Home & Hill Affairs Department

West Bengal Secretariat Library

Introduction

The West Bengal Secretariat Library at Writers' Buildings, Kolkata, is one of the oldest and largest library under Government of West Bengal. It has a traditional and historical significance. The library has a rich collection of books dating back from the British era till date. Some of them are very rare.

History

The West Bengal Secretariat Library previously known as "Bengal Secretariat Library" was established in 1867.It was associated with the Bengal Secretariat, and was shifted to different places in Kolkata (the then Calcutta) along with the "Bengal Secretariat" in the past.
Since 1921 this library was under the administrative control of Education Deptt. of the then Bengal Government of the undivided India. From 1945 it came under the control of the Chief Minister's Secretariat. After Independence Le 15thAugust 1947 this library was brought under the control of the Home Department at Writers' Buildings and still continues to be under this Department.
The then Hon 'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray took the initiative to develop and modernize this library. On 9th June 1961, Dr. B.C. Roy inaugurated the library on the ground floor of the F- Block of the Writers' Buildings.
West Bengal Secretariat Library has its collection of books mainly in English belonging to the 18th and 19th centuries. This library has a collection of round about 2 lakhs of books, of which 60,000 are categorised as rare, old, worn-out and brittle.

Main Holdings of the Library:

The main features of the holding in the WBSL are as follows:

General administrative reports from the middle of the nineteenth century.
Annual reports on the working of the different departments of the Government.
Parliamentary debates.
Manuals, rules, and acts.
Civil list since 1845.
Committee and commission reports.
Census reports since 1881.
Reports on publications registered in India and other provinces from 1874–1898.
Calendar of the Court minutes of the East India Company from 1635 to 1639 and 1655 to 1659.
Old directories, almanacs, and calendars.
Reports regarding famine, revenue administration, and survey settlement from the middle of the nineteenth century.
Unpublished Divisional Commissioners’ reports comprehending all aspects of Bengal districts.
Reports regarding early education in this country, especially of Bengal.
Gazetteers, handbooks, statistical accounts, and reports of the different districts of Bengal and other provinces.
Early printed history of India, especially of Bengal.
Selections from Government records.
Calcutta Gazette (formerly Government Gazette) from 1799 to April 1832.
Calcutta Gazette since 1832.
India Gazette since 1864 and other State Government Gazettes.
Englishman from 1895–1911.
The Statesman from 1909–1915.
Amrita Bazar Patrika from 1951–1959 and 1966–1976.
Jugantor from 1946–1971.
Anandabazar Patrika from 1946–1947 and 1954–2014.

Modernization and Development

From 1961 till 2010 the Secretariat Library did not get much attention from the authority in regards to its development and modernization. However, in 2011, the Secretariat Library was upgraded with the installation of a Computer Lab. having LAN & Internet; connectivity. Thereafter, the Secretariat Library under took a project for digitization & Lamination with the financial assistance of National Archives of India and the State Government. The project is completed and 3000 books with 12500 lakhs pages have successfully been digitized.
The West Bengal Secretariat Library has undertaken a Digitization Project work for rare & old books available in the Library including retrieval and portal system since 2015. The Project is being executed by CDAC, Kolkata. The Portal for West Bengal Secretariat Library is : www.wbsl.gov.in.

Users

The reading and borrowing facilities are available to all the employees of Government of West Bengal. Books may be borrowed by submitting the Requisition Form to the Librarian.

Download

0 1Application Form

0 2Requisition Form

For others, only reading at the Library reading Hall, is available with prior permission/recommendation from the competent authority. Every user has to submit an Application Form containing the detail particulars, to the Librarian. This library owns some valuable books, documents & gazettes which are not available in other libraries of this country including the National Library. That is why the Secretariat Library often receives requisition of such documents from the higher officials of the State Government & Central Government & Judges Court Library & from the Library of Supreme Court of India. Besides these, a large number of Research Scholars of different Universities and Institutions of this Country and abroad frequently visits West Bengal Secretariat Library to carry out their Research work and for other purposes.

Library Automation

The West Bengal Secretariat Library automation was partially started in the year 2009 by the technical employees of the library. A large numbers of books have already been computerized by the library by this time. At present Webel Technology Limited has undertaken Data Entry of books and records of West Bengal Secretariat Library.
This Library is now using Freeze Drier Machine for disinfecting the books of the library without chemical, and disinfects the books within 4 hrs by -20 degree temperature.
This heritage library having a stock of more than 2 lakh of books has a great importance and scholars of the home and abroad.
The West Bengal Secretariat Library has one Advisory Committee for recommending variousaspects including purchase of new and latest edition of various books. Every year this Library purchases good number of new books and process the same in accordance with the Library system and serves the interest of the readers high officials and scholars.