AMU Maulana Azad Library
The Aligarh Muslim University’s main library, the AMU Maulana Azad Library, is renowned for its priceless collections of manuscripts, rare volumes, and antiques. The M.A. Library currently has more than 13 lakh volumes, and it has subscriptions to well-known databases and research publications. With more than 110 college and departmental libraries, including the Engineering College Library, Medical College Library, Science Cyber Library, and Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College Library, the library can accommodate the requirements of its professors, researchers, and students. Additionally, AMU Maulana Azad Library is one of Asia’s largest libraries, according to Wikipedia.
One of the most significant university libraries on earth is the Central Library of the Aligarh Muslim University, often known as the Maulana Azad Library. It houses around 18,00,000 volumes of books and 55,097 current journals in hard and soft versions.
Lord Lytton, the then Viceroy of India, laid the foundation for the library in 1877 during the establishment of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, and it bears his name as Lytton Library. The library was renamed Maulana Azad Library in honor of an outstanding scholar, educationist, and statesman who was an insurgent and the country’s first minister of education after independence. This opulent seven-story building was officially opened by Late Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India, in 1960.
The M.A. Library is the university’s main library and has about 110 sisters (college/departmental) libraries. It is a well-known collection of rare books and manuscripts in the Arabic, Persian, and Urdu languages. One of the most expensive sections of the library is its Manuscripts Division, which has over 16,000 priceless and rare manuscripts on religions including Islam and Hinduism.
Modern information technology has been added to the AMU Maulana Azad Library, which is fully automated with LibSys 7.0 software that connects the majority of the 3,000 computers inside the University as well as the centers in other states. The safety of the library’s resources is guaranteed by a 3M security system and thirty CCTV cameras. Each day, almost 8,000 kids, instructors, and other members visit the library.
Aligarh Muslim University Maulana Azad Library Divisions Oriental Division in AMU Library
The AMU Maulana Azad Library has over 1.5 lakh books in Persian, Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, and Sanskrit on most of the topics covered in university courses. Its regular users include researchers in the fields of Persian, Arabic, Urdu, history, Islamic studies, West Asian Studies, unorthodox medicine, theology, and mass communication. There is a sizable collection of rare books from the 18th and 19th centuries in this division. One of these is the 1572 publication of Ibn-al-(965–1039 Haitham’s AD) Optical Prafatis, a famous Arabic work on optics, and another is Ibn-e-(980–1037 Sina’s AD) Al-Qanun, a treatise on Avicenna (1593 AD). The digitization of rare printed books is still proceeding, although about 15,000 rare books and half of the manuscript collections have already through the process.
Manuscript Division
It is made up of numerous rare manuscripts. The oldest manuscript—a copy of the Quran—preserved in the AMU Maulana Azad Library is among its rare items and is older than 1400 years. It is a portion of the Holy Quran that Hazrat Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam, copied, and it is written in Kufi script on parchment. The Halnama of Bayazid Ansari and a duplicate of Hazrat Ali’s Nahjul Balagha are two further rare manuscripts. Numerous firmans (decrees) of Mughal monarchs, including Babur, Akbar, Shahjahan, Shah Alam, and Aurangzeb, are available. Another valuable item in the library’s collection may be a “Shirt” (Kurta) worn by Mughal emperors’ armies. A Red Tulip, a masterpiece created by Mansoor Naqqash, the court painter of Emperor Jahangir, may be found among the Mughal period artworks. The Library also has important Hindu-related Sanskrit literature that has been translated into Persian. One of them could be Abul Faiz Faizi’s translation of the Bhagwat Geeta into Persian. The writings written in Malayalam and Telugu on palm leaves are additional items.
Conservation & Binding Section
The conservation and preservation of the world’s documentary history are very important to the Library. It operates a Bindery for books, periodicals, newspapers, etc., as well as a Conservation Laboratory for manuscripts. The care and comprehension of the collections form the basis of our work. The activities used by the library are both “preventive” and “interventive.” The best and least expensive collection technique is to minimize and, whenever feasible, eliminate the causes of degradation.
AMU Maulana Azad Library Collection Development Division
The responsibility for choosing, procuring, and acquiring books and other documents falls under this Division. Identification of the educational community’s requirements, current subjects of study, and academic levels are taken into consideration when choosing books and reference materials. The sources are found by reading lists, reviews, suggestions from subject matter specialists, and by going to book fairs, among other things. Another significant Library activity is Gift & Exchange, when books in many different languages, particularly those in Urdu, Arabic, and Persian, are given as gifts. Additionally, authors like to donate copies of their works individually. From time to time, famous people sometimes give gifts of their private collections.
