State Central Library Hyderabad An Intellectual Powerhouse

Will Durant, the famous American philosopher, whose invaluable contribution to culture and civilization is ineffable, rightly says in his Great Men of Literature or Adventures in Genius about books and library: “If I were rich I would have many books and I would pamper myself with bindings bright to the eye and soft to the touch, paper generously opaque, and type such as men designed when printing was very young. I would dress my gods in leather and gold, and burn candles of worship before them at night, and string their names like beads on a rosary. I would have my library spacious and dark and cool, safe from alien sights and sounds, with slender casements opening on quiet fields, voluptuous chairs inviting communion and reverie, shaded lamps illuminating sanctuaries here and there, and every inch of the walls concealed with the mental heritage of our race.” If an avid reader who is a frequenter to libraries questions himself whether there is a single library in the country that comes to the nearest approximation to this ideal the immediate answer he gets is a simple ‘No’. There is, however, the possibility to improve the State Central Library in Hyderabad to satisfy this ideal at least to some modest measure if genuine efforts are made by all concerned.

History: The history of the State Central Library in Afzulgunz, Hyderabad dates back to 1891. It was originally the personal library of Late Moulvi Syed Hussain Bilgrami, a great scholar. The library was then called as Asafia State Library after the name of Asaf Jah dynasty and was located in Abids. The Asafia State Library had gradually emerged as one the biggest, finest and richest libraries in the world both in terms of printed books and manuscripts collection. Syed Tassaduq Hussain, an eminent scholar of Eastern languages was appointed as its first Librarian. The Asafia State Library was shifted to the new building in Afzulgunj 1936 to mark the Silver Jubilee of Nizam the VIIth. The Asafia State Library celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1941. In 1955, after the enactment of the Hyderabad Public Libraries Act, Asafia State Library was declared as the State Central Library for Hyderabad State, which has become the State Central Library for Andhra Pradesh in 1956, after the linguistic re-organisation of the states.

Building: The foundation for this majestic structure was laid in 1932 at the instance of the then Prince Mir Osman Ali. Aziz Ali, the then State Architect and Designer personally supervised the construction. The construction of the building was completed in 1936. Built with a dazzling facade and a marvellous interior the huge structure, an enormous palace, is of remarkable architectural significance and unbelievable beauty and splendour. The arches in the ground floor reflect Hindu culture while arches in the upper level of ground floor reflect Islamic architecture which reflects the religious tolerance of the Muslim rulers of the day. While it has an attractive edifice that invites the attention of the passersby the interior design holds the attention of visitors captive.

The stupendous structure is no doubt an ancient marvel in stone, brick and mortar which needs special attention in regard to maintenance and preservation. One’s attention would be attracted to the secular art inside the spacious halls as one enters the main entrance and will taste aesthetic experience at the dazzling facade with an attractive exterior and a comfortable interior. The halls, stalk rooms as well as other rooms meant for the staff were so large as to meet the future requirements also, constructed spaciously when the city didn’t know the warm bustle or the turbulent pollution. The majestic structure has long verandas with large doors and windows to let light into the reading halls. The building has a splendour of its own which one can only enjoy with eyes more than describe in words. The architecture of the building has a special attraction with its huge doors and windows and high ceilings, reminiscent of old palaces of Kings. The glass panes are embedded in lead to withstand severe weather conditions. As the building was constructed for the sole purpose of housing a library, it is undoubtedly the most convenient building for a state level library. As the visitor enters the library he will be led into a spacious hall which earlier served only as circulation section and reading room besides the reference section. But as the interior building began to wear a squalid look due to poor or no maintenance, the right side hall, earlier only a reading room has now become the stalk room cum reading room.

An annexe building was constructed in 1961 at a cost of Rs.9.00 lakhs to augment accommodation and to meet the growing requirements of a modern state library. It is pertinent that the Government of Andhra Pradesh has declared it as a heritage building and has ordered its renovation, which is now in active progress.

Library Collection: Apart from the architectural glory of the gigantic structure the wealth of information contained in the library is a collective digest of knowledge and wisdom of several ages and climes. It is one of the largest libraries in the country with a wealth of information more than that is available in most of the State Central Libraries and after the National Library housed the Belvedere palace in Kolkata. The library has a collection of about 17,000 rare and valuable manuscripts dating back to 5th and 6th centuries which were transferred to the Andhra Pradesh Oriental Manuscripts Library in 1967. As on date the library has a total collection of 5,01,861 books out of which 1,60,575 are English;1,64,261 are Telugu; 53,911 are Hindi; 85,481 are Urdu, Arabic and Persian; 3,460 are Sanskrit; 1,326 are Tamil; 15,141 are Kannada; and 17,706 are Marathi. The fact that Sanskrit books were collected as early as 1936 clearly discloses the secular attitude of the rulers of the time and their spirit of tolerance of the Hindu brethren and Hindu culture. One does not fail to find any title in the catalogue but its location however has become difficult in recent times owing to various reasons. A large number of books are received from Raja Ram Mohan Roy Foundation, Kolkata every year on almost every subject and in all languages which are very useful to the present young generation particularly to the student community. But this large collection is simply stalked in one or two shelves without extending their benefit to the readers by placing them in the shelves subject wise and as per the accession numbers.

