District Library, Sirsa

Origin

Sirsa is an ancient city. In Mahabharta and Panini's Ashatadhayayi and Divyavadan it has been mentioned as Sairishaka, which later corrupted to Sirsa. There are many stories about the origin of the name Sirsa. According to one legend the city was founded by a King Saras in the 7^th century AD. Another tradition attributes its name to closeness of the city to the sacred river Saraswati. So in medieval period it was called Sarsuti. Still another tradition advocates the abundance of siris trees (Albizia Lebbbock) as the reason for the name.

The district was established in the year 1976, ten years after the formation of the state Haryana. The library was established on April, 1985. Initially it was started at a rented building near Ananj Mandi. On Ist July 1989 it was shifted to the specially constructed building of its own at the present location.

The library is the most modern and high tech library in the state. It is fully automated and offers internet access as an additional service to its members. It has attributed greatly to its populatity in the area. It is fully monitored using CCTV system.

Building

The library has two storey well furnished and state of the art building. With lush green lawns on all the sides, the library stands as distinct in its surroundings.

Ground Floor has the Librarian's Room, Reception Desk, General Reading Hall, Girls Reading Hall and Cyber-cum-computer lab.

First Floor has the Stack Room, Office and Circulation Desk

Location

The library is located at a prime location in the city. It is just a five minutes walk from the main Bus Stand of the city on the Barnala road. It is at the back of the Bal Bhawan building on the link road connecting the Old Tehsil Road to the Barnala Road. The area is the education hub in the city with the National State College, Girls College and The School for Physically Challenged Children etc. in its vicinity.

Staff

• Mr Nand Kishore Jaiswal from 22.12.1994 to 17.07.1997
• Mr M L Makani from 18.07.1997 to 17.07. 1998
• Mr Nand Kishore Jaiswal from 07.07.1998 to 30.06.07
• Ms Rachna Dewan from 01.07.2007 to Present

Collection

The library has a collection of 20,000+ books. It is subscribing to 13 newspapers.

Membership

The library has a total of 1350 registered members till now.

Membership Security:

• Adults Rs 500 (Refundable) + Fee Rs 10 (Non-Refundable)
• Children Rs 100

Automation

As for the Automation and the use of Information Technology the library is the trend setter in the state. The library is the second library in the state that has completed the retro-convesion of all its books with SOUL ILS.

In addition the library has the distinction of being the only library offering internet access to its users free of charge for 1 hour daily. For this prupose the library has 10 dedicated pcs. The library also subscribes access to many online journals and also provides a list of free journals available in different subject areas of interest for its members.

Another feather in its cap is the library is centrally monitored using CCTV network spanning all the nooks and corners of the building.

Working Days and Work Hours

The library opens for public from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

The library remains closed on Fridays and last Saturday of every month and all the gazetted holidays.

Contact

District Library,
Barnala Road,
Near Bal Bhawan,
Sirsa (HR) - 125955.
India.
Ph: +91 1666 235 857
Email: sirsaelibrary@yahoo.com
Website: http://elibrarysirsa.synthasite.com