Category: Heritage Building
Time Zone: Weekdays, 9 am - 8 pm. Weekends and holidays, 9.30 am - 6 pm. On holidays only the Lending section, Reading Rooms of the Main Building, Annexe Building, New Annexe Building and Esplanade Reading Rooms remain open. The Library remains entirely closed on 26th January (Republic Day), 15th August (Independence Day) and 2nd October (Mahatma Gandhi's birthday).
Admission Fee: Nil
Hit the Spot: Can board bus number 77, 77A or 1A.
Photography: Strictly prohibited.
Nearest Railway Station: Howrah
Nearest Metro Station: Get off at Jatin Das Park Metro Station and catch an auto from there, or get off at Rabindra Sadan and board a bus.
Nearest International Airport: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.
Parking: Hourly parking charges applicable.

It is originally the residence of Warren Hastings and was built in a sprawling Italian renaissance style. It entwines a majestic thirty acres and was previously known as the Imperial Library, which was rechristened as the National Library after independence with an enactment of the Imperial Library Act 1948. On 1st February 1953, the National Library was opened to the public and inaugurated by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Sri B.S. Kesavan was appointed as the first librarian of the National Library.

The library consists of around 18,00,000 books and documents in different languages. In order to be a member, one needs to fill up a form available from Bhasha Bhawan free of cost. One can also avail free daily passes into the library. It is the largest library in India and houses rare books, Indian and Foreign official documents, and an imposing collection of maps, newspapers and microforms. The library also boasts of 5,58,516 books in Indian languages, 86,682 maps, 902 titles of newspapers and a capacity of 564 reading rooms!


Related External Link:
Official Website of National Library