Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah

Background

He was born on 6 August 1890 in Lahore, British India (now ) to Maulvi Mohammd Ziaullah and Alam January

Career

He was also the first prominent librarian to opt for at the time of independence in 1947. He studied under Asa Don Dickinson in 1915 at the University of the Punjab. In 1916, he became the first qualified librarian of the Government College in Lahore.

He then became the librarian of MAO College (now Aligarh Muslim University) in 1919.

In 1921, he joined the Imperial Secretariat Library in New Delhi and Simla, a post he held for 8 years. 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.

While there he started the library training programme. In 1947, after the declaration of "s independence, he was made officer on special duty in the Ministry of Education.

He died on 23 November 1949 at Lahore.

He was buried in his family section of the Ferozpur Road graveyard, Lahore.

Achievements

• He was honoured with the title of Khan Bahadur in 1935.

Membership

In 1933, he was one of the founding members of and was its first Secretary from 1933 to 1947.