State Central Library, Kolkata

Origin

Kolkata (renamed from Calcutta in 2001) is the capital of the Indian State of West Bengal. Nicknamed as "City of Joy", it is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River and is approximately 80 kilometers from border with Bangladesh. It is considered as the "Cultural Capital" of India due to magnificent cultural institutions that flourish here. It is also famous as "Food Capital" of India because of the abundance of sea/river food and variety of fruits and vegetables available throughout the year. Six Nobel Laureates have been associated with the city.

There are contradicting theories regarding the name of the city and its founding father. However, in 2003 the Calcutta High Court ruled in a public petition that the city has no founding father. The most plausible derivation of the name 'Kolkata' is believed to be from 'Kolikata' (a fishing village), the Bengali name of one of the three villages that predated the advent of British; the other two villages being Sutanuti (a riverside weavers' village) and Govindapur.

Though the region is supposed to be inhabited since ancient times its recorded history began in 1690, with the advent of the English East India Company. English started with Fort William as a trading post and eventually grew their power and influence over the whole of India. It was their capital till 1911, when they shifted to Delhi due to the vast expansion of their territories towards North and growing nationalism and hostility against the British among the local population after the partition of Bengal in 1905 along religious lines. Though the city witnessed many upheavals and turmoil its cultural identity and magnificent institutions survived.

The library, being a State Central Library, is the Technical Headquarter of the West Bengal Public Library System, the Directorate of Library Services being the Administrative head.

The library was started at Rabindra Bharati University, Emerald Bower Campus, 56, B.T. Road, Kolkata in 1956 and was shifted to current location in Ultadanga, Kolkata in 1996.

Building

The library has its own specially designed building. Originally 10 floors were planned, of which seven has been constructed, five floors already functional and two top floors added recently and are ready to be put into service. Different floors are being used for different sections/functions.

Ground floor is available for users with special needs (easy access) like children, senior citizens, cyber cafe and news readers etc. The sections are Children Section, Senior Citizen Section, New Paper/Journal Section and space for users where they can bring their own books and read.

First floor has the Chief Librarian's room and other administrative units.

Second floor has general reading room, reference section, processing section, English stacks and career guidance section etc.

Third floor houses lending section, the server room and a professional training lab.

Fourth floor consists of auditorium and conference room for functions/events.

Fifth & Sixth floors have been recently added and will be put into service soon.

At the entrance gate, there is a manned locker room, where the visitors are supposed to deposit their belongings.

Three more floors will be added in the future to accommodate the inevitable expansion of the library

Location

The library is located in the densely populated Ultadanga area of Kolkata and is well accessible by public and private transport. The Ultadanga Bus Terminal and Railway Station are within 500 mtrs. radius.

Staff

The library has a total of 51 regular positions in different capacities. The staff is inter-transferable with other Government Libraries under Directorate of Library Services only.

The rest of the positions are for non-technical administrative and assistant staff. Not all the positions are occupied currently; the staff is transferred to and from the library from time to time.

Collection

The library houses a massive collection of 2,25,000 + books in Bengali, English and Hindi language, mainly. The collections have been classified using DDC21 scheme and library catalogue and services are automated using Koha, integrated library management system. The opac can be searched below,

A considerable collection of full text documents is also hosted on DSpace, a Digital Repository Management System for libraries. Library members/visitors are also provided with Kindle device to access online the full text resources. The digital collection can be accessed by clicking the following link,

• Digital Collection: http://dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080/jspui/

The library subscribes to 9 newspapers in 4 languages, English, Urdu, Bengali and Hindi. The library also subscribes to 103 magazines in English, Bangla and Hindi etc. languages.

Membership

The library has 3500 registered members. The library offers lifetime membership. There is no membership fee, but a refundable security of Rs. 500/- needs to be paid at the time of Ist registration. Membership for children is free.

For becoming a member, a membership form needs to be filled and deposited along with two recent photographs, an ID proof with local address in Kolkata and refundable security of Rs. 500.

Each adult registered member is entitled to borrow 2 books for 30 days and each child member is entitled to borrow 2 books for 15 days at a time. After the expiry book lending period a fine at the rate of Rs. 1/day is levied to the defaulters.

Information Technology

The library is fully automated with Koha, an Open Source Integrated Library Management System. It has cyber corner with 20 dedicated computers with internet connectivity for public use. Xerox facility is also available at discounted rate of 75 paisa/page for a minimum 4 page.

Also the library users/visitors are provided free internet/Wi-Fi and Kindle readers to access full text, digital resources.

Working Hours

The library remains closed on gazetted holidays, Sunday, second and fourth Saturdays of the month. The library timings are 11 am to 8 pm.

Contact

State Central Library,
1/17, CIT Scheme,
VII-M, VIP Road,
Ultadanga,
Kolkata (WB)-700054.
INDIA.
+91 33 2355 0415/0416
Email: statecentrallibrarywb@gmail.com
Website: https://www.wbpublibnet.gov.in/node/609