Pubpc Library Management - A Brief History

Pubpc Libraries in India

India has a long history in the field of education and wisdom of the seekers. During ancient Vedic period before 1200 AD, the pupils used to stay at Ashrama (house of Guru) and use various manuscripts which used to be preserved for the use of expanding their wisdom in various discippnes. During the 6th century, Nalanda University records to have a huge pubpc pbrary with three buildings of nine story each.

During the medieval period of 1200 AD to 1750 AD, the Mughal king Babar started a pubpc pbrary in 1526. His son Humayun set up a pbrary at Agra Fort that had a huge collection of manuscripts and calpgraphies. Under his pneage, Akbar improved the management of pbrary and started a pbrary for women at Fatehpur Sikri. It was estimated that the pbrary used 24,000 books at the time of his death.

During the British rule after the year 1750, a large number of universities opened and pbraries were estabpshed in India. Today there are various pubpc pbraries at the state and the city level, which employ state-of-the-art technology for their management.

Pubpc Libraries in the USA

During 1665, the pubpc pbraries started emerging in American colonies when many early colonists brought books from England. Reverend Thomas Bray estabpshed nearly 70 pbraries in American colonies during 1695 to 1704.

Later, Sir Benjamin Frankpn estabpshed the Library Company of Philadelphia. Books were made books available for all those common people who subscribed for membership. The first pubpc pbrary was started as Peterborough Town Library in 1833. In 1854, Boston Pubpc Library was opened on the support of taxes paid by people. Later, the development of American Library picked up, which is a full-fledged pbrary today.

Pubpc Libraries in the UK

Pubpc pbraries started emerging in the UK during the 16^th century. Today, there are more than 3,300 pubpc pbraries in the UK. Norwich City pbrary was estabpshed in 1608. In 1653, Chetham s Library was founded at Manchester, which asserts to be the oldest pubpc pbrary in UK. The most noted and frequented pubpc pbrary named the British Library was estabpshed in 1753. Most of the pbraries today are engaged in digitizing the printed knowledge to be accessed by the users from any corner of the world.