India has been the cradle of one of the earliest civilizations. Intellectual enquiry and philosophical thinking were the
factors that shaped the Indian civilization. The ancient Indian civilization literature like Rig-Veda, Upanishads etc. Is all based on philosophical thinking and still to day they are considered as philosophical treaties.
It is believed that around 3500 B.C. and that the instrument of writing through in crude from was invented. This was used as a tool for dealing with the practical day to day affairs. In 400 A.D. there existed one of the reputed universities namely the Nalanda university. Besides Nalanda , Valabi. Taxila , Vikramsila Mithila and nadia also existed. The important thing to be noted in the history of
development of Indian libraries is the excavation made at Amaravati Nagarjunakonda. In this period the five story structure was used for the storage for the books. The library was at the top of floor.
In medieval period, some of the moghul emperors were famous for there great love for books. They have enriched private library but this library is not for public. They appoints staff for the preservation of library books.
When the printing press is invented it gives a raga of library growth. Printing in India is started in 1556.
The first library in modern India was
established in 1784 attached to the Asiatic society of Bengal. After the death of Tippu sultan the many of manuscripts were transfer to the Asiatic society library. Asiatic society library of Bombay was established in 1830. The Calcutta public library was established in 1835 by the English community in Calcutta. The Connemara public library which was established in madras in 1896 also provides a vital role in development of Indian library development. The establishment of Delhi public library 1951 is also an important step in the history of public library movement.
In order to support the library development Raja Ram Mohan Roy library foundation was constituted in 1972. The establishment of INDONET (India’s information network) CALIPNET (Calcutta public libraries network) etc. are the important miles stone in the development of library movement in India. The national library of India is established in 1948 at Alipur Calcutta through the concept of service and basic functions are the same for all the libraries there are different types of libraries depending on different customers. These are generally students, teachers researchers businessmen, doctors, housewives and so on this basis the libraries can be divided in to following categories :
Public libraries
Academics libraries
Special libraries
National libraries
Public libraries cater to needs of all sectors irrespective of age sex occupations social or economics status. Public library serves the public.
The academic library is defined as the library of schools colleges and universities. They are grouped together because they serve mainly to students and teachers. Their functions and services are mainly for students and teachers.
The national library of India is Imperial library of Calcutta which was established in 1948. it is quite evident that India during the last four decades has achieved the establishment of national library . a unesco sponsored publics library project at Delhi. Documentation centers and large numbers of universities and special libraries.
There are so many acts were also passed for the development of library in India.
Madras public library act 1948
Copy right act 1957
Delivery of books & news paper act 1954
After seeing the above sentence we can say that the concept of library in India is very old. India is giving five laws of library science which are very useful in the library. The five laws are given by Dr. S.R. Ranganathan who was the father of Indian library science.