposit branch was the embryo of the National Library of Bangladesh which came into being after the independence of the country in 1971.

After the liberation war of Bangladesh, it was keenly felt by all quarters that a national library is indispensable for the newborn nation. Considering the necessity and importance, the government resolved to set up the National Library of Bangladesh in Dhaka. The Library first started functioning with the manpower, resources and materials inherited from the Provincial Book Deposit Branch. Later on, in 1973, the two national organizations "The National Archives of Bangladesh" and "The National Library of Bangladesh" were merged with the name "Directorate of Archives and Libraries" under the Sports and Culture Division, Ministry of Education. A new building for the National Library of Bangladesh was built in 1985 and the library was shifted to its present place, called the Jatiya Granthagar Bhavan. (literally: National Library Building) at Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. The National Library of Bangladesh is currently run by the Directorate of Archives and Libraries under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Aim and objectives

To develop maintain a comprehensive National Collection, to ascertain equitable access of citizen to that collection in view of enhancing learning capacity and total competitive power of the nation as a whole in addition to collect and preserve the intellectual creative printed materials..

Collection overview

The main characteristics of the NLB Collection are that it encompasses all the major disciplines of human knowledge, i.e. Development Administration, MIS, HRD, Women empowerment, Economic, Environment and Disaster Management, etc. The specialty of the NLB's multidisciplinary National Collection is that it preserves long-term, all citizens have access, and it is based on the confluence of the country's creative/intellectual publication with the world-class latest representational books in additional special collections.

NLB collections

Special collections trusted to the NLB

Sections

Functions

Following are the major functions of Bangladesh National Library:

Citizen Charter

The citizens have the following rights:

Users figure

The number of registered users per year is approximately 7,000.

Government income

Development projects

External links

References

  1. Background information of the National Library of Bangladesh, Directorate of Archives and Libraries, Ministry of Cultural Affairs
  2. 2.0 2.1 Administration information, Directorate of Archives and Libraries, Ministry of Cultural Affairs