The distinctive character of the library is the marvellous collection of books printed right from the beginning of the history of printing. The newspapers are preserved from 1941. But since the newspapers are available on newsprint paper it will not last long for use by the readers. There is the need to digitize the newspapers and make them available in CDs. The library authorities had already scanned some of the old newspapers up to 1977 and the others are yet to be scanned. The digitisation of the books has been taken up and books published up to the year 1930 are already digitised. So far a good number of books are made available in CDs. The remaining books are yet to be digitised. The process is to be expedited. According to the staff (1) Digitization of newspapers is to be expedited to preserve them as well as to save accommodation; (2) Maintenance of the building apart from reconstruction is the immediate necessity; (3) Adequate staff should be appointed to cope with the increasing work load (as on date only 59 staff are working as against the sanctioned strength of 105 with 46 posts lying vacant).

The unfortunate thing about this biggest library of South India is that while the information available in the library is not available in other libraries, such a wealth of information is not properly preserved. The users of library have no access to the books in the interior stalk rooms in dust caught shelves and if any user enters the old stalk rooms he has to come out completely soaked in dust as the old stalk rooms are not cleaned for several months, nay years. Even the books in the existing stalk room are not properly placed according to the accession numbers with the result that it is very difficult to pin pointedly locate the book. I searched for the volumes of the Nobel Prize Library, published under the sponsorship of the Nobel Foundation & the Swedish Academy, which are generally available in all well established libraries and every University library. But alas! My search was in vain. I could find with great difficulty only one volume in the reference section and nobody knows whether other volumes are misplaced or lost. All such valuable books are generally conspicuously placed in shelves in the reference section in any library which are clearly visible to the readers just like encyclopaedias. There are several old books containing very valuable knowledge like Hundred Great Books of the World, etc which are to be bound immediately and properly located to avoid further damage and make them useful to the reading public. But the process of binding is very slow.

One cannot understand whether books like Great Books of the Western World, Masterpieces of World Literature etc are available in the library or misplaced or lost. There are several books which are misplaced or wrongly shelved. During my search for certain titles I took pains to rearrange the books as per their accession numbers. But what surprises a sensitive reader is as to how it escaped the notice of the library staff that various volumes of the same book should be placed at one place. Out of the innumerable examples I quote one or two: the six volumes of the Cultural Heritage of India are found in different shelves. Likewise all the 34 volumes of ‘The Asiatic Researches’ are not found in one place. It is high time the authorities concerned have noted that ‘A misplaced book is lost.’

When I recently visited the library a fellow visitor from Jordan, while avidly searching for certain titles which, he said, he read long ago in the same library, found that some of the books have become the abode of white ants, and spider nets, and insects have erected shells on some books. Old books have always had a value that cannot be described in words or assessed in terms of money. In the days when printing was young we had a marvellous collection of books worth reading by the entire mankind while after so much advancement of printing technology we are not able to preserve and protect what our grand ancestors did. When, in the year 1973, I asked for certain rare titles like “The Economy of Human Life” (dedicated to Lord Earl of Chesterfield), “Speeches and Writings” (R.G. Ingersoll) “I Have Shed My Tears” (D.F.Karaka), “Guide to Modern Thought” (C.E.M.Joad), “The Pleasures of Philosophy” (Will Durant) etc, the Librarian of Gautami Library, Rajahmundry, a small private library which was run in those days with the monthly subscription of the members and which was then housed in a small very old country tiled building, simply went inside and brought them and gave me. The situation now is not so even in the State Central Library, Hyderabad. The above titles are no doubt found in the catalogue but could not be traced in the stalk rooms.

The State Central Library in Hyderabad is not organised on the lines of the National Library, Calcutta or the Connemara library of Chennai despite the ever-increasing membership and use of the library by the discerning readers. Besides the members having no access to the books, there is no sufficient accommodation to sit and read with the result that a large number of students sit under the trees and on the steps of the building for reading. The text book section has not had sufficient accommodation to accommodate the ever increasing number of students who use text book section daily for preparing for various examinations.

A public library in the modern sense is not a place where public spend their leisure for passing time in recreational reading but it is an intellectual powerhouse that strives to fulfil and meet the educational, cultural and informational needs of the public through books and audio-visual materials. The modern library should provide information relating to the fields of specialisation, activities, professions and occupations. The Kenyon Committee (UK) rightly observes in 1927 about public libraries that “The public interest in libraries has greatly increased and we believe there is now a far healthier belief in the value of knowledge and in the importance of intellectual life.” This observation stresses the need for public libraries to function as engines of great potentialities for intellectual life of a nation and as an essential foundation for the progress of education, knowledge and wisdom. A well developed public library should provide universal education. It is a means through which the record of human achievement and man’s creative imagination are made freely available to all. They should promote the desire of books.

