 One of the plates of Kangra paintings depicts ‘Geet Govinda’ in the library of Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh.
One of the oldest libraries in the city, Government College, Sector 11 library is a real treasure trove. For, the library houses Mahadevi Verma’s handwritten verse ‘Deep Shikha’ along with 100 other rare books, which include Punjabi Mahakosh (1952) written by Kaan Singh, ‘Rabindranath Tagore: A Centenary Volume’ (1861-1961), Kangra paintings of Geet Govinda along with its picture plates and Ajanta-Ellora paintings with 85 picture plates and several others.
Interestingly, the oldest book in the library is ‘History of India’ (Muntakahb-Ut-Twarif) written by famous traveller and philosopher Al Badauni of the Sultunate period.
The second most oldest book in the library is ‘Heer Varis’ written in Multani by E. O’ Brien. Next in line is ‘Bhartiya Pracheen Lipimala’ followed by ‘Nehru Abhinandan’.
Also on the shelves is a Multani Glossary, Encyclopaedia of Mythology, Encyclopaedia of Sikh Literature, Bhai Veer Singh Shatabdi Granth, Punjabi language manuscript, English to Persian dictionary, French Encyclopaedic dictionary (1889), 20, 000 Years of World Paintings and many more.
Apart from the historic books, the library caters to the present day needs of the students with more than one lakh books on its shelves.
Recently, new purchases have also been made to the tune of Rs 5 lakh. Right from all subject dictionaries to specialised books for post-graduate students of English, history, BPEd and biotech, to the collective works of Mahatama Gandhi, Vivekanand and Jawah Lal Nehru, you name it, this library has it.
“An interesting feature is the ‘Career Advancement Corner’. One of the most popular corners of the library, it displays various employment opportunities available for the students with inputs from the University Employment Exchange and clippings from newspapers. Presently, there are 65 periodicals and about 250 online subject-wise journals for the students,” said Jaspal Kaur, librarian.
“There is also a book bank having 2,600 volumes for the needy students. More than 80 students have already benefited from these books, which are allotted to the students on a yearly basis. Most of these books come from donations from the teachers and passing-out students of the college,” informed Renu Oberoi, librarian.
There is a library club as well where the students come and help in the library work voluntarily during their free periods and are awarded certificate after three years.
To make working more efficient, the library has shifted over from Granthalaya to Libsys software wherein all the details pertaining to issuing and returning of the books will be available.
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