Muhammad Siddiq Khan - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Muhammad Siddiq Khan (March 21, 1910 – August 13, 1978) or M.S. Khan was the librarian of the Central Library of Dhaka University and the founder of the university's department of Library Science

Library science

Library science is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the...

(the present Information Science and Library Management). In March 2004, the Bangladesh government posthumously awarded him the Independence Day Award

Independence Day Award

The Independence Day Award , also termed Independence Award , is the highest state award given by the government of Bangladesh. Introduced in 1977, this award is bestowed upon Bangladeshi citizens or organizations in recognition of substantial contribution to one of many fields, including the War...

, the country's highest civil honor.

Early life and education

Muhammad Siddiq Khan was born to a Pathan

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

family from Tangail

Tangail

Tangail is a town in Tangail District located in central region of Bangladesh. It consists of 5 corporations, 8 municipalities, 72 wards, 211 mahallas. It is located on the banks of Louhajang River, and is part of the Dhaka Division.-Education:...

, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

. He was born in Rangoon, where his father worked, on 21 March 1910. His father died when he was still very young, leaving his widow Bolonnessa Begum in a long-drawn-out litigation with his uncle on proprietary rights to his vast wealth and establishments.

Khan spent his childhood in Rangoon and went to school there. He took the Matriculation examination in 1925 and stood fifth in Burma with distinctions in four subjects. He passed his Intermediate in arts in 1927 and stood first in Rangoon University with distinction in English

English studies

English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...

. In 1929 he received the B.A. honours degree in history from the university and stood first in the second class. In 1932 he got his B.L. degree. He was placed in the first class in the first-part examinations and in the second class in the second-part examinations. In 1936 he got his M.A. degree in History from the university and received the Yakub Abdul Ghani Gold Medal. For this brilliant performance he also received the Jardin Prize.

Dr Jenkins sent him abroad to get higher training in Library Science

Library science

in 1954.

Khan arrived in London on 30 September 1954. He was 44 years of age and had not done regular course work for about 20 years. Yet, on reaching London he started regular course work as decided by Professor Irwin. After due completion of course work, Khan spent one academic year working intensively in selected university and other academic libraries in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

. Professor Irwin arranged a training programme with several libraries at the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, as well as the libraries of the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

and University of Birmingham

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...

. Khan successfully completed his training.

After completing a two year course on the theory and practice of university librarianship in the London School of Librarianship and Archives, under the supervision of Professor Irwin, during 1954–55 and 1955–56, Khan returned home.

Working life

Completing his Graduation program Khan joined Rangoon University as a lecturer in History

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

and Political Science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

in 1931 and worked there until the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. His students included Aung San

Aung San

Bogyoke Aung San ; 13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese revolutionary, nationalist, and founder of the modern Burmese army, the Tatmadaw....

, one of the architects of the Independence of Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

. When Rangoon came under fire from the advancing Japanese army

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

, he escaped by trekking through the mountains to reach his village home. In 1943, he became an officer in the Civil Defense

Civil defense

Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...

department of the government of Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

. The next year he joined as a Liaison Officer under the Industries Directorate of the Bengal government. In 1946, he became the General Secretary of the Bengal Red Cross Society, a job he retained when moving to Dhaka

Dhaka

Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

after the partition of India

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

in 1947. In 1950 he joined Manikganj Debendra College as the principal.

In 1953, Khan joined Dhaka University as a secretary to Moazzem Hossain, the Vice-Chancellor, who was succeeded by W.A. Jenkins eight months later. At this point he went abroad for further studies. Upon return, he joined as the librarian of the Central Library of the University in June 1956, a position he held until his retirement in 1972. Khan introduced a diploma course for library science

Library science

and, along with Ahmad Hossain, founded the Library Association of East Pakistan. When the Department of Library Science was established in 1959, he was made the head of the department. In his 19 years of service to the Library, he introduced the Dewey Decimal System of library classification

Library classification

A library classification is a system of coding and organizing documents or library materials according to their subject and allocating a call number to that information resource...

and oversaw its implementation. He faced job-related financial troubles when he retired.

