After nearly a decade, the printed version of newspapers from 1972-1975 housed in the Dhaka University Central Library has been made accessible to the public.
Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 government through a student-led mass uprising on August 5, these newspapers have been made available to everyone in an unofficial manner.
The DU central library officials claimed that there was a significant interest among readers regarding the period following the independence under the leadership of the country鈥檚 founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
As a result, many people would come and read these newspapers, they mentioned, adding, 鈥楩rom 2012-13, the hard copies of the newspapers were unofficially closed to students citing 鈥渢echnical reasons鈥�.鈥�
Pointing out the condition of the newspapers, however, had deteriorated so much that they were on the verge of tearing if touched, the officials mentioned, 鈥楩or this reason, they were kept separately.鈥�
Now, everyone can view and read those newspapers, said Taizul Islam, a DU mass communication and journalism department student, adding, 鈥楾hese newspapers are the treasure, and there are so much to learn about history from these old copies.鈥�
Taizul Islam also urged the authorities to be careful in preserving the newspapers.
During this time, students, journalists, and researchers were provided with printed copies of scanned versions of these newspapers. Even if someone wanted to, they could not see the original copies.
In case of urgent need for students, specific news or articles from the newspapers could be obtained as scanned soft copies.
Library officials told 抖阴精品 that newspapers of some specific days from 1971-75 were damaged due to rain and neglect.
Students, however, claimed that someone had deliberately removed these particular newspapers from the 1975 volume.
Mir Nazrul Islam, a former deputy librarian of the university, said that the hard copies of these archives had been closed for a long time.
鈥楾hose who needed them could access them from the online section,鈥� he said.
Professor Md Nasiruddin Munshi, who has recently resigned from the post of acting librarian of the central library, told 抖阴精品 that these records would be accessible to all as long as they were in their archives. Some documents were picked up by the judicial commission for the convenience of their case.
鈥楩rom now on, the hard copies of these documents will be kept open for everyone,鈥� he mentioned.