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 India’s 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)