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State Central Library, Hyderabad

Public library in Hyderabad, India

Summary

Public library in Hyderabad, India

Field	Value
name	State Central Library Hyderabad
image	State Central library.jpg
caption	Entrance to the State Central Library
country	India
location	Afzal Gunj, Hyderabad
coordinates
type	State library
established
items_collected	books, journals, newspapers, magazines, and manuscripts
collection_size	~ 5,00,000 books/magazines
~17,000 manuscripts
legal_deposit	Yes
req_to_access	Open
website

~17,000 manuscripts The State Central Library Hyderabad() (), known as the State Central Library (SCL) and earlier known as Kutub Khana Asafia, is a public library in Hyderabad, Telangana. The library was first established in 1891 at a location in Abids where the General Post Office is today situated. The library was shifted to its present location in 1936 and today is one of the most imposing structures in the city. The building housing the library was granted heritage status in 1998 by INTACH, Hyderabad. The building has been included in 2025 World Monuments Watch compiled by World Monuments Fund

The library is located in the Afzal Gunj area, on the banks of the River Musi. Today the library occupies 72,247 sqyd of space. The library houses half a million books and magazines including some rare Palm-leaf manuscripts. This library is the apex of the state's library system.

The library today is poorly maintained and is without proper infrastructure. The furniture is damaged and the collection of books and manuscripts are not properly catalogued.

History

In this 1934 photo of Abids, the former State Central Library is on the left

The library was set up as personal library of scholar Moulvi Syed Hussain Bilgrami in 1891. It was renamed as Asafia State Library in honour of Asaf Jah dynasty. The library was shifted to its current location in 1936. The foundation stone of the proposed building was laid in 1932 by Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan. Around Rs 5 lakh and about 2.97 acre of land at Afzal Gunj were allotted for the construction of new building. The library was designed by British architect Vincent Jerome Esch. Construction of this building was part of a proposal by M. Visvesvaraya who was appointed by the Nizam to redesign the Musi riverfront following the 1908 floods. It is reported that the construction of the building was personally supervised by then State Architect and Designer Aziz Ali. After the completion of construction, the Asafia Library was shifted to the present building in 1936 to mark Nizam VII's Silver jubilee.

In 1941, the Asafia State Library celebrated its Golden Jubilee. When the Hyderabad Public Libraries Act became law in 1955, Asafia State Library was declared as the State Central Library for the Hyderabad State.

An annex building was constructed in 1961 to augment the growing collection of the state library.

Collection

The Library has a collection of around five hundred thousand books published since the early 19th century, and Hyderabad Samachara, a monthly newspaper published by HEH Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII in 1941. The library had a collection of about 17,000 rare and valuable manuscripts dating back to 5th and 6th centuries which were later transferred to the Andhra Pradesh Oriental Manuscripts Library.

Digitalisation

The first phase of computerisation and networking in libraries through e-Grandhalaya software developed by National Informatics Centre will begin on an experimental basis in Warangal and Hyderabad. Over 40,000 books have already been digitised at SCL with the help of Carnegie Mellon University's Universal Online Library Projects. The digitised works include titles in Hindi, English, Telugu, Urdu and Persian languages. Carnegie Mellon University provides the funding for this project.

Restoration

The library, which has been crying out for attention for many years, will finally be restored at an estimated cost of ₹7.35 crores. The restoration work is expected to be completed in 18 months, and will have a digital portal where about 45,550 rare books, in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic as well as English languages.

References

Bommakanti, Ujwal. (2022-12-12). "Afzalgunj State Library to be given Rs 2 crore facelift in Hyderabad". [[The Times of India]].
(2009-07-05). "State Central Library calls for uplift". The Hindu.
Banerjee, Mrittika. (2025-01-16). "Hyderabad's Heritage Sites Make it to 2025 World Monuments Watchlist". [[Deccan Chronicle]].
[http://ifla.queenslibrary.org/VII/s8/annual/cr02-in.htm "Public Library Services in India: Systems and Deficiencies"] {{Webarchive. link. (12 July 2012 , R. Bhattacharjee, [[International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions]], 19 September 20o2.)
(2017-12-14). "Books struggle to survive on fragile shelves of Afzalgunj's State Library". Times of India.
Kaushik, Shrimansi. (2014-11-27). "State Central Library grapples with infra issues". [[Deccan Chronicle.
(2021-11-18). "State Central Library Hyderabad An Intellectual Powerhouse". Hans India.
Akula, Yuvraj. (2023-07-31). "Iconic State Central Library in Hyderabad set for facelift". Telangana Today.
Today, Telangana. (2022-09-14). "Hyderabad: State Central Library in for massive revival".
(5 January 2023). "Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to restore iconic State Central Library".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1891-establishments-in-india libraries-in-hyderabad,-india heritage-structures-in-hyderabad,-india deposit-libraries libraries-established-in-1891 library-buildings-completed-in-1961 establishments-in-hyderabad-state public-libraries-in-india 20th-century-architecture-in-india

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