Dr. Radhakrishnan State Central Library, Jaipur

Origin

Jaipur (means city of victory) is famous as the pink city of India. It is capital and biggest city of Rajasthan state and is also the headquarter of Jaipur district. Jaipur city was founded by Maharaja (King) Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727 who was ruling from Amber at that time. In ancient times the region where the modern day Jaipur is situated was ruled by Matsya Kingdom.

The Maharaja was interested in shifting his capital from Amber to a new location that should be secure and should have resources to support the growing population. He choose the location of present day Jaipur for his new capital. He was a man of learning and had keen interest in mathematics, astrology, vastu-shashtra, shilpa-shashtra and astrophysics. He sought help from a Brahmin scholar Vidyadhar Bhattacharya who was working as accounts clerk in treasury in the designing of layout of the city and many prominent buildings. The first phase of construction took about 4 years to complete and at that time it was one of the best planned cities in the country.

The city turned into a education hub with its Ist colleges dating back to 1865. At that time it was the only place of learning in the region.

The library was established in the year 1956. It was functional from Maharaha Library at Jaipur until 1990 when it was shifted to the present specially designed sapcious building.

Building

The library has a spacious building spanning on an area of 10000 square meters with green lawns on all sides and parking space. Presently the building is single storey but Ist floor is coming up in near future as the space needs of the library are increasing day by day. A grant has been sanctioned by RRRLF for the purpose and construction work will start soon.

The building is centrally Air Cooled and is under CCTV surveillance.

The library faces the JLN Road with entrance at the right from an link road. There is a canteen at the entrance gate, parking space on the left and parking for the physically challenged persons in front of the porch.

Entering the main door on the left is the reception-cum-luggage counter where visitors are required to leave their belongings and on the right is the enquiry conter. A door at the right corner leads into a gallery with children's section, librarian's room, office, technical section and processing section on the right; conference hall and public conveniences etc. on the left and a covered path in the center leads to the main reading hall and the adjoining book stacks of the library. The readding hall has book stacks arranged on the left and the circulation desk is near the entrance. A terrace runs along the length of the hall and covers the reading hall partially. It has carels for research scholars, reference collection and book stacks.

Conference Hall: The library has a conference hall that is rented out to public and public/private sector organizations for organizing events. The charges for hall booking are as under:

• Govt. Organizations: Rs 1000/day
• Non-Government Organizations/individuals: Rs 2000/day

Note: An booking in advance is mandatory for using the conference hall. Booking form can be requested from the library office.

Lawn: The library also offers its spacious lawn for similar purpose. The charges are Rs 35000/day. The booking process is the same.

Research Carrels: The library has special 8 research carrels/private reading rooms for research scholars, serious readers inside the reading hall. The charges for using the service are Rs 100 for 15 days.

Location

Jaipur is located at a distance of about 270 Kms from National capital New Delhi. National Highway 8 connects it to Delhi. The city has an average altitude of 431 meters.

The library is located in the education hub of the city on the Jawahar Lal Nehru (JLN) Road with Rajasthan University and many of its colleges just in its vicinity. Other prominent state offices are also within easy reach giving the library the advantage of easy access for all. From the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) called Sindhi Camp the local bus route no 17 drops just near the library.

Staff

Chronological List of Chief Librarians

• Mr Chander Chander Bhandari from 1956 to 1978
• Mr Deep Singh from 1978 to 1984
• Mr Virendar Kumar Kulshreshta from 1984 to 1990
• Mr Moinudeen Ahmed from 28.01.1990 to 31.10.1997
• Mr Gopal Sharan Gupta from 01.11.1997 to 15.07.1999
• Mr Gouri Shankar Sharma from 15.07.1999 to 05.07.2002
• Ms Chanderprabha Mishra from 06.07.2002 to 17.10.2005
• Mr Ganesh Naryan Sharma from 17.10.2005 to 03.07.2010
• Mr Shankar Dayal Sen from 03.07.2010 to 31.07.2010
• Mr Ganesh Narayan Sharma from 01.08.2011 to Present

Collection

The library has rich collection of 86000 books. The whole collection has been divided into many general and special collections arranged according to DDC-19 classification scheme with a CCC catalogue. The E-catalogue is under preparation and will be available shortly.

The library subscribes 27 newspapers in English & Hindi. The library also subscribes 200-250 magazines in different languages.

Membership

The library has around18500 registered members till now. The library offers membership for a period of one session and is renewable thereafter. The membership fee is very nominal, but a refundable security needs to be paid at the time of Ist registration by outsiders. This secutiry is carried forward during periodical renewals.

Membership Fee:

• Adults Rs 25 (form price Rs 2 extra)
• Children (5-14 years) Rs 3 (as form price-cum-membership Fee)

For details click here.

Information Technology

The library automation process is underway using the e-pustakalya library management software, developed by the state owned software development company Rajcom.

The library has 6 PCs right now with internet connectivity that are used for office work and ongoing automation project. Shortly the electronic format of library catalogue will also be available for public inside the library. The library provides photocopy facility to its members at Rs 1/page rate.

The children section is well equipped with audio/visual material.

Working Hours

The library remains closed on every Sunday but opens on gazzeted holidays from 10am to 5pm. The library timings vary according to the season.

• Summer (I^st April to 30^th September) 7:00 am to 7:00 pm
• Winter (I^st October to 31^st March) 7:30 am to 6:30 pm

Contact

Dr Radhakrishnan State Central Library,
(Opposite Rajasthan College),
Jawahar Lal Nehru (JLN) Marg,
Gandhinagar,
Jaipur (RJ)-302015.
INDIA.
Phone: +91 0141 2707 694
Email: ganesh.narain@yahoo.com