About

Odisha (formerly 'Orissa') is an Indian state on the Eastern coast, with its capital at Bhubaneswar and official language 'Odia'. The state has 30 districts. It is 8th largest state by area and 11th largest by population. It shares its northern borders with West Bengal and Jharkhand, western border with Chhattisgarh and southern border with Andhra Pradesh. The region was also known as 'Utkala'. The ancient Kingdom of 'Kalinga', famous for invasion by Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was located in this region. The modern boundaries of the state were demarcated in 1936. Cuttak used to be the capital of the state, until 1948, when Bhubaneswar was made the capital.

Odisha has the tradition of book reading and book keeping dating back to ancient times. The state has had public reading facilities in some form in almost all the periods of its history. The modern library system in the state is managed by Directorate of culture, Government of Odisha. There is a State Library in Bhubaneswar, a Sub-divisional Library in Mayurbhanja and 17 District Libaraies. Apart from these, there are 6 Ex-District Board Libraries, 4 Memorial Hall Libraries and some aided libraries.