Alamgir Mizan :
Jahangirnagar University (JU), which was established in 1970, got the library mainly for students and teachers after 16 years in 1986.
But the library has very scarcity number of seats, about 436, for which a limited number of students get the opportunity to study, and others wait at the door for long time.
As it currently can accommodate 436 readers only, most students have to
come back disappointed everyday after failing to get seats.
“We have to keep our bags in line from 6:30am if we want to enter the library. But standing in the queue for a long time is exhausting,” said Abdul Awal, a master’s student of Bangla department.
“Former students and outsiders, who take preparations for competitive examinations like the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) often occupy seats deepening the crisis and depriving the regular students,” said Saiful Islam Saif, a fourth year student of Geography and Environment Department.
“Some students come here along with their friends and younger brothers and occupy seats,” he said.
Sometimes students get locked into altercations over grabbing seats, which often turn into scuffles. Students, mostly of first and second years, who live in packed dormitories, are the worst sufferers as they neither have enough space for study in their dormitory nor in the library.
Redwan Ahmed, a first year student of Geological Sciences department, said, the dormitory he lives in does not have a suitable atmosphere for study. Moreover, the seating arrangement in the reading room of the dormitory is limited.
“I along with 25 students live in the common room where newly admitted students line before they are allocated seats and it is almost impossible to study there. We suffer seriously during our examinations, as it becomes hard to get a seat in the library for taking preparations,” he added.
As the number of students has exceeded 14,000, the authorities laid the foundation stone of a new building to resolve the crisis to a large extent.
According to library officials, the authorities agreed to arrange about 200 more seats on the ground floor for new students.
But the library authority does not maintain any entry list of the students, he said, adding, “If we can stop outsiders from entering the library, the crisis will be reduced,” he said.
About the seat crisis for regular students, Librarian Prof Ajit Kumar Mazumdar blamed the former students for it, adding the opportunity for the outsiders in the library is little.
“At least 200 new seats were arranged last year and another 200 seats and 3,500 books will be set this year. We will not face any crisis once the construction work of the extended part of the library is completed.”
“We will install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and create an online library so that students can read books by logging into our website from anywhere,” he said
JU Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Abul Hossain said, “We have already laid the foundation stone of a new building and it needs a lot of money.” But, he could not say when the project will be implemented.
Jahangirnagar University (JU), which was established in 1970, got the library mainly for students and teachers after 16 years in 1986.
But the library has very scarcity number of seats, about 436, for which a limited number of students get the opportunity to study, and others wait at the door for long time.
As it currently can accommodate 436 readers only, most students have to
come back disappointed everyday after failing to get seats.
“We have to keep our bags in line from 6:30am if we want to enter the library. But standing in the queue for a long time is exhausting,” said Abdul Awal, a master’s student of Bangla department.
“Former students and outsiders, who take preparations for competitive examinations like the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) often occupy seats deepening the crisis and depriving the regular students,” said Saiful Islam Saif, a fourth year student of Geography and Environment Department.
“Some students come here along with their friends and younger brothers and occupy seats,” he said.
Sometimes students get locked into altercations over grabbing seats, which often turn into scuffles. Students, mostly of first and second years, who live in packed dormitories, are the worst sufferers as they neither have enough space for study in their dormitory nor in the library.
Redwan Ahmed, a first year student of Geological Sciences department, said, the dormitory he lives in does not have a suitable atmosphere for study. Moreover, the seating arrangement in the reading room of the dormitory is limited.
“I along with 25 students live in the common room where newly admitted students line before they are allocated seats and it is almost impossible to study there. We suffer seriously during our examinations, as it becomes hard to get a seat in the library for taking preparations,” he added.
As the number of students has exceeded 14,000, the authorities laid the foundation stone of a new building to resolve the crisis to a large extent.
According to library officials, the authorities agreed to arrange about 200 more seats on the ground floor for new students.
But the library authority does not maintain any entry list of the students, he said, adding, “If we can stop outsiders from entering the library, the crisis will be reduced,” he said.
About the seat crisis for regular students, Librarian Prof Ajit Kumar Mazumdar blamed the former students for it, adding the opportunity for the outsiders in the library is little.
“At least 200 new seats were arranged last year and another 200 seats and 3,500 books will be set this year. We will not face any crisis once the construction work of the extended part of the library is completed.”
“We will install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and create an online library so that students can read books by logging into our website from anywhere,” he said
JU Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Abul Hossain said, “We have already laid the foundation stone of a new building and it needs a lot of money.” But, he could not say when the project will be implemented.
