BHU central library to house 2,000 seats, 70,000 more books with extension block

NEW DELHI: Addressing the space limitations of the central library, Banaras Hindu University is set to expand the seating and reading capacity of its Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Library from 850 to 2,000 seats and 70,000 more books with an extension block nearing its completion.

The library which currently houses over 15 lakh books, 90,000 e-books, and more than 17,000 journals, witnesses a footfall of 6,000 students everyday, the university said. The new G plus extension building will add 600 seats and 70,000 books to the existing library.

“The limited seating capacity of the library has been a challenge for many years. With the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sudhir Kumar Jain’s relentless focus on creating state of art student amenities and strengthening the teaching-learning infrastructure, the seating capacity of the historic library is now set to be more than doubled than it was three years ago,” said an official statement from the university.

BHU explained that the extension of the central library was carried out in phases across years. Initially, the first floor of the portion used by the University Grants Commission-Human Resource Development Centre (UGC-HRDC) was provided to the library, adding 350 seats by the end of 2022. Further, the whole area used by UGC-HRDC was converted into a reading hall and 250 more seats were added taking the overall capacity of the central library to 1,450.

BHU vice-chancellor professor Sudhir Kumar Jain formally inaugurated the new reading hall on the occasion of Independence Day.

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BHU central library funding, timings

In an attempt to make the library more accessible and student friendly, the university made up to five-fold increase in the annual allocation of the library in the financial year 2023-24. The reading hall facility will be made available from 8 am to 5 am everyday as compared to 15 hours a day previously. Efforts are also underway to uplift and upgrade the central library with state-of-art modern facilities under the Institution of Eminence – BHU, initiative of the central government.

Jain said, “We are emphasizing development and enhancement of student amenities to facilitate academic and professional excellence. Enriching our central library with resources as well as ample space is one of the steps we have taken in this regard.”

University librarian D K Singh said that the library has seen a major uplift in the past three years. “Thanks to the university administration led by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sudhir Kumar Jain, we are no longer facing scarcity of funds, nor do we have challenges regarding availability of resources as well as books”, said Singh. The upgradation of library facilities is greatly benefiting the university community at large and especially the students from the under-privileged background, he added.