Circulation Division
The University Library’s Circulation Division offers its students, faculty, and staff open access to all books that are available for checkout. Users can go directly to the stacks to choose the desired books, and then after choosing, they can borrow them.
Periodicals Division
This Division is in charge of gathering and keeping track of the magazines that provide the most recent information on current events. The Library strives to obtain the greatest number of journals across all fields of study. The current newspapers and general publications are also purchased and managed by this division. Currently, for study and reference, some 700 print publications and 16 000 electronic journals are subscribed in addition to certain well-known databases.
Computer Applications Division (CAD)
The Acquisition, Periodical, Technical, and Circulation Divisions have all begun housekeeping activities. The campus LAN built on fiber optics may include the library. 100 of the 175 computers are solely for the use of research scholars and students at the institution and are located in the library. In addition to maintaining the primary Library software, LibSys, the Computer Applications Division designs and develops other utility programs for the smooth operation of libraries. Information retrieval and data input training and support are also provided to university users and employees.
Computer Applications Division (CAD)
Through a well-equipped computer lab with 100 nodes, the library offers access to online resources to the entire university. This Center makes subscribed as well as freely accessible University resources available. The Digital Resources Center also has CDs with IITians’ lectures, medical tutorials, reference materials, etc.
Research and Reference Section
Dictionary, encyclopedia, bibliography, directories, indices, geographical sources, subject dictionaries, statistical sources, calendars, yearbooks, biographies, gazetteers, census reports, statistical information sources, factual information sources, etc. are the main reference tools available in print form during this Section. The section’s staff members assist students and other searchers in finding and giving the requested information from the reference sources.
AMU Maulana Azad Library Sir Syed Section
Books authored by Sir Syed and about Sir Syed are preserved in a separate chamber in the library. Scholars from India and abroad frequently use the Sir Syed Section of the Aligarh Institute Library, which also has the Aasar-us-Sanadeed (about Delhi’s monuments) and Tahzeeb-ul-Akhlaq, both of which Sir Syed began publishing in 1866.
Braille Section
The Braille Section, one of the library’s unique characteristics, provides assistance to visually challenged pupils. Along with the books in Braille script, a sizable quantity of materials in electronic format and devices are also made available to the students in this part. All or any students are given access to Angel Pro, a mobile-like device for recording lectures in the classroom and taking notes on previously recorded books, for the duration of the course.
AMU Maulana Azad Library Reading Halls
In addition to eight tiny reading rooms, there are six huge reading halls with a combined capacity of around 2000 pupils.
Newspapers Reading Area
The Library has almost all current Hindi, Urdu, and English newspapers and publications. Back files from a few reputable newspapers are also being stored and preserved.
River Ganga Repository
The goal of the River Ganga Repository is to collect, arrange, and make available to the world all the literature and other information about the Ganga that can be used to purify and revitalize the Ganga. The repository now includes a range of books, reports, dissertations, and theses that AMU has already accumulated.
AMULIBNET
In order to help the sister libraries upload the bibliographic data from their collections to the centrally placed server so that it would show up on OPAC, M.A. Library created AMULIBNET in 2012.
Library Collections
About 18,000,00,000 documents total, including books, magazines, newspapers, theses, dissertations, reports, pamphlets, manuscripts, paintings, pictures, CDs, microfilms, databases, e-books, talking books, etc., are included in the library’s collection. The country’s collection of theses and dissertations, which numbers around 15,000, is arguably the most significant. In addition to text collections of roughly 13,00,000 books, there are approximately 1,20,000 e-books and 30,000 full-text theses online. Because of the volumes and manuscripts in oriental languages, the Library serves as a reference library at this time.
Library Services
A wide variety of services are offered by the library to its patrons, including data retrieval, orientation, help to find and search for documents, advisory services, current awareness service (CAS),
Print & Photocopying Facilities
Within the Library, print and photocopy services are offered for a small fee.
Membership
All members of the University Court, the chief Council, and committees are eligible for membership in addition to students, instructors, and other university employees. The university librarian is authorized to provide membership to additional individuals.
Library Hours
With the exception of a few national and religious holidays, the Library is open for 18 hours every day. The operating hours are also extended throughout the exam time.
Awards & Achievements
- In 2015, NAAC Peer Team named Maulana Azad Library the top library among all Indian universities.
- The National Digital Library of India’s largest contributor is the AMU Maulana Azad Library (NDLI).
- In 2015, Maulana Azad Library contributed the most to Shodhganga, and as of this writing, it is the fourth-largest contributor.
- The Pro-Quest/Theses highest utilization Award goes to AMU.