MAHARAJA'S LIBRARY

Demand to restore the status of North Bengal State Library

The then ruler of Cooch Behar, Maharaja Nripendra Narayan had established a library in 1870. It was then known as Cooch Behar State Library. In 1969, the State Library and the Cooch Behar District Library had been amalgamated and renamed as North Bengal State Library.

Till 1969, prior to the merger, the old library was enjoying 'A grade' status, as it was a State Library. But after soon after the merger of the State Library with the District Library its status was degraded to 'B grade' as other district libraries of the state. Since then, the matter has been brought to the notice of all concerned authorities on several occasions but nothing was done to restore the status of the NBSL.

There are more than 84,000 books in the North Bengal State Library. Among the books 16,000 are rare ones as those are 100 to 200 years old. There are many rare manuscripts too.

As the NBSL is a huge storehouse of books, magazines, periodicals, manuscripts, scriptures and rare scripts, it is hard for the readers or booklovers to find out a particular book. The existing index card system is not sufficient for searching of books, said several readers and researchers. Computerisation may ease the situation. After completion of the computerisation the readers would be able to get the right books of their choice. At the same time the readers or researchers of any country can be able to get any information of the books kept in this library through Internet.

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Kolkata, a Central government unit, already completed digitisation of about 4,000 rare Bengali books. The digitisation work had started in June 2005. But, the vast collections of English rare books are yet to be digitised.

The state governor Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi had visited the North Bengal State Library on 6 May. The visit was not in his pre-scheduled programme and so the administration and the authorities of the library were found unprepared to receive the VVIP guest.

During his short visit, the governor had inquired the present situation of the NBSL. He asked the librarian Mr Ranu Dey about the age-old manuscripts and rare books kept in the library since the Raj days and the procedure of their maintenance and preservation.

As the governor reportedly got displeased seeing the deplorable condition of maintenance of the rare books, he asked the librarian to submit a detailed report on the condition of the library including its staff pattern and the requirement of annual funds for purchasing of furniture and books and preservation of rare books and manuscripts. When asked, the librarian Mr Ranu Dey said that following the governor's desire the report have been submitted to the state government a few days ago.

It was learnt that the NBSL receives about Rs 50,000 a year for buying of books, newspapers and magazines. It also receives Rs 5,000 for binding, preservation and maintenance of the books but the actual requirement is much more than that. There are two posts lying vacant for a long in the sanctioned 12 posts. As it is a state library it needs more staff, opined a few library workers.