Library: A lighthouse of knowledge
Jessore Institute Public Library: A lighthouse of knowledge
Mostafa Kamal
Researcher of DCPL
& BDTP / Ph.D (Study)
The first enemy free district of Bangladesh during our War of Liberation was Joshore. The Indian border adjacent district is widely known for its Benapol Land Port. The eminent writer Allen Ginsberg made acquaintance the district in global territory writing the famous poem ‘September on Jessore Road’ on Bangladeshi refugees in 1971. The historically important district has different types of architectural emblems including Shani Mosque, Khanjalir Dighi, Lalu Babu Jamidar Bari, and collectorate building etc. The district was advanced in practicing different types of knowledge from the ancient period which is perceived observing the history of Bengali literature and it breeds some ageless writer like Michael Madhusudan Dutta. The first public library of Bangladesh is also situated in Joshore which was established in 1851.
A five-member-book-lover team from different universities, including Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka University, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital, and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) went to visit the historical public library recently and I was one of them.
The historical public library has two separate buildings, one is two-story and another is three-story. The official activities of the institution are conducted on the ground floor of the two-story building. The first floor and the rest part of the ground floor are magnificently decorated with bookshelves which are choked up with different types of books including ancient and modern times. Dozens of magazines of different categories like entertainment, science and technology, food-recipes and many more are scattered on a giant table, people are seen reading as per their own choice.
Abbas Uddin, the chief librarian of Jessore Institute Public Library, said “At present the library has around 70,000 books in Bangla, English, Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. The library also preserves 200 handwritten manuscripts and some of them are very old. These include scripts written on tulot paper and palm leaves by the Shri Krishna Dwaipayana Vedvyas, author of the Mahabharata and copies of manuscripts of Kalidasa, Raghuram Kabiraj, Kashim Das, Trilochan Das, Bhatrihari, Padmanan Dutta, Amar Shingha and Matsanakya. Also in the list of manuscripts preserved in the library is the copy of the book Raban Indrajit Sangbad written on the theme of Ramayan”.
The chief librarian, who is a freedom fighter, has been working tirelessly in the library for 51 years, joining in 1967.
Another librarian said, “It was established on 3 acres land in 1851. Then district collector RC Rex had raised the fund and established the library with a tiny range in private initiative primarily. The collection of books was not at a large scale at the time of inception but with the change of time, the library has been enriched gradually. In 1998, around 67,000 books were in the collection. But since then collection of new books is not satisfactory”
The three-story building of the library is also decorated with arrays of bookshelves and reading tables. The old newspapers are decorated into shelves, binding as volumes. Some of the preserved handwritten manuscripts have been kept on the second floor for display. The books of different categories are kept on different shelves, newspapers, novels, science fiction, religious, scientific, philosophical, astronomical and all other according to the category.
The library has around 2,500 members and some of them around 200 are donor and lifetime members. The book issuing facilities is for only members. Except for government holidays and weekends, the library is open for all in every weekday from 10.00 am to 8.00 pm.
Expressing dissatisfaction the chief librarian said, “In the past many people would come here to read, but now the young generation is reluctant come to the library. They are not interested in reading books. The members are decreasing day by day at the mentionable rate and the area of the library has also been decreased due to the establishment of other institutions around the library like cinema hall, town hall, the theatre hall, Mukta Mancha and markets.”
“Libraries are considered as the lighthouse of any nation. So, these lighthouses need proper patronization to create a knowledge-based nation” he added.
During the library visit, it seemed to me, I was dipped into the sea of knowledge for some hours. Undoubtedly, it was the best experience ever I have gathered. It’s just amazing. If you ask me to describe the library in a single word I would just say, it is super califragilistic expialidocious!
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