Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah

Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah (1890-1949) [Syed Jalaluddin Haider, "Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan" Pg 3, Online at: http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00011342/01/PJLIS_1_Haider.pdf] was a pioneer of the library movement in the Indian subcontinent.

Early life

He was born on 6th August 1890 in Lahore, Punjab, India (now Pakistan) to Maulvi Mohammd Ziaullah and Alam Jan. [Biographical Encyclopedia of the World, Institute for Research in Biography, Inc, New York, NY, USA 1st edition, 1940]

Training

He studied under Asa Don Dickinson in 1915 at the University of the Punjab.

Career

In 1916, he became the first qualified librarian of the Government College in Lahore. [ [http://www.gcu.edu.pk/libraries.htm :.GC University Lahore ] ] He then became the librarian of MAO College (now Aligarh Muslim University) in 1919. [Syed Jalaluddin Haider, "Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan" Pg 4, Online at: http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00011342/01/PJLIS_1_Haider.pdf] In 1921, he joined the Imperial Secretariat Library in New Delhi and Simla, a post he held for 8 years. [Syed Jalaluddin Haider, "Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan" Pg 4, Online at: http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00011342/01/PJLIS_1_Haider.pdf]

In 1930, he was appointed the Librarian of the Imperial Library (now National Library of India) in Calcutta, a post which he held for about 17 years. [ [http://www.nlindia.org/history.html History of the National Library, India ] ] While there he started the library training programme. ["Encyclopaedia of Library and Information Science", Edited by: Allen Kent, Harold Lancour and Jay Daly vol 21 1977 Pg 257 ]

Pakistan

In 1947, he decided to opt for Pakistan. He was made officer on special duty in the Ministry of Education. [Syed Jalaluddin Haider, "Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan" Pg 4, Online at: http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00011342/01/PJLIS_1_Haider.pdf]

Indian Library Association

In 1933, he was one of the founding members of Indian Library Association. [ [http://www.ila-india.org/aboutus.asp Ila-india.org ] ] He was its first Secretary from 1933 to 1947. [Syed Jalaluddin Haider, "Pioneers of Library Movement in Pakistan" Pg 4, Online at: http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00011342/01/PJLIS_1_Haider.pdf]

Honours

He was honoured with the title of Khan Bahadur in 1935. [ [http://www.gcu.edu.pk/libraries.htm :.GC University Lahore ] ]

Death

He died on 23rd November 1949 [ [http://www.chrisdaydesign.com/worldlib/vol05no1/khurshid_v05n1.shtml World Libraries: The Pioneers: Abdul Moid ] ] at Lahore. He was buried in his family section of the Ferozpur Road graveyard, Lahore.

References