Bengal Library Association, formerly known as All Bengal Library Association, was established in 1925 under the presidentship of Poet Rabindranath Tagore and the first Secretary of the Association was Mr. Sushilkumar Ghosh.
With the spread of Western education, Libraries started growing in different parts of undivided India. In the 19th century, various types of libraries emerged in different parts of undivided Bengal. The Calcutta Public Library was established in 1836, followed by establishment of the one hundred more public libraries in different districts of undivided Bengal by the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century necessity was felt to co-ordinate the activities of those libraries and to organize the library movements in the province. It is in this context, the All India Public Library Conference, held at Belgaon in the year 1924 under the president ship of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, adopted a resolution urging the formation of library associations in each province of India. The resolution was moved by Sushil kumar Ghosh, a delegate from Bengal. A meeting was held in Calcutta, in Albert Hall on the 20th December, 1925. The meeting was presided over by J. A. Chapman, Librarian, Imperial Library. In this meeting All Bengal Library Association was formed with Poet Rabindranath Tagore as President. Sushil Kumar Ghosh became its first Secretary.
With the establishment of All Bengal Library Association, a province-wise library movement started gaining grounds.
In 1933 the All Bengal Library Association was renamed as Bangiya Granthagar Parishad in Bengali and Bengal Library Association in English and the All Bengal Library Conference was renamed as Bengal Library Conference.
Initially the Association had no premises for its office and for sometime it functioned from Bansberia (Hooghly District) and later got its registered office at the Calcutta University Central Library. After some years, the Association moved its office to a rented room at 29 Huzurimull Lane later in 33 Huzurimall Lane near Sealdah Railway Station. After few years the Association constructed its own building with the financial assistance from the State Government and donation received from members and well-wishers. The foundation stone of the Association building was laid by Dr. S. R. Ranganathan in 1967. Presently, the Association is housed in its four-storied building accommodating its office, library, class rooms and computer room at P64, CIT Scheme 52, Kolkata - 700 014.
The Objectives of the Association are to :
The three-tier organizational structure of the Bengal Library Association is as follows :
The major activities of the Association are :
Our Libraries :
For Year 2018-2020
President:
Dr. Bimal Ch. Chatterjee
Vice-Presidents:
Sri Ramkrishna Saha Sri Arun Roy Smt. Bithi Bose Dr. Asitabha Das Sri Ashoke Kumar Das
General Secretary:
Dr. Krishnapada Majumder
Joint Secretary:
Sri Biswabaran Guha
Assistant Secretary:
Sri Nirmalya Roy
Treasurer:
Sri Joydeep Chanda
Editor:
Sri Goutam Goswami
Library Science Training Sub-Committee:
Director: Dr. K.P. Majumder
Convener: Dr. Rukmini Mitra
Members: Prof. Amitabha Chatterjee, Prof. Pijush Kanti Panigrahi, Sri Satyabrata Ghoshal, Sri Nandadulal Basak, Sri Ranapratap Chatterjee, Dr. Biswajit Das Thakur, Smt. Ballari Banerjee, Dr. Tarun Kumar Mondal, Smt. Dipika Neogi, Smt. Papri Sengupta, Smt. Bithi Basu, Sri Bhupen Roy, Sri Arup Roychaudhury, Sri Samik Barman Roy and Librarian (Bengal Library Association)
Finance & Building Sub-Committee:
President: Sri Ramkrishna Saha
Convener: Sri Joydeep Chanda (Treasurer)
Members: Sri Arun Roy, Sri Biswabaran Guha, Sri Pulak Kar, Sri Ashoke Kumar Das, Sri Debabrata Kundu, Sri Bimal Narayan Sur, Sri Anup Kumar Sarkar, Sri Pushpendu Mondal and Sri Nirmalya Roy
Granthagar Magazine Sub-Committee:
President: Sri Arun Ray
