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Background of National Archives of Bangladesh (NAB)

National Archives Bhaban

The History of National Archives in the Indo-Bangladesh Sub-continent is an old one. After the establishment of British Rule in the Sub-continent the Secretariat administration with all its paraphernalia began to develop. New Departments started functioning resulting in the opening of new branches and offices. With the increase of Secretariat files and records it was keenly felt to sort them out by transferring the important ones to a central repository and destroying the useless one. Hence the Imperial Record Department was established in Kolkata in 1891 which was later on transferred to Delhi to be named as National Archives of India.

After the Partition of India in 1947 the National Archives of Pakistan was established in Karachi in 1951 under the Directorate of Archives and Libraries. After the Liberation of Bangladesh from the Pakistani domination in 1971 the Government of the People?s Republic of Bangladesh established National Archives of Bangladesh in 1972 in Dhaka under the Directorate of Archives & Libraries.

Background of National Library of Bangladesh (NLB)

National Library Bhaban( built in 1985)

After the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 the Government of Pakistan established the National Library of Pakistan in Karachi in 1962 and a provincial book deposit branch of the Pakistan National Library in Dhaka in 1967. In fact that book deposit branch was the embryo of the National Library of Bangladesh which came into being after the independence of the country in 1971. After the Liberation War of Bangladesh it was keenly felt by all quarters that a National Library is indispensable for the newborn nation. Considering the necessity and importance, the Government of the People?s Republic of Bangladesh resolved to set up the National Library of Bangladesh in Dhaka. The Library started functioning with the manpower and resource materials inherited from the Provincial Book Deposit Branch in Dhaka. Later on, in 1973 the two national organizations namely (i) The National Archives of Bangladesh and (ii) The National Library of Bangladesh were merged name of the Directorate of Archives and Libraries under the Sports and Culture Division, Ministry of Education. A own building for the National Library of Bangladesh was built in 1985 and the Library was shifted to its new place called The Jatiya Granthagar Bhavan. (The National Library Building) at Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. The National Library of Bangladesh is currently run by the Directorate of Archives and Libraries under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

The National Library is the legal depository of all new books and other printed materials published in the country under the Copy Right Law (Modified in 2000 and Amended in 2005) of Bangladesh.