The exhibition on Einstein which was initially shown at the BITM, Calcutta, and at the Shri Krishna Science Centre, Patna, was also displayed in the National Museum at New Delhi. besides forming part of the Children's Science Fair organised in the Teen Murti House, New Delhi, as part of the International Year of the Child celebrations on November 14, 1979. The VITM organised Radio Amateur Training Programmes for 108 candidates of the Radio Amateur Examination. while the BITM arranged practical training programme for the students of museology of the Calcutta University. Both the NSC and the BITM organised occasional Sky Observation Programmes also.
In the Bombay Centre, the pile-driving and the construction of pile-caps and plinth beams for the main building (Phase-1) and reception ball were completed during 1978-79. In view of the acute housing problem in the city of Bombay, the Centre has purchased eight flats in the first instance for use as staff quarters. The Bangalore museum is expected to complete the construction of the first phase of staff quarters shortly.
The District Centres at Patna, Purulia (West Bengal) and Gulbarga (Karnataka) are being developed steadily.
Other Activities A report on an opinion survey of visitors to the four central museums, viz., National Museum, New Delhi. Indian Museum, Calcutta, Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad and National Gallery of Modem Art, New Delhi, which was conducted in '1975-76 is under print.
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Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi The Museum continued to maintain its popularity, attracting a large number of visitors from different parts of the country. With the opening of a new exhibition entitled Civil Disobedience Movement and After, which proved of great interest to the visitors, the story of Indian Struggle for Freedom has been brought forward to the outbreak of the Second World War. In connection with the celebrations 3of International Year of the Child, an exhibition on Jawaharlal Nehru and Children was thrown open to public on 14 November, 1979. The library continued to acquire books in various regional languages. The number of books added to the library was 2,218, increasing the total number of holdings to 69,624. The total number of newspaper volumes stood at 4,201. The resources of the library were further augmented through the acquisition of 121 microfilm rolls of the Civil & Military Gazette, Lahore, (1888-1906) ; 57 rolls of The Times, London, (1937- 44) and seven rolls of Le Monde, Paris, (1944-47). The number of photographs as on 20 November, 1979 was 48,590. Among the notable collections of private papers and records of institutions, mention may be made of the papers of the Deccan Sabha (1896-1972). Sir Raghupati Venkataratnam Naidu, Narayan Prasad Arora, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Gopinath Bardoloi, Omeo Kumar Das, Lila Dhar Barooah, Indulal Yajnik, Gopabandhu Choudhary, V.S. Khode, M.N. Roy, Dr. Palpu, Harekrushna Mahtab, M.N. Saha and Shankarrao Deo. The papers of All India Women's Conference, K.M. Munshi and Lakshminarayan Sudhanshu were microfilmed. The microfilming project of old newspapers and journals made significant progress. Microfilming of Amrita Bazar Patrika, Hindustan, Milap, Aljamiat was continued. In addition to these, the files of Pratap, Swarajya ', Sarfaraj, Tyagbhumi, Jagran, Sainik Bharat, Bharat Dharm were microfilmed. Under the oral history project, 56 sessions of interviews with 23 persons were recorded. Among these interviewed were Sri Karan Sarda, Sham Lal Lyallpuri, Smt. Ashalata. Sen, S.G. Gokhale and C. Sankaran Nair. A number of lectures and seminars having a bearing on modern Indian history and Indian nationalism were arranged. The speakers included Dr. Basudev Chatterji, Dr. Rajat K. Ray, Professor Hiran Mukherjee, Dr. Jagjit Singh, Dr. Shahid Amin. Dr. B.S. Minhas and Dr. Urmila Phadnis. Dr. Mulk Raj Anand' spoke on Jawaharlal Nehru as a writer , Prof. Umashankar Joshi presided. The Padmaja Naidu Memorial Lectures were delivered by Dr. (Miss) Aloo J. Dastur on Indian Women and Nation Building. The Vice-President of India presided over the first
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lecture and Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Pandit on the second. A booklet, entitled "Gandhi and Nehru", based on the papers presented at the panel discussion, arranged by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, was published.
Dr. Zakir Husain Memorial Museum, New Delhi Dr. Zakir Husain Memorial Museum, New Delhi was opened to the public on the 3rd May, 1976. The museum is functioning under the supervision of the National Museum, New Delhi.
Gandhi Darshan Samiti, Delhi The object of the Samiti is to acquire, maintain and preserve the personal papers and other historical materials pertaining to the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi in consultation and collaboration with other institutions and organisations engaged in Gandhian work.
'My Life is My Message', and 'India of My Dreams' pavilions were kept open to the public whereas the 'Satyagraha Darshan' and 'Truth is God' pavilions remained partially. open to them. The offices of Handicrafts Training Centre, Central Cell for Adult Education, Taking Gandhi to Schools, and Youth Training Centre are located in the two wings of 'Satyagraha Darshan' pavilion whereas the Art and Exhibition Unit is in the 'Truth is God' pavilion.
