Shayesta Bedar

Dr. Shayesta Bedar is an Indian historian, academician and scholar who is currently serving as the Director of Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna. Before joining the National library, she has served as an Assistant librarian in Maulana Azad Library AMU, Aligarh from (1993 – 2019) as in-charge of the Manuscript section of the library where she established a library museum in Maulana Azad Library. She has authored numerous research papers based on Persian and Urdu literature. Additionally, she has edited and compile work for a variety of books related to Persian, Hindi and Urdu literature.

Early life
Shayesta Bedar was born to Abid Raza Bedar a historian and scholar who served as the director of Raza Library and then Khuda Bakhsh library for a span of 25 years.

Career
Bedar holds a bachelor's degree in Persian literature from Patna Women's College, followed by a master's degree and Ph.D. in Library Science, Persian & History from Patna University. She has authored, compiled, and edited several books and research papers, focusing on librarianship, Indian history, journalism, Sir Syed & Aligarh Movement, Maulana Azad & Allama Iqbal, as well as critical editions of Indo-Iranians and Hindu studies. Her work also delves into topics of Banaras Temples and Hindu manuscripts. In 2019, she was appointed as a temporary director for three years under deputation by the Prime Minister's Office led board committee made by Ministry of Culture, Government of India. She is the first woman director and secretary of Khuda Bakhsh Oriental library in its 182 years history.

Bedar served as the representative of the library in the World Society for the Study, Preservation, and Promotion of the Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan Over her 30-year association with the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, she has made contributions to its growth and development. One notable achievement includes the digitization of approximately 1 million folios of manuscripts within the library's collection.

Contributions
Bedar has made contributions including the establishment of a Library Museum at Maulana Azad Library of Aligarh Muslim University. She compiled and edited the catalogs of Important Collections, consisting of 10,000 Manuscripts preserved in Maulana Azad Library Dr. Bedar also compiled a comprehensive three-volume Bibliography on Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the Aligarh Movement.

Awards
Bedar has been honored with the Bihar State Urdu Academy Award, the Haji Ahmad Husain Award, and the Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu Award, for her contributions to literature and library science.