Top 10 Reading Libraries To Visit In Kolkata
Kolkata City, through ancient times, is the city possessing and nourishing knowledge and perhaps houses people who are highly erudite.The British rule flourished in the nooks and corners of Bengal, and hence one usually associates it with plethora of literary wisdom and expertise. The White people at large have left most of their heritage in the form of writings existing as epic, novels, manuscripts, etc.
Well, Kolkata henceforth shelters wisdom in literary form. In addition to westernised literature and culture, Kolkata also encompasses knowledge as an indigenous artefact, comprising ‘Bengali’ books, novels, scriptures and just to name a few.
Seemingly Kolkata is a storehouse of books and related stuff. There are a plethora of places where people can sit and read books, newspapers, magazines, novels, etc.; not just sit and read but also take books away. Clearly there are more libraries in Kolkata than one can count on fingertips!
Top 10 Reading Libraries To Visit In Kolkata 
First Library you must visit in Kolkata
National Library of India
The National Library of India on the Belvedere Estate in Alipore, Kolkata, is the largest Library in India by volume, 14th in the list of largest libraries, and India’s library of public record. It is under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It is largest in India with a collection of 2.2 million books. It was established on 30 January in the year 1903, as ‘Imperial Library’ and on February 1, 1953 as ‘National Library of India’. The Library comprises of books, periodicals, and mostly all languages including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, etc. The Hindi Department has books from nineteenth century and the first ever books printed in that language. The collection consists of 86,000 maps and 3,200 maps. It was earlier formed as ‘Calcutta Public Library’. Donations were made by individuals and the Government and books, both Indian and British were purchased for the library. Seems like it’s quite a place one would prefer for reading, that too since ages!
Second Library you must visit in Kolkata
British Council Library
Located on Camac street in Elgin, the library has over 20,000 books, DVDs, magazines and newspapers. The library pompously celebrates British Culture. From life events to what not, UK is not a far away call from here!
Their world class library has everything, from audiobooks to online learning resources and is available to British Council library members. This particular network of library is spread across nine countries. The library in Kolkata was established in 1950. The library at large promotes British history and culture, thereby justifying its name!
Third Library you must visit in Kolkata
Vivekananda Pathagar
Located in Jadavpur Kolkata, it is the only Town Library in this locality. There are over fourteen thousand English and Bengali books including Novels, stories, article of adventures for children and adults. Some young social activists and freedom fighters established Basanta Memorial library in the name of their late comrade, Basanta Mitra at Sharat Chandra Banerjee’s house in the year 1919. The Library was then transferred permanently to present building in 1941. It was renamed in in 1961 as Basanta Smriti Pathagar to tribute Rabindranath’s birth centenary. And since 1982 it is a Government sponsored Town library.
It consists of 18512 books, 5 daily newspapers, 45 magazines/serials, 100 rare books and 1 manuscript. Also, it offers various facilities from Children section to Reference services and Xerox facilities. In short it’s a perfect go-to library for people living in and around Jadavpur!
Fourth Library you must visit in Kolkata
The Boy’s own Library
The Boy’s Own library and Young Men’s institute situated at 2 Boys Own Library row, Kolkata and has emerged as an eminent library of this Metropolis. Founded in 1909 by three schools, it only aimed at spreading camaraderie among fellow boys in terms of reading, education and knowledge, additionally promoting morality along with intellect. A total of 45,000 books along with membership of about 900 with different kinds of social activities reflect the antiquity and heritage of the library. It’s a non-political and non-communal organisation committed towards cultural interaction, including the development of library movement in the entire West Bengal.
Fifth Library you must visit in Kolkata
The IIM Library
The institute library was set up in 1962 and was named as B.C. Roy Memorial library in the memory of Dr. B. C. Roy, the first chairman of the institute. It has been primarily designed to meet the institute’s academic programme requirements. The library has a collection of more than 1.6 lakh volumes of books and bound journals. It subscribes to 500 journals and provides access to more than 40,000 online full text journals. It is considered as one of the best management Libraries in Asia. The complete transaction is computerised and offers a much efficient procedure for everyone.
