Rajkya Harishchander Sarvajanik Zila Pustakalya (District Library), Jhalawar

Origin

Jhalawar is the district headquarter of the district with the same name. It was also known as Brijnagar. It was the capital of former princely state of Jhalawar. It was founded by Jhala Zalim Singh, the Dewan of Kota State in 1790s. He developed this town as a army contonment, known at that time as Chaoni Umedpura. He was interested in this area because it was sorrounded by dense forests at that time and was at a strategic position with Maratha armies passing through the region before invading Kota state.

The library is one of the oldest not only in the state but in the country. It was established in 1913 as Kamble Library, named after an English Agent. At that time it was meant only for the elite class. It was in 1952 that the library was taken over by state admiistration and converted into a district library and opened for the general public.

Building

The library shares a heritage building with a museum. The museum is on the ground floor and the library occupies the Ist floor. The library has a Reading Room, Stack Room, Children Section, Librarian's Room, Reference Section, Office and Store.

Location

Jhalawar is located on NH-12 at a distance of about 590 Kms from national capital New Delhi and around 330 Kms from state capital Jaipur.

The library is located in front of the Garh Palace on the Cement Road.

Staff

The list of librarians who headed the library is as under,

• Mr Chander Prakash Sharma from 1975 to 02.1997
• Mr Radhe Shyam Chaurasya from 05.1997 to 10.2001
• Mr Kailash Chand Rao from 24.11.2001 to Present

Collection

The library has a rich collection of 40,000+ books. The whole collection has been divided into many general and special sub-collections arranged according to DDC scheme of classification. Electronic catalogue is being prepared using e-pustakalya software.

The library also has collection of 4000 Rare Books This rare book collection is being digitized and more than 2 hundard thoudand pages have been scanned and the work is in progress to scan remianing 8 hundard thousand. This colleciton covers rare books in English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and Farsi languages.

The library subscribes to 13 newspapers in English & Hindi and 22 magazines.

Membership

The library offers membership for a period of one session (1st April to 31st March) and is renewable thereafter. The membership fee is as under,

Membership Fee:

• All Categories Rs 21

Information Technology

The library has four computers for office and automation/digitization use with internet connectivity. The library rare colleciton is being digitized and general collection is bieng electronically catalogued with e-pustakalaya. The children section is equipped with audio/visual material.

Working Hours

The library remains closed on every Tuesday. The library timings vary according to the season.

• Summer (I^st April to 30^th September) 12:00 noon to 8:00 pm
• Winter (I^st October to 31^st March) 11:00 am to 7:00 pm

Contact

Rajkya Harishchander Saravajanik Zila Pustakalya (District Library),
Opposite Garh Palace,
Cement Road,
Jhalawar (RJ)-326001.
INDIA.
Phone: +91 7432 232 784