Dr.
Zakir Husain Library
The history of Dr.
Zakir Husain Library is closely linked with the history of Jamia
Millia Islamia. It was established during 1920-23 in Aligarh
and was named when Jamia Millia Islamia Library. In 1925, Jamia
Millia moved from Aligarh to Delhi, the Library also shifted.In
1972, Library moved to its new building and it was rechristend
as Dr. Zakir Husain Library in the memory of

Dr. Zakir Husain. In the 1994-95 an
additional block was added to the building to provide more reading
and stack area space. The library already
has a computer system Alpha-2000 with thirteen terminals and
two printers and is soon acquiring windows based software to
introduce automation in its various routines.The
Library has already prepared data base for Ph.D. theses completed
in the Jamia; journals received by the library and is soon going
to put records of periodical holdings in the computer. Being
a member of the Delhi Libraries Network (DELNET) these data can
also be accessed through OPAC at the DELNET.Being
an academic library, its main clientele is faculty & students
of the Jamia. Its rich collection of private papers of distinguished
freedom fighters, manuscripts, rare books and files of old magazines
and newspapers attracts scholars from other universities and
research centres also.
Library Hours
Circulation hours are : 9.00 a.m. 5.30
p.m. on weekdays but the Reading rooms of the Central Library remain
open for 13 hours a day throughout the academic session.
COLLECTION
The Library collection, at 2.7 lakhs,
may not appear large in comparison to other university libraries.
But what it lacks in size is more than made up in quality. The
files of Personal Papers, Volumes of Urdu magazines published in
19th century, Urdu language newspapers, a major source for constructing
the history of Indias freedom struggle and valuable manuscripts
in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, have attracted to the library scholars
from India and abroad. The brief list given below may give some
idea of their richness as source material.
Newspapers : 19th century
Ksohi-Noor (the first Urdu newspaper
of Punjab)
Jam-e-Jahan Numa (Founded by Rajaram
Mohan Roy)
Dilli Urdu Akhbar (Founded by Mir Baqar,
father of Maulana Mohd.Husain Azad)
Paisa Akhbar (Munshi Mehboob Alam)
Newspapers : 20th century
The Madina (Bijnor) : 1913-1973
Al-Hilal (Calcutta) : Complete (A.K.
Azad)
Al Balagh (Calcutta) : Complete (A.K.
Azad)
Comrade (Delhi) : Complete (Maulana
Mohd. Ali)
Hamdard (Delhi) : Complete (Maulana
Mohd. Ali)
Hamdard (Delhi) : (Jalib Dehlvi)
New Era (Delhi) : (Raja Ghulam Husain)
Yade-Watan : (The only file of Urdu
paper published from NewYork ed. by Syed Hosain, a close associate
of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru)
Private Papers
Papers of the founder of JMI, Maulana
Mohd. Ali, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Dr. M.A. Ansari and Dr. Zakir Husain.
These are primary source materials for writing modern Indian history.
(The first three had been President of the Indian National Congress
in different, pre 1947 years. Dr. Zakir Husain is the author of
Basic Education scheme) at the behest of by Mahatma Gandhi.
Urdu Magazines
The Library has a large number of issues
of various Guldasta, the forerunner of Urdu literary
magazines.
Zuban (Delhi) Chashma-e-Faiz (Sialkot)
Hasan (Hyderabad) Yad-e-Baiza (Bulandshar)
Niazmand (Agra) Panja-e-Nigarain,
Maarif (1903) Khatoon (Sheikh Abdullah)
Makhzan, Zamana, al-Asr, etc.
The Library has a complete set of books
written by staff and students of the Jamia Millia Islamia arranged
in a separate sequence known as Jamia Authors Collection.
MANUSCRIPTS
The library has around 2500 manuscripts,
some very old, others valued for calligraphic style and/or illustrations
and include among others.
Ahkam al Adwiyat al Qalbiya (Ibn Sina)
655 A.H.
Mashariqul-Anwar (Hasan Sanaani) 967
A.H.
Al-Qamus al Muheet (Mujaduddin Firozabadi)
1097 A.H.
Maali-ul_Himam (Junaid al-Baghdadi)