One finds it very convenient to read and take away books from a library that is so systematically managed and lavishly built!
Sixth Library you must visit in Kolkata
Barrackpore Rastraguru Surendranath College Library
The Central Library is computerised with around 55,000 printed documents and 51 regular journals. The library is automated with open source software Koha. The catalogue of entire collection of library is available 24×7 through the WebOPAC powered by Koha.
The library is a member of N-LIST ( National Library and Information Services infrastructure for Scholarly content). Moreover, the library is subscribing IEEE journals in electronic forms. The library is also an institutional member of BCL, Kolkata.
Seventh Library you must visit in Kolkata
State Central Library
The centre of library activities situated in an approachable populated area of Kolkata is the apex body, the State Central Library. Founded in 1956 at Emerald Tower, it now boasts a six storey, a fully facilitated building at Ultadanga, Kolkata.
The place provides all kinds of amenities to the readers such as lending of books, a reading room, Bibliographical & Reference services. It is also socially helping the society by providing services to children & visually challenged readers as well as to other public libraries with the assistance from State & Central Government.
With so many private libraries popping up in the city, this one still works at the grass root level of the society and makes for a must visit place!
Eighth Library you must visit in Kolkata
The American Library
Formerly known as United States Information Service (USIS) library, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Public Affairs Office of the American Consulate General, Kolkata. Its basic agenda is to provide people a better insight into the history, culture, values, institutions, politics and day to day working of the United States. It maintains 15,000 volumes of books, 162 American periodicals, and 3 newspapers for continuous focus on the States. It also has a virtual library: e Library USA with online access to millions of books and audio-video content. It has content from databases like Gale, Britannica, CQ to help high school and university students with research purposes. The books can also be accessed online at the Online Public Access catalog available on the internet.
If like most people you are intrigued by the history, the making and the working of one the World’s superpower and hope to quench your thirst, then this is the place to be!
Ninth Library you must visit in Kolkata
Chaitanya Library
Situated in the ‘ Heart of Bengali theatrical aroma’ is one of the earliest public library, Chaitanya Library & Beadon Square Literary Club. A pioneer in the literary club scenario of Bengal, it was set up to commemorate the abolishing of the press restrictions and granting freedom of expression by the ‘Metcalfe Press Law’ of 1835.
Initially started by two friends in the ground floor of a family home with help from the grandfather of one of the friends, it was inaugurated on the auspicious occasion of Saraswati puja in 1995 and was closely associated with Rabindranath Tagore. It was later dissolved into smaller public libraries (Imperial Library,1903), eventually made into the National Library of India post independence. It has faced competitions from many literary clubs but is still standing strong. The proximity to ‘Bengali Theatrical Heritage ‘ and the Historical importance of the library itself calls a plethora of readers to its doors and no one leaves dissatisfied.
Tenth Library you must visit in Kolkata
RamaKrishna Mission Institute of Culture Library
Situated in Golpark, Kolkata it boasts a general collection of about 2,03,766 books containing 5 rare articles and 424 Journals of India and abroad. This library is under the Ramakrishna Mission Institute but is also open to the public. The highlight of this place is its focus on ‘Indology’ – the study of Indian history, culture, and values, and has exclusive titles on Vivekananda making it a hotspot for philosophical readings and nurturing of the mind. The library is divided into three wings namely the General, Children’s and the Junior library. Apart from these multitudes of books its also has an extensive database of musical recitals archived over the years. Visit this place to have a laid-back, peaceful evening amidst philosophy and lectures that open your mind.
Well, well, to all the sapiosexuals around, Kolkata is quite a place. As we saw, it indeed comprises of a plethora of reading places with ample amount of resources. All one has to do, is to have a quick look over the above mentioned places!
