34. Oswal Sena Library

The Oswal Sena Library was set up over two years (2000-2002) with books donated by Mr. Sushil Oswal through the late Professor Vinod Sena (retired from Delhi University), both of whom were visually challenged and committed to creating voice recordings, braille libraries and digitised versions of books. This diverse collection of books has been catalogued in-house. Over time, Prof. Sena added to the collection, and even after his death, his daughter donated cartons of books. These books are a significant donation since the Department did not then have the resources to set up its own library. The library is one of our prized possessions, and the room includes paintings by leading contemporary artists like Anjolie Ela Menon among others. These paintings that now deck the library walls were painted on the lawns in front of the then Principal’s office over 18 years ago for Confluence, an Arts, Crafts and Cultural Fest that invited established artists from Delhi who presented their work to the College. We are very proud indeed of these now priceless works of art that complement the treasure trove of the Oswal Sena Library.

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library - Jorge Luis Borges

The Oswal library, of the Department of English not only helped me with my curriculum, but also satiated the bibliophile in me, with its immense lineup of books even from outside our curriculum (although it doubles as the Council Room near the administrative office). These books range from poets to critics to authors, from fan fiction to romance, from novels to critical essays, and contain books of every era, cutting through boundaries, and hence help to satisfy the need of every student. The diverse assortment of books ensures that it caters to the needs of students and teachers alike. The collection ranges from now-out-of-print anthologies of Jacobean drama to Deleuze on Foucault.

Not only does this library have a great assortment of books, the Oswal Library committee has taken up the magnanimous responsibility of running it efficiently as well, and they do a great job of it. They not only maintain the library in a good condition, they ensure efficient working of the library by allocating certain days of the week for the students of each year, and during these allocated days, the interested students visit the library under supervision of the teacher and either have the books issued for a week or sit and read them as they please.

Personally, as a student I feel a higher sense of belonging to the college, because of the department library, and in a sense it gives me more confidence we can always depend on it for our assignments and material pertaining to our prescribed texts (even in the last minute). Many books that may not available to us in the general library are made available to us in the Oswal Library.

Shyama

II Year