There is a dire need to promote a strong movement of libraries, raise the standard of library services, train the library staff and to provide for better service conditions to the librarians.

Gold is no doubt a very precious and costliest element. But there is no use of it nor has it any value when it is lay hidden in the layers of the earth. It acquires its unique value only when it is extracted and made into an attractive jewel and someone wears it. Same is the case with the valuable information concealed in the books. Their value multiplies only when the discerning readers are able to access them and study, absorb and assimilate their content and transmit to posterities. Every library should be like a mini university with all facilities for advanced study, learning and research as well as intellectual training and development. Even as a nation that ignores past heroes suffers from impoverishment of inspiration and political immaturity so also a generation that is denied of the opportunity to acquire the wisdom and knowledge of the past centuries becomes lackadaisical in learning. A library that does not preserve old books and transmit the ancient wisdom and knowledge to the posterities fails to serve the very purpose of the citadels of learning.

The five laws of library science clearly spell out the functions to be performed by the library staff.

1. Books are for use: Books are not simply to be kept in stalk rooms and worshipped. Readers must have access to them so that they will become really useful and the knowledge multiplied.

2. Every reader his (or her) book: Every reader should have his book as per the choice of his/her subject. Denial of the book of one’s choice denies one the knowledge one seeks.

3. Every book its reader: The books have their own readers and each book should reach the hands of its reader so that the knowledge in it becomes really useful. Knowledge hidden in the pages of the books remains useless unless it enters the minds of their readers.

4. Save the time of the reader: Much of the valuable time of the readers is wasted in searching for the books leaving much less time for reading either due to misplacement of books or due to non-availability of a book as it goes into circulation. Periodical verification of the books in the stalk rooms and rearrangement of books as per the classification is a must to enable the readers locate the books quickly and to save the valuable time of the readers.

5. The library is a growing organism: Practically there is something more in this world this moment than there was the minute before, as observed by an eminent writer. Even as knowledge is growing every minute so also books grow every day and naturally library is an ever growing organism. To safeguard it against misuse and limitation is our sacred concern.

Andhra Pradesh is one of the leading states in India in public library movement with a well-developed network of public libraries. It is the only state in the country which has a separate Minister for public libraries which clearly indicates the importance the state has given to public libraries and library movement. The development of even local branch libraries in the state was so great that the present author could find most of the classics in English and Telugu in a small branch library under the Local Library Authority in Kovvur in West Godavari district when its population was hardly 10,000. To everyone’s happy surprise, this small library contains the entire English literature from Shakespeare to Somerset Maugham besides world famous classics like Lin Yutang’s The Importance of Living, most of the Tagore’s Works etc. besides having the largest readership and number of borrowers of books in the district.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh appointed a committee in 1967 to review the working of the Andhra Pradesh Public Libraries Act 1960 and to make recommendations. One of the recommendations of the committee reads: “The State Central Library to be developed only as a reference and a research library” and that “The State Central Library should be statutorily required to organise training courses and refresher courses for librarians, school teachers and semi-technical library staff.” This recommendation is yet to be implemented. The State Central Library is expected to act as an apex institution and to provide leadership to all the libraries in the state. It should be a well organised reference and research library. It should be the main source of reference material for scholars and research workers. But when the State Central Library is in itself in a sorry state of affairs, it is doubtful whether it can perform the task of providing leadership to all the libraries in the state.

Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest state in India and it has contributed in no small measure to the world’s knowledge and thought. It has been credited with having given birth to Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a globally reputed Philosopher-President of India who, in the words of Bertrand Russell “served to make the culture of India one of the glories of human achievement,” Dr. Zakir Hussain, an eminent educationist and the third President of India, Varahagiri Venkata Giri, an author and a dynamic leader and the fourth President of India, Dr. Yellapragada Subba Rao, inventor of auromycin, P.V.Narasimha Rao, an avid reader and a profound scholar in fourteen languages and the first Prime Minster from the South, and several other scholars, eminent educationists, leaders et al. The state has contributed three Presidents and one Prime Minster to the nation out of whom two Presidents and one Prime Minster are men high intellectual eminence and exceptional educational brilliance. Andhra Pradesh has a glorious past and it has contributed in a magnificent manner to every branch of human knowledge and every field of human activity. The head quarters of such a state should certainly have a library commensurate with the glorious heritage of the state.

It is the responsibility of public libraries to foster the habit of reading which broadens the readers’ vision and sharpens their powers of understanding. Efficiency in reading contributes not only to one’s store of knowledge but it also widens one’s scholarship, refines one’s tastes, widens one’s horizon and makes one’s life more meaningful and purposeful. The principal objective of many a library association in several states of India has been the promotion of library movement and improvement in library services in all aspects. It shall be the endeavour of one and all concerned with the library, both the staff and the members, to rededicate themselves for fulfilment of this sacred and great ideal and to restore the citadel of knowledge and wisdom to its past glory.

By Dr.C.Nagaraja Rao