Vrindavan Sodh Sansthan (Research Center)

Origin

Vrindavan is one of the two cities (other being Mathura) associated with the Birth and childhood of Lord Krishna. It is believed that Lord Krishna spent most of his childhood here grazing cows along with his brother and friends.

The library was founded in 1968 by Dr Ramdas Gupta. It comes under Culture Ministry, Government of India. It was started in a building in the Loi Market and was shifted to the present building in 1985.

Building

The institute occupies a two storey building with lawns on all sides. The ground floor is occupied by the reception, Sanskriti Museum, office and director's room. The Ist floor is occupied by the library, microfilm department, conservation department and publications department.

The institute also has a 8 room Guest House for the visiting scholars within the premises.

Location

Vrindavan is located on NH 2 at a distance of about 145 Kms from national capital New Delhi and about 400 Kms from the state capital Lucknow.

The library is located on the Raman Reti Marg near the ISKCON temple and opposite to the Law College.

Staff

Collection

The research center has 35000+ rare manuscripts. The manuscripts have been scanned and digitized for preservation and the collection will be made available in digital format in near future. The institute library has a rich collection of 15000+ books. The library is being automated using Software for University Libraries (SOUL) software and card catalogue is also available.

The library also subscribes to 5 newspapers in English and Hindi languages and 20 Magazines.

Conservation Section: The conservation department of the research center is well equipped with the staff and required resources. Everyday resources are identified for their conservation needs based on the material they are made of and the condition they are in and are treated accordingly. The center also offers its conservation service to the other manuscript repositories if required. Apart from that students are also trained by its experts in the preservation and conservation of resources.

Awareness: The staff from the research center has done a tremendous job by bringing an awareness among the locals about the value of manusctipts and their conservation and preservation for future generations.

Membership

The Institute is a Research Institute and the library is a reference library. So it doesn't offers regular membership to the public. However, research scholars who have interest in the resources held by the research center are welcome to consult the same within the premises provided they follow the rules and regulation laid down for the purpose and ensure the safety of the rare and fragile resources.

A monthly fee is charged from such interested researchers as under,

• Indian Citizens Rs 100/-
• Foreign Nationals Rs 300/-

Information Technology

The institute has 8 computers with internet connectivity and microfilming/photography equipment in its conservation section. All the manuscripts have been scanned and will be made available in e-format shortly. The library is also being automated using SOUL software. Photocopy facility is available for the researchers at the nominal rate of Rs 1 per page. However photocopy of rare and fragile manuscripts is not allowed as the exposure to the light may damage the original copy.

Working Hours

The center offers its services from Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 5 pm. On Monday the library remains closed.

Contact

Vrindavan Sodh Sansthan,
Raman Reti Marg,
Vrindavan (UP)-281121.
INDIA.
Phone: +91 0565 2540628, +91 0565 6450731
Fax: +91 0565 254 0576
E-mail: vrindavanresearch@gmail.com
Website: www.vrindavanresearchinstitute.org