Art and Exhibition Unit (i) The unit prepared some additional exhibits for the 'Gandhiji and Environmental Problems' exhibition put up in the hall of the Gandhi Peace Foundation from 4th June to 9th June, 1979.
(ii) A one-day seminar was also organised on 8th June, 1979, when papers on the relevant subject were presented by scientists and educationists.
(iii) The unit also put up exhibitions 'Lok Swarajya' and 'Environment Problems and Solutions' for the benefit of the delegates of National People's Conference held on 20th June to 25th June, 1979, in Gandhi Darshan Complex.
(iv) A two-day seminar on the 'Environment Problems of Delhi' was organised at Gandhi Peace Foundation, on 25th and
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26th August, 1979, in which Gandhi Darshan, also joined as co- sponsorer.
(v) At the request of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the unit prepared a special exhibition entitled 'Gandhiji in Delhi' highlighting Gandhiji's visits to Delhi during his life-time and his activities there.
Taking Gandhi to Schools Unit An educational-cum-excursion tour was organised by the unit at Kasturbagram near Indore, from 1st June to 13th June, 1979 in which 78 students (Gandhi Ambassadors) drawn from 40 schools of Delhi and a few teachers, participated. A group of 30 boy and girl students were taken to Hiranki village near Delhi for a two day camp to study the life and problems in the village. The Nehru Yuvak Kendra, Alipur also helped in the organisation of the camp. Keeping in view the importance of the International Year of the Child a Bal Mela was organised.
Reorganisation and Development of Other Museums Under this scheme, non-recurring grants are given to the tribal art museums, textile museums, crafts museums, antiquity museums, theatre art museums, numismatic museums, memorial museums, paintings and photographic museums, children museums and school museums, managed by the voluntary institutions, societies, trusts, colleges, universities, municipalities and corporations, for (i) establishment, (ii) equipment, (iii) publication of catalogues, guides to galleries, card indexes, etc. (iv) museum laboratories and museum libraries.
All-India Museum Camp Fourteenth All-India, Museum Camp is to be held at Bhopal in early, 1980.
LIBRARIES
National Library, Calcutta The National Library is one of the recipient libraries under the provision of the Delivery of Books Act, 1954 and receives books, publications, newspapers and documents of all sorts published in the country. The library is also the repository library in South Asia of the documents issued by the United Nations
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and its agencies. It has a stock of 177.8 lakh volumes. It acquired 57,735 monographs and serials during the year 1978-79-8,397 by purchase, 18,382 under Delivery of Books Act, 10,302 in exchange and as gifts and 20,654 foreign official documents. The reading room registered 6,997 readers as news members and issued 1,16,827 volumes to its readers during the year. The Bibliography Division compiled 76 select lists/short bibliographies at the request of scholars in and outside the country. To clear the backlog, the library has drawn up a scheme to print the catalogues, etc., in its own Reprography Division. The library mounted 18 exhibitions during the year and issued two brochures in that connection on Garcin de Tassay and Leo Tolstoy. The Library has exchange relations with 144 institutions in 48 countries. It continues to send lists of translations and bibliographies published in India to the Unesco headquarters at Paris for inclusion in Index Translations and Bibliographical Services throughout the World under the direction of the National Commission-for Cooperation with Unesco.
Central Reference Library, Calcutta The primary function of the library is the compilation, editing, printing and sale of Indian National Bibliography and other bibliographical and reference publications of national importance. During the year under report two monthly issues (March and April 1977) and two Annual Volumes (1974 and 1975) of the Indian National Bibliography (in Roman script) were published. In addition, fascicules of the Indian National Bibliography in the respective language scripts were also published viz. (i) Malayalam Bibliography, 1978, and (ii) Telugu Bibliography 1964 and 1973-74.
Besides ten issues of the Indian National Bibliography were compiled. Eight monthly issues from January 1978 to August 1978 were edited and made ready for the press. Moreover two quarterly issues of the Index Indiana covering the period March 1977 and June 1977 and covering the articles which appeared in the periodicals of six Indian languages viz, Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam and Telugu have been published.
Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna This is a major library with a collection of Arabic and Persian manuscripts. The library possesses about 70,000 printed books and 13,000 manuscripts. During the year, 48 manuscripts have been acquired. One thousand two hundred and forty one printed' books were purchased and 1,223 printed books were acquired in
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gift. Diwan of Mushafi and Diwan-i-Hafiz have been printed in photo- offset and a critical edition of Memories of Jahangir is proposed to be brought out. Six volumes of out of print catalogues of the Library have been reprinted with due additions and two more are in the offing. A new volume of this descriptive Catalogue has also been printed. Eight books on various aspects of Arabic, Persian and Islamic studies have been produced. Seven issues of the quarterly journal containing 1,700 pages have been published; three more are in the press. To house the growing number of manuscripts and printed books it is proposed to extend the library building.
Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Calcutta The Raja Rammohan Roy Library Foundation was established in 1972 as an autonomous organization to support and promote library movement in the country. The Foundation has undertaken several schemes for strengthening library services, particularly in the rural areas. To extend the scope of library services to the remote parts of the country it adopted a scheme of developing mobile library services and rural book deposit centres. The Foundation has also undertaken a scheme with a view to preserving the cultural heritage of the country,. to assist well established libraries for binding and preservation of rare books and manuscripts. Assistance is also rendered for organizing library seminars, workshops, training courses and book exhibitions. It has so far given assistance to more than 10,000 libraries at various levels all over the country.
T.M.S.S.M. Library, Thanjavur The Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji's Saraswati Mahal Library was described by Dr. Burnell "to be perhaps the best and most important in the World". It had its roots in the times of the imperial Cholas, and was subsequently revived by the Thanjavur Naicks of the Viiayanagar Empire, and was greatly developed in the early part of the nineteenth Century by Maharaja Serfoji II. The Government of Madras took possession of the library on the 5th October, 19-18 under the Charitable Endowments Act and formed a committee for its management. The library has a rich collection of about 40,000 manuscripts in Sanskrit, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and other languages, besides. a collection of over 23,000 books in the Indian and European languages covering various disciplines. The question of treating the library as an institution of national importance has been under consideration. The Central
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Government is at present giving grants in pursuance of the recom- mendations of a committee set up by Government of India earlier in 1977.
Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala The library is functioning as a registered society and is managed by a Board with H. H. the Dalai Lama as Chairman. Its aims and objectives are to acquire and conserve Tibetan books and manuscripts, to provide intensive reference service and to act as a centre for enquiries on Tibetan source material. It has a rich collection of Tibetan manuscripts, paintings and objects d' arts.
Delhi Public Library, Delhi The Delhi Public Library, which provides free public library services to the people of the Union Territory of Delhi and acts as a model for public library development in India, expanded its services by converting the sub-branch at Netaji Nagar from part-time to full- time from January 1979. It also set up a new sub-branch at Jai Rani Bagh in January, 1979 in collaboration with the Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board of the Delhi University and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. In addition to the Central Library, opposite the Delhi Railway Station, the library has 4 branch libraries, 19 sub-branches, 12 deposit stations and 5 book mobiles.
One of the mobile libraries has been specially designed for the blind and serves more than half a dozen Institutions for the blind once a week.
Over 46,000 volumes were, added to the book stock of the library during the period raising the net book-stock to 6,13,494 out of which 3,34,896 are in Hindi, 1,73,440 in English, 68,818 in Urdu. 25,499 in Punjabi, 2,138 in Sindhi 1,276 in' Bengali and 7,433 in Braille.
About 58,290 adults and 3,429 children participated in cultural activities (e.g.), lectures, discussions, drama, film shows, television viewing, etc.) organised by the library. The library had 2,728 gramophone records. The registered membership of the library stood at 98,995 during the period under report. The total number of books issued for home reading during the period was 23,91,998.
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Indian Council of World Affairs Library, New Delhi This library is meant to provide research facilities on inter- national relations and area studies. The library has the richest collection of books, documents, periodicals and press clippings on international relations. It has also a good collection of microfilms and maps. Its collection includes 1,00,000 books and documents, 15 lakhs press clippings, 300 microfilms.
Central Library, Bombay This library has been declared as one of the four libraries authorised to receive books, newspapers etc., published in India under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act, 1954 as amended in 1956. This library is assisted by the Central Government and the State Government of Maharashtra. The Central Government's contribution is limited to the extent of two-thirds of the non- recurring expenditure and one half of the recurring expenditure on the Delivery of Books Act section of the library. The Central Government also gives grants-in-aid for the development of the library.
Rampur Raza Library, Rampur The Rampur Raza Library has one of the major collections or manuscripts in Oriental Languages. Besides the manuscripts the library holds quite a large number of Iranian, Moghul and Indian miniature paintings. The library is also very rich in respect of old printed books on Islamic studies, oriental literature and history and culture of medieval India. The library has a programme of publishing rare manuscripts and catalogue of handwritten material for the better use of the contents of this collection.
Financial Assistance to Voluntary Educational Organisations Working
in the Field of Public Libraries/Manuscript Libraries Under this scheme, financial assistance is given on sharing basis to voluntary educational bodies which have established public libraries and which function as registered societies or trusts. Financial assistance is provided for purchase of books, furniture and equipment and for construction of new buildings or extension of the present buildings subject to maximum of Rs. 50,000. The
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scheme has been modified from 1979-80 so as to enlarge its orbit cover libraries in small towns also.
Central Secretariat Library The total membership of the library stood at 17,396 on December 31, 1979-including 3,366 members enrolled during 1979. During the period, 1,26,649 books were lent out for home reading and 4,491 books were added to the library including 1,447 Indian official documents and 2,744 foreign official documents. The library received 28,068 issues of 689 titles of newspapers/periodicals by way of purchase, gift and exchange programme during the year.