The first enemy-free district of Bangladesh during our War of Liberation was Jessore. The historically important district has different types of architectural emblems. The district was advanced in practicing different types of knowledge from the ancient period which is perceived observing the history of Bengali literature and it breeds some ageless writers like Michael Madhusudan Dutta. And one of the first four public libraries in Bangladesh was started in Jessore. That library was established in Jessore in 1851, and later in 1854, the library was renamed as the Jessore Institute Public Library. Roy Bahadur Jadunath Majumdar combined the public library with theatrical Arya and city club in 1927 to form a combined cultural and community center for Jessore. This created the Institute Jessore, which was renamed by the government in the Public library of the Institute Jessore. The library became the center of social and literary gathering in Jessore.
The historical public library has two separate buildings, one is two-story and another is three-story. The official activities of the institution are conducted on the ground floor of the two-story building. The first floor and the rest part of the ground floor are magnificently decorated with bookshelves which are choked up with different types of books including ancient and modern times. Dozens of magazines of different categories like entertainment, science and technology, food-recipes and many more are scattered on a giant table, people are seen reading as per their own choice. The three-story building of the library is also decorated with arrays of bookshelves and reading tables. The old newspapers are decorated into shelves, binding as volumes. The books of different categories are kept on different shelves, newspapers, novels, science fiction, religious, scientific, philosophical, astronomical, and all others according to the category. The library has around 2,500 members and some of them around 200 are donor and lifetime members. The book issuing facilities is for only members. Except for government holidays and weekends, the library is open for all in every weekday from 10.00 am to 8.00 pm.
The public library of Jessore has been damaged in various ways in the history of the two world wars, the partition of the country in 1947, the language movement in 1952, and the war of independence in 1971. It has had to be relocated many times. In World War II, the British Air Force set up base at the Jessore Institute. The contribution of this organization is also immense behind the glorious role that Jessore played in the language movement in 1952. The library, on the one hand, is full of history and tradition, and for many years, it has been meeting the needs of those who are thirsty for knowledge.
References: Wikipedia, Banglapedia.
Photo: Daily Prothom Alo
Anika Tabassoom Department of Library and Information Science Lalmatia Mohila College, Lalmatia, Dhaka.
