NATIONAL LIBRARY OF INDIA

      Calcutta Public Library was established in 1836. It was not a Government institution. It was running on a proprietary basis. Every person subscribing Rs. 300/- in one payment or three installments was to be considered a proprietor. Poor students and others were allowed to use the library free of charge for a specified period of time. The then Governor General, Lord Metcalf transferred 4,675 volumes from the library of the College of Fort William to the Calcutta Public Library. This and donations of books from individuals formed the nucleus of the library. Prince Dwarkanath Tagore was the first proprietor of the Calcutta Public Library.

       Both the Indian and foreign books, specially from Britain, were purchased for the library. In the report of 1850 we find that the library started collecting books in Gujarati, Marathi, Pali, Ceylonese and Punjabi. Donations were regularly made by individuals as well as by the Government of Bengal and North Western Provinces.

      The Calcutta Public Library had a unique position as the first public library in this part of the country. Such a well-organised and efficiently run library was rare even in Europe during the first half of the 19th century. Because of the efforts of the Calcutta Public Library, the National Library has many extremely rare books and journals in its collection.

The Imperial Library 

       The Imperial Library was formed in 1891 by combining a number of Secretariat libraries. Of these, the most important and interesting was the library of the Home Department, which contained many books formerly belonging to the library of East India College, Fort William and the library of the East India Board in London. But the use of the library was restricted to the superior officers of the Government.
  
 

Lord Curzon The Metcalf Hall 

Amalgamation of CPL and Imperial Library

      Lord Curzon, the then Governor General of India, was the person who conceived the idea of opening a library for the use of the public. He noticed both the libraries -- Imperial Library and Calcutta Public Library -- were under-utilised for the want of facilities or restrictions. So, he decided to amalgamate the rich collection of both of these libraries. He was successful in effecting the amalgamation of Calcutta Public Library with the then Imperial Library under certain terms.

       The library, called Imperial Library, was formally opened to the public on 30th January 1903 at Metcalf Hall, Kolkata. The aims and objectives of the Imperial Library, well defined in a Notification in the 'Gazette of India' as -- ' It is intended that it should be a library of reference, a working place for students and a repository of material for the future historians of India, in which, so far as possible, every work written about India, at any time, can be seen and read.'

     John Macfarlane, the Asst. Librarian of the British Museum, London, was appointed as the first Librarian of the Imperial Library. After his death, the famous scholar and linguist Harinath De took over the charge of the library. After his death J. A. Chapman became the librarian. Mr. Chapman showed keen interest in the affairs of the library and tried hard to improve its status. After his retirement, Khan Bahadur M.A. Asadulla was appointed as the librarian and he continued as the librarian till July 1947.
  
  

John Macfarlane, the first Librarian Harinath De, the First Indian Librian

      The policy of acquisition broadly adhered to by the Imperial Library was enunciated by Lord Curzon in his speech at the opening ceremony of the library, -- "The general idea of the whole Library is that it should contain all the books that have been written about India in popular tongues, with such additions as are required to make it a good all-round library of standard works of reference."

Declaring the Imperial Library as the National Library

      After the independence the Government of India changed the name of the Imperial Library as the National Library, with an enactment of the Imperial Library (change of name) Act 1948. and the collection was shifted from the Esplanade to the present Belvedere Estate. On 1st February 1953 the National Library was opened to the public, inaugurated by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Sri B.S. Kesavan was appointed as the first librarian of the National Library.
Checkout: The Imperial Library (Change of Name) Act, 1948.

List of Directors & Librarians
Librarians
 1. Mr. John Macfarlane 1901 -1906
 2. Mr. Hari Nath De 1907 -1911
 3. Mr. J. A. Chapman 1911 -1930
 4. Mr. K.M. Asadulla 1930 -1947 
 5. Mr. B.S. Kesavan 1948 -1963, 1970 -1971
 6. Mr. Y. M. Mulay 1963 -1967
 7. Mr. D.R. Kalia 1967 -1970
 8. Prof. T. K. Srinivasa Iyangar 1980 -1980
 9. Smt. Kalpana Dasgupta 1983 -1995
10. Mr. T.A.V. Murthy 1986 -1987
11. Dr. R. Ramachandran 2001 -

Directors
 1. Dr. R. K. Dasgupta 1977 -1980
 2. Prof. Ashin Dasgupta 1984 -1990
 3. Dr. D. N. Banerjee 1992 -1997
 4. Dr. Ramanuj Bhattacharjee 1987 , 1998
 5. Mr. Harjit Singh 1998 
 6. Mr. A. R. Bandyopadhyay 1998 -2000
 7. Dr. Shyamalkanti Chakravarti 2001 - 2003
8. Dr. Ramanuj Bhattacharjee 2003 - 2004
9. Sri K. K. Banerjee 2004
 10. Prof. Sudhendu Mandal 2004 -26AUG2007
 11. Dr. R. Ramachandran Present Director-in-charge