Khan also wrote a number of books, as well as columns for The Holiday

The Holiday

The Holiday is a 2006 American romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers. Distributed by Columbia Pictures and Universal Studios, it stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as two lovelorn women from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, who temporarily exchange homes to...

and Bangladesh Observer. He published a news bulletin for Dhaka University and edited the Eastern Librarian as the founder editor until 1976.

Honours and awards

M. S. Khan did not receive any honours during his lifetime, though he was held in high esteem in the world of scholarship. Two of his extended articles were published abroad. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

Royal Historical Society

The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...

for his scholarly contributions.

He was a Vice-President of the Pakistan Library Association (1957, 1958, and 1968) and President of the East Pakistan Library Association for several tenures. He was the General Secretary

General Secretary

The office of general secretary is staffed by the chief officer of:*The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace...

of Pakistan Library Association from 1962 to 1965. He was a Vice-President of Asian Federation of Library Association from 1957 to 1960. Nearly a quarter of century later the Tangail

Tangail

Association introduced a gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

in his name, an honor given to other distinguished figures such as Maulana Bhasani and Abu Sayeed Chowdhury

Abu Sayeed Chowdhury

Abu Sayeed Chowdhury was a jurist and the President of Bangladesh. Abu Sayeed Choudhury was born on January 05, 1921 in a Zamindar family of Nagbari in Tangail District...

.

The government of Bangladesh posthumously awarded him the Independence Day Award, the highest civil honor of the country, in 2004. His daughter Shireen Rashid received the award.

21 March has been declared Library Day of Bangladesh in 2010 (M S Khan's centenary birthday) by the Library Association of Bangladesh

Library Association of Bangladesh

About two third province of Bengal became the Eastern part of Pakistan due to partition of Indian subcontinent in to India and Pakistan in 1947. Bangladesh then called East Bengal , later East Pakistan received no share of books and other library materials from important libraries of Bengal as the...

History

"Captain George Sorrel's Mission to the Court of Amarapura 1793: An Episode in Anglo-Burmese Relations". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Pakistan, vol. II 1957, pp. 131–153
"Badr Maqams ot the Shrines of Badr Al-Din-Auliya". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Pakistan, vol. II 1962, pp. 17–46
"A Chapter in the Muslim Struggle for Freedom: Establishment of Dacca University". The Dacca University Studies.

Library science (Present Information Science and Library Management)

"The Oriental Manuscript Collection in Dacca University Library". The Eastern Librarian, vol. I No. 1, 1966, pp. 32–37
"A Co-operative Acquisition Plan for Pakistan's Third Five-year Development Plan", 1965–70. Pakistan Librarianship, 1963–64, pp. 93–101
"College Library Authority and Organization". The Eastern Librarian, vol. III No. 4, 1969, pp. 7–21
"The Challenge of McLuhan". The Eastern Librarian, vol. 5 No. 3–4, 1971, pp. 187–197
"Marketing of Books in East Pakistan: Problems, Prospects and Projects". The Eastern Librarian, vol. II No. 1, 1967, pp. 49–62; vol. II No. 2, 1967, pp. 17–23; vol. II No. 3, 1968, pp. 51–61;
"Book Promotion in School Libraries". Pakistan Librarianship, 1962–63, pp. 92–93
"A Blueprint for University Library Development". Pakistan Librarianship, 1963–64, pp. 160–170
"Libraries in Pakistan". The Eastern Librarian, vol. II No. 1, 1967, pp. 1–14
"Libraries in Education". East Pakistan Education Week, 1968, pp. 34–50
"University Librarianship To-day and Tomorrow". The Eastern Librarian, vol. III No. 1, 1969, pp.21–28
"The India Office Library: Who Owns It?" The Eastern Librarian, vol. I No. 1, 1966, pp. 1–10
"Our Libraries and Our National Antiquities". The Eastern Librarian, vol. III No. 2, 1968,pp. 1–7
"Comments on the Government of Pakistan's Third Five-year Development Plan—1965–1970". Pakistan Librarianship, 1963–1964, pp. 55–56

