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First published online November 24, 2015

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Legacy of the Bengal Renaissance in public library development in India

Anup Kumar Das [email protected]View all authors and affiliations

Volume 41, Issue 4

https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035215603992

Abstract
References
Biographies

Abstract

The 19th- and 20th-century Bengal Province in India was a nerve-centre with hosts of socio-cultural and religious reform movements due to its early association with secular liberal western education. Modern institutions of higher learning, established by colonial rulers, European missionaries and contemporary social reformers, led to the awakening of Bengali educated communities. This Bengal Renaissance had contributed towards strengthening production of Bengali literature and the development of the Bengali language. Socially active reformers established community libraries as community learning space in their respective localities. Many century-old libraries are still in existence. These community libraries extended their access to the youth, students, industrial workers and lifelong learners. With this background, this paper aims at in-depth analysis of the legacy of the Bengal Renaissance in the development of public libraries in India during colonial British rule. This paper also looks into the role of the individual reformist genres in the design and delivery of effective public library services and library outreach services in the province.

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Biographies

Dr Anup Kumar Das is an avid academic researcher and information specialist working in an interdisciplinary research centre at Jawaharlal Nehru University. His research interests revolve around information policies, cultural policies, open access to knowledge, digital libraries, history of librarianship, safeguarding documentary heritages, library advocacy, and South Asian studies. He is Book Review Editor of the Journal of Scientometric Research. He was a Consultant to UNESCO New Delhi and Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA). He has published two books: Open Access to Knowledge and Information: Scholarly Literature and Digital Library Initiatives – the South Asian Scenario (2008); and Collaboration in International and Comparative Librarianship (2014). He also contributed four self-directed learning modules and 14 self-learning units in a set of UNESCO Open Access Curricula for Researchers and Library Schools, 2015. He has published about 60 research papers in different scholarly journals, edited books and international conferences.

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