DPL operates 71 government public libraries in 64 districts of the country including Sufia Kamal National Public Library in the Capital city of Dhaka. The foundation stone of the National Public Library was laid in 1954 as the country's Central Public Library at the Dhaka University campus. It started functioning in 1958 with a collection of 10,040 books under the Cultural Division of the Ministry of Education. The Library was later shifted to its own building at Shahbagh (adjacent to Dhaka University) in 1977. After six years in 1983, Department of Public Libraries (DPL) was formed under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to look over all government public libraries of the country combining the central library, divisional libraries and abolishing 'Bangladesh Parishad' of the district levels (renaming them as District Government Public Library). The Central Public Library is named 'Sufia Kamal National Public Library' in honor of country's renowned poet Begum Sufia Kamal.