The participants of the
Refresher Course in Communication for Development were taken for a visit to the
University's Krishna Kanta Handiqui Library on 25th October 2017.
All the participants gathered in the reading hall of the library and the
Assistant Librarian briefed us about the significant facts of the prestigious
library. The briefing session went on for 30 minutes which has been summarized below.
The University library
started functioning in the year 1948 at Chandmari and it was shifted to the
present building in the year 1962. The University Library was renamed as
‘Krishna Kanta Handiqui Library’ after the death of the first Vice-Chancellor
of the University Krishna Kanta Handiqui. He himself has generously donated
more than 7000 volumes of books to the library which is considered to be a
treasure for the library.
The library, which is
considered to be the biggest in Assam, at present has 2, 70,000 volumes of
books, 3,700 thesis and 5,600 dissertations. One will be overwhelmed to see
around 35,000 volumes of bound periodicals which is an asset to the library.
It
also hosts about 5,000 priceless manuscripts, some dating to more than 300 years.
The Library
is a designated 'Manuscript Conservation Centre' (MCC) under the National Mission for Manuscripts established
in 2003. The valuable manuscripts have been
collected through different means - some were donated by benevolent citizens,
some were acquired from past owners, and others were salvaged after search and
rescue efforts undertaken by the library. The scripts were meticulously
detailed, numbered and preserved using modern scientific techniques and
processes.
Ratna
Mala Biyakaran, ChitraBhagawat, Kumar Haran, Bhagawad Shlokas, MantarPuthi,
JyotishPuthi and AuyrvedicPuthis are some of the rare manuscripts preserved,
along with some texts on magical rituals from Mayong. 1, 50,000 pages of
manuscripts have been digitized already.
The participants were
taken to all the sections of the library including the manuscript section and
were briefed. The library is no doubt the pride of the University.
Report prepared by Dr. Ilam Parithi on the fourth session, October 25, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by Department of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam
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