Convener: Sri Goutam Goswami (Editor, Granthagar)
Members: Sri Ajay Kumar Ghosh, Prof. Amitabha Chatterjee, Sri Ramkrishna Saha, Sri Satyabrata Ghoshal, Dr. Swapna Roy, Sri Saikat Kumar Giri, Smt. Bithi Bose, Sri Biswabaran Guha and Sri Samik Barman Roy
Publication Sub-Committee:
President: Prof. Pijush Kanti Panigrahi
Convener: Sri Pulak Kar
Members: Prof. Amitabha Chatterjee, Prof. Arjun Dasgupta, Dr. Asitabha Das, Dr. Swapna Roy, Sri Arun Ray, Smt. Dipika Neogi, Sri Samik Barman Roy, Sri Ajoy Kumar Ghosh and Sri Ramkrishna Saha
Library Sub-Committee:
President: Sri Satyabrata Ghoshal
Convener: Librarian, Bengal Library Association
Members: Sri Biswabaran Guha, Sri Nirmalya Roy, Sri Ranapratap Chatterjee, Smt. Papri Sengupta, Smt. Kanak Ghosh, Sri Sanjoy Guha, Sri Abhijit Halder, Dr. Nitai Roychaudhury and Convener, Library Science Training Sub-Committee
Public Library Sub-Committee:
President: Dr. Swapna Roy
Convener: Sri Asok Kumar Das
Members: Sri Ashok Kr. Roy, Sri Tapas Kumar Sarkar, Jakirul Islam, Smt. Kanak Ghosh, Smt. Keka Panti, Sri Tarun Basu, Sri Prabir De, Sri Pulak Kar, Sri Biswabaran Guha, Sri Uttam Kumar Roy, Sri Lakshmikanta Nandi, Sri Arunabha Bhowmick, Smt. Papri Sengupta and Smt. Bithi Bose
College, University & Special Library Sub-Committee:
President: Dr. Asitabha Das
Convener: Dr. Nitai Roychaudhury
Members: Sri Abhijit Kumar, Dr. J.N. Satpathi, Dr. Nitai Ch. Ghatak, Dr. Ranjan Samanta, Sri Debashis Mukherjee, Sri Sanjoy Guha, Sri Swapan Kumar Ghosh, Sri Milan Sarkar, Sri Bhupen Roy, Abdul Ahad Midda, Dr. Jayati Ghosh, Sri Anupam Ghosh, Sri Pradip Kumar Bhattacharya and Dr. Madhusree Ghhosh
School Library Sub-Committee:
President: Sri Sibsankar Maity
Convener: Sri Kiranmoy Dutta
Members: Sri Ashoke Kumar Roy, Sri Surajit Shil, Sri Nayan Pratihar, Sri Arun Sarkar, Sri Jagadish Mahato and Smt. Soma Ghosh
Students Relation Sub-Committee:
President: Sri Nirmalya Roy
Convener: Sri Abhijit Halder
Members: Dr. Biswajit Das Thakur, Sri Pulak Kar, Sri Sanjoy Guha, Sri Biswajit Banshor, Sri Mainak Dutta, Sri Pushpendu Mandal, Sri Debashis Mukherjee and Sri Surajit Shil
Computer Training Sub-Committee:
President: Sri Arup Roychaudhury
Convener: Sri Joydeep Chanda
Members: Sri Ramkrishna Saha, Dr. Tarun Kumar Mondal, Sri Ranapratap Chatterjee, Dr. Nitai Roychaudhury, Dr. Bidyarthi Dutta, Sri Pushpendu Mandal, Sri Biswajit Banshor, Sri Bhupen Roy, Smt. Bahni Mukhopadhyay, Sri Bhaskar Ghosh, Sri Biswaranjan Manna and Sri Nabajiban Mukherjee
Prabir Roychaudhury and Amita Roychaudhury Endowment Sub-Committee:
President: Sri Arun Roy
Conveners: Dr. K.P. Majumder
Members: Dr. Ratna Bandyopadhyay, Dr. Rukmini Mitra, Smt. Dipika Neogi, Sri Ramkrishna Saha, Sri Bhupen Roy, Dr. Arun Kumar Chakraborty, Dr. J.N. Satpathi, Sri Pulak Kar, Smt. Bithi Bose and Smt. Papri Sengupta
Public Library (Salt Lake) Sub-Committee:
President: Sri Ramkrishna Saha
Convener: Librarian, Salt Lake Public Library
Members: Dr. Barun Kumar Mukherjee, Sri Prabir De, Sri Biswabaran Guha, Sri Satyabrata Ghoshal, Dr. Swapna Roy, Sri Ashoke Kumar Das, Smt. Ballari Bandyopadhyay, Smt. Jhunu Mukherjee, Smt. Anjana Dutta, Sri Pulak Kar, Smt. Bithi Bose and Smt. Papri Sengupta
N.B. General Secretary, Treasurer and Editor, Granthagar are the members of each Sub-Committee
First periodical on Library Science in Bengal was published by the Bengal Library Association in 1937 as Bengal Library Association Bulletin 'Bangiya Granthagar Parishad Patrika'. It was a bilingual journal, which continued upto 1952. The Bengali journal 'Granthagar' was first published in 1953 as quarterly and continued upto 1956. Since 1956 the Association publishes a monthly journal in Bengali with English Abstract named as 'Granthagar'. Articles on Library and Information Science, memories of leading librarians, important circulars of the State and the Central Governments are published in the journal.
GRANTHAGAR AT A GLANCE