College

The history of establishment of colleges in Bangladesh goes back to 1841 when Dhaka College was established. Up to 1943, there were about 32 colleges in the country, which played a significant role in the development of education in this part of the then undivided Bengal. According to a survey conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) in 1995, there are 230 Government colleges and 915 Non-Government general colleges in Bangladesh, which consist of Intermediate colleges. Degree colleges. Honors colleges and University colleges. The condition of libraries in almost in all these colleges is unsatisfactory. Another survey shows that the government colleges have a form of library and the Non- Government colleges except a few have no library in practice. They have a library only in record, which is required for the purpose of affiliation of the college (Chowdhury, 1993:164).

Chowdhury, (1993:165) says:

95% of the colleges in the country do not have any separate library building. Library is housed in a damp room with scanty supply of light and air, which is unsuitable for user. Most libraries do not have reading room facilities, not have sufficient furniture and equipments and books are in short supply. A few colleges have a large collection of books but most of them are out dated, obsolete and dilapidated. Books written in English do not find any readers and no college, irrespective of level and number of students, receives on an average, more than Taka 13,000 per year for the purchase of books from the Government. Of 230 government colleges only 17 have qualified professional librarians in them. Majority of the college libraries are run by either sub-professional or non-professional librarian.

The condition is similar in case of Non-Government college libraries.

There are also libraries with different professional colleges like Medical, Engineering, Agriculture and different training institutes. But except the Engineering and Agriculture field, libraries in other institutions are poor in collection, organization and staff position.

University

The history of University Libraries in Bangladesh goes back to the establishment of Dhaka University in 1921. However, the country today has the following Universities and their libraries are functioning in a traditional way almost from the establishment of the universities by the Government;

University of Dhaka (established in 1921)
University of Rajshahi (established in 1953)
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (established in 1961)
Bangladesh Agricultural University (established in 1961)
University of Chittagong (established in 1966)
Jahangirnagar University (established in 1970)
Islamic University (established in 1986)
Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology (established in 1991)
Khulna University (established in 1991)
Bangladesh Open University (established in 1991)
National University (established in 1992).
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (established in 1998)
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (established in 1998)

The country has also about 15 Non-Government Private Universities approved by the University Grants Commission of which only North-South University (established in 1992), Independent University, Bangladesh (established in 1992) have any mentionable libraries. The libraries in other private universities are yet to grow properly.

As compared with public and other academic libraries the condition of university libraries in Bangladesh is satisfactory regarding their collections, manpower and services. But this does not mean that they are meeting the required standards or participating in the universities educational and research programmes satisfactory. Among the available resources, the deficiency of high caliber and skilled staff, modernization of the facilities and lack of union catalogue, the university libraries in Bangladesh failed to attract the potential library user into a habitual one.

Special Library

Special libraries are an integral part of the library system of the country and play an important role for national development. Most of them are attached with scientific organizations, research institutes and government departments and have professional librarians (Foote, 1986: 99).

There were few special libraries in the country until 1971. After the emergence of Bangladesh a good number of such libraries were established, but the fact is that no proper census in this regard has yet been taken. Referring Mosharraf and Selim, Ahmad (1985:109) mentioned that different Ministries including attached departments and directorates, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, foreign missions, private organisations, news agencies, societies, learned bodies and voluntary organizations in Bangladesh have their libraries only in the record,

However a survey conducted by BANBEIS in 1990 shows that the number of Special libraries stands at 665 (Mannan, 1990:115).For social, economic, scientific and technological progress, the development of successful research and services depends on the acceleration of special library system. But it is a matter of fact that among the existing special libraries in the country a few of agricultural, social science and medical libraries are quite large, better organized and well equipped with modern facilities.

Along with the special libraries in Bangladesh, the following category of libraries plays a vital role towards our national development:

Others (NGOs, Foreign Missions, Islamic Foundation)

a. Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Libraries: In Bangladesh many NGOs have separate section or departments for operating the whole management of their publication and information service. Even some large NGOs have quite satisfactory library services with their own printing and the related publications collected by them.

b. The Foreign Mission Libraries : Like the British Council Library, the American Cultural Centre Library (USIS), (Now USIS Information Resource Center), Indian Cultural Centre Library, etc. have a vital role to educate the different sections of users in the country.

c The Islamic Foundation of Bangladesh, has a library network up to the district level with a central library at Dhaka. Most of their collections consist of religious and related publications. The Islamic Foundation also sponsors Mosque Library with the hope that since there are numerous mosques in the urban and rural areas, these will contribute significantly to the eradication of illiteracy from the country.

Except these, most of our special libraries are of traditional type. In this time of information explosion, these special libraries should change their services through technical processing of information and providing information products and services by indexing, abstracting, current awareness, SDI cooperative information acquisition and retrospective search services. They should also try to establish linkage with the International Information Systems in their related field of research to serve the concerned users for national development.

National Libraries

A national library is a centre of the national culture and civilization, since it is a central focal point of a national’s own culture which earned in the past.

According to Ahmed, (1985: 37-38) the history of National Library in Bangladesh is related with the recommendations of the conference held in Manila under the auspices of the UNESCO on the Development of National Libraries in the Asia and Pacific countries in 1964. The recommendation was for immediate establishment of a National Library in each member country where it does not exist. In pursuance of that recommendation, in late sixties, the erstwhile Government of Pakistan deiced to set up its National Library in Islamabad with three subsidiaries in the name of Central Libraries for three important cities of the country—Dhaka, Karachi and Lahore for the procurement of indigenous publications under the coverage of Copyright Ordinance, 1962. In 1968, the Central Library at Dhaka came into being and started receiving publications under section “Delivery of Books & Newspapers” of the Copyright Ordinance.

Library history
BNR, Calcutta Public Library, Council for National Integration, history of ancient Indian libraries, history of cultural development, library development in Bangladesh, nation-wide network of public library, National Education Commission, public library legislation