Rajkya Saraswati Bhawan Saravjanik Mandal Pustakalya, Udaipur

Origin

Also known as the 'City of Lakes', Udaipur is the district headquarter of the Udaipur district. Udaipur is also a Divisional headquarter with six districts namely, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Rajsamand, Udaipur and Pratapgarh. The city was established by Maharana Udai Singh II in 1559 as capital of his Mewar Kingdom. According to a legend the Maharaja met a hermit in the forests at this palace when he was hunting. The hermit told the king to build a palace at this place assuring him of its protection. Accordingly the Maharaja built his residence and thus started the development of the city.

Due to its mountainous terrain Mughals can't penetrate the region effectively. Their stronghold was Chittor. Britishers reached here 1818 and made it into a princely state.

The library is one of the oldest in the state and was started in the year 1887 by Maharaja Fateh Singh. It was taken over by the state government and opened for public on 12th March, 1951.

Building

The library has a state of the art spacious building named Victoria Hall. It has a reading room, stack room, librarian's room and office.

Location

The city of Udaipur is located at a distance of 400 Kms (approx.) from state capital Jaipur and 670 Kms (approx.) from national capital New Delhi.

The library is situated in the famous Gulab Bagh (Garden) in equally famous Victoria Hall, providing an ideal environment for silent reading to its readers. Gulab Bagh is one of the largest and best maintained gardens in India spanning an area of 100 acres on the banks of lake Pichola on the Lake Palace Road. The garden was built by Maharaja Sajjan Singh in 1850s. Along with the library there is also a museum called Victoria Hall Museum and a zoo. The Bagh is about 1 Km from the city bus stand and about 1.5 Km from the city railway station.

Staff

Collection

The library has rich collection of 62000+ books. The whole collection has been divided into many general and special collections arranged according to DDC-19 classification scheme.

Apart from the main collection the library has a collection of 15000 bound volumes of magazines.

The library subscribes 17 newspapers in English & Hindi.

Membership

The library has around 315 registered active members.

The library offers membership for a period of one session (1st April to 31st March) and is renewable thereafter. There is a no membeship fee. A refundable security of Rs 500/- needs to be paid at the time of Ist registration by outsiders in the absence of any quranttee from a local authority. This secutiry is carried forward during periodical renewals.

Membership Fee:

• Membership Free (Form price Rs 1)

Information Technology

The library makes use of four computers for office work. The automation of library operations will start soon. The library offers photocopy facility to its members at the nominal rate of Rs 1/page. The internet facility is presently unavailable due to technical problems.

Working Hours

The library remains closed on every Tuesday. The library timings are,

• 11:00am to 7:00pm

Contact

Rajkya Saraswari Bhawan Saravajanik Mandal Pustakalya (Divisional Library),
Gulab Bagh,
Udaipur (RJ)-313001.
INDIA.
Phone: +91 294 281 0707