In a first, Alipore Zoo opens it’s historic library to the public

Kolkata: The Alipore Zoological Garden is opening its library to the public for the first time in its history of 150 years.

The work for digitisation of the rich collection of the library has already started. Digital copies of over 1400 rare books in the library’s collection will be made available and also uploaded in the website of the zoo.

“The Alipore Zoo boasts of some extremely valuable letters, information and documents along with books. We want them to be properly preserved so that the future generation can access them. Hence the digitization process has started. We have formed an expert committee for overseeing the work and we are trying to complete the process by the end of this year,” said a senior Forest department official.

The Alipore Zoo, the oldest zoo in the country was set up in 1875 and has a variety of animals and birds. The books in the library will enable the visitors to know much more details about the zoo inmates.

The library at Alipore is named after Sir Jyotindra Mohan Tagore who was one of the patrons of the zoo during its inception. He desired that the zoo should have a library with books related with animal healthcare. So, he donated a good amount of money which contributed to the setting up of the library in 1898.

Sir John Edgar, another patron of the zoo had donated almirah for keeping books of the library. Presently, there are over 1400 books in its collection and majority of them are rare ones. Recently, a book published to mark the occasion of 150 years of the zoo has also found its place there. Several books published by the state Forest deprtment and the zoo authorities from time to time will also be added

to the collection.

The writings of first superintendent of the zoo Ram Brahma Sanyal has also found its place in the library.

Sanyal rose from a simple employee to become the zoo’s working superintendent in 1878 and then full fledged superintendent in 1880. He had written about the process of keeping animals in captivity, their breeding, their healthcare , their supervision and care . A book was released in 1892 covering all these aspects. It is a rare book whose specimen is in the library.

The visitors will be able to know about animal conservation and breeding, educational activities and other initiatives of the zoo by browsing through the collection.