The concept of Harekrushna Mahtab State Library was conceived during 1st Five Year Plan under the advice of Government of India and was completed in 1959 with a majestic building of around 16000 sq.ft. Carpet area, enshrined within a beautiful land of 3 acres in a prime location of Capital City of Bhubaneswar. In 1967, it was named as Gandhi Bhawan commemorating birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. The State Library was located in this building, but in a corner only. In 1987 it was renovated and entire space of the four storeyed building was utilized for the functioning of two Libraries i.e. State Library for the entire State of Odisha and another Public Library for Bhubaneswar City.
In 1987, Government decided to rename the State Library and the Public Library as Harekrushna Mahtab State Library (in memory of Dr. Harekrushna Mahtab, the builder of modern Odisha) and the Bhubaneswar Public Library respectively. The former is a Reference Library and lending of books are not permitted whereas the latter is a Lending Library for the public of Bhubaneswar City. These two Libraries have managed to function over the limited space. Total readers seats available are about 350 against the present demands of 600-700 readers per day. Some statistics of these libraries given below:
1, 44,000
6000
350
Total number of newspapers subscribed
Total number of Magazines subscribed
Total number of Users per day
Number of Users per day 350
Total Floor areaa
Different Sections of the HKM State Library
Total number of staf