Printing and Publication

"William Carry and the Serampore Books (1800-1834)". LIBRI, vol. II No. 3, 1961, pp. 197–280

Editorial

"Ahmed Hussain". The Eastern Librarian, June 1970
"The Bleak Horizon". The Eastern Librarian, September 1967
"Wanted – A national Advisory Commission on Libraries". The Eastern Librarian, December 1967
"Progress of Librarianship in East Pakistan: Decade of Progress". The Eastern Librarian, June 1968
"Who is an Expert?" The Eastern Librarian, vol. II No. 3, 1968
"Import of non-book Reading Materials". The Eastern Librarian, March 1969
"Libraries and Postal Vagaries". The Eastern Librarian, June 1970
"Any one can run a library". The Eastern Librarian, December 1967
"A New Library System for Bangladesh". The Eastern Librarian, vol. VI No. 1-2 1971
"The Death of A Library". The Eastern Librarian, June 1967
"Those who stand and serve". The Eastern Librarian, March 1967
"Books on Bonus". The Eastern Librarian, June 1971
"Brickbats – and no Banquets!" The Eastern Librarian, March–June 1971
"Pakistani Library Journals". The Eastern Librarian, September 1966
"Should Institutional Libraries Hold Import Licenses?" The Eastern Librarian, September 1966

Preface

Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference Volume of the Pakistan Library Association, November 1964
Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Conference Volume of the Pakistan Library Association, November 1965

Book reviews

Technical College Libraries: A Guide to Problems and Practice. by K. W. Neal, published by the author at 41, Wychbury Road, Finchfield, Wolverhampton, U.K. 1965, pp. 159. and The Eastern Librarian, vol. I No. 1966, pp. 49–50
The Pakistan National Bibliography: Annual volume 1962
Oriental Dictionaries: A Selected Bibliography
Southern Asia
Libraries in the East: An International and Comparative Study

Miscellaneous

Felix Carey: A Prisoner of Hope
Import of Reading Materials from Abroad
A Comparative Study of Copyright Laws
Annual Report: Pakistan Library Association

মুদ্রণ ও প্রকাশনা (Printing and Publication)

বাংলা মুদ্রণ ও প্রকাশনার গোড়ার কথা (Early History of Bangla Printing and Publication). Bangla Academy, Dhaka. 1371 (Bangla Year), pp. 206, illustrated Price. 5.00 taka (Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

version)
বাংলা মুদ্রণ প্রকাশকে কেরী যুগ (Carry Period in Bangla Publication).Sahitya Protika. 5:1, 1368 (bangla Year) pp. 153–268 (Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

version)
বাংলা মুদ্রণের গোড়ার যুগের ইতিহাস (Early History of Bangla Printing) Gronthagar. 1369. pp. 243–268(Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

version)

গ্রন্থাগার বিজ্ঞান(Library Science)

গ্রন্থাগার সম্প্রসারণ ও জনপ্রিয়তা বৃদ্ধির উপায়(Techniques of Library Extension and Popularization). Pak Samachar, 1956(Bengali version)
শিশু গ্রন্থাগার (Children Library). Boi. 2:10, 1959
গ্রন্থ: গ্রন্থাগারিক ও গ্রন্থবিক্রেতা(The Book: Librarian and Book Seller). Porikrom. 2:2 October 1962

ইতিহাস (History)

ব্রহ্মদেশের ইতিহাসে মুসলমান (Muslim in Burmese History). Bangla Academy Potrika. 5:1, 1961. pp. 33–37.

Footnotes

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