Aligarh: Prof SM Azizuddin Husain, Azad Chair, Maulana Azad National Urdu University of Hyderabad, discussed the importance of the treasure trove of manuscripts—crucial to the ongoing worldwide project to record the history of Orientalism at the Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University.

He was delivering the keynote lecture on ‘Importance of Maulana Azad Library in Oriental Research’ at AMU.

“Libraries have always had a pivotal role in the storage, processing, and dissemination of information. Some may serve general needs, but special libraries like the Maulana Azad Library serve the need for research carried out across the globe. The AMU library is one such information centre that has been preserving the cultural heritage of the Oriental world”, said Prof SM Azizuddin.

He shared experience in the field of oriental languages and talked about the minute technicalities to be followed in the research process related to manuscripts.

Prof SM Azizuddin also spoke about manuscripts available at the KhudaBaksh Library and Rampur Raza Library.

In the welcome address, Prof Nishat Fatima, AMU Librarian, talked about the vast repository of different cultures at the AMU library.

Prof Masud Anwar Alavi, from the Department of Arabic, presented the concluding remarks.

Dr Asif Fareed Siddiqui extended the vote of thanks and Dr Monawwer Eqbal conducted the programme.

Dr Ata Khursheed gave the introductory remarks.

Over 200 participants attended the lecture in the virtual and offline modes.