# Central Library, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

The Central Library is a key support service at IIT Delhi. Its mission is to deliver information services and access to both digital and printed bibliographic and full-text resources. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) is one of the top universities in New Delhi, India. It is ranked 150 in QS World University Rankings 2025. IIT Delhi had opened its first International Campus at Abu Dhabi,which is IIT Delhi Abu Dhabi.The Central library is designed to meet the scholarly and informational needs of students, faculty, and staff within the Institute community. The Library includes nearly 300,000 documents, including books, theses, journals, videos, and other materials in engineering, science and technology, humanities, social sciences, and management. All in-house library operations are entirely computerised, with Koha library management software providing web-based access to the Central Library and several Departmental Libraries' catalogues. It has an RFID-based automated library system and a diverse collection of printed and electronic resources to meet the demands of all stakeholders. The library is an early adopter of new and developing technology and services.

## History

The Central Library was founded in August 1961 and was originally housed in a hall in the northeast corner of the Institute's Textile Block. It was relocated to the Institute's main building in 1968 before moving to its current location in 1988.

## Building

The Central Library is in a separate structure adjacent to the Institute's main building on the west side. It has three levels and a total area of approximately 60,000 square feet. It is centrally air-conditioned. The library's entrance is on the first level, with a connecting bridge to the main building. Proper signage is widely provided throughout the library to aid visitors. The library occupies an independent three-storey building. The renovated library features a stunning entrance lobby and exhibit area, reorganized reference and periodicals reading halls, and a variety of user spaces for individual study, complete with Wi-Fi and laptop charging facilities. The staff work area has been enhanced, and there is a spacious reading hall that remains open from 8 am to 3 am.

## Library services

The library offers circulation of books, and a book bank of textbooks for loan to students and the faculty. The Computer Applications Division works with all areas of the Library to oversee library computerization, networking, and related services. This division oversees delivering computer-based library services and administers the Computer Laboratory, which houses over 30 computers reserved exclusively for library patrons. The division also houses the content creation team for the library's website and the library also provides electronic resources using CORAL. It also contributes actively to the Central Library's research and development efforts. The Central Library, in partnership with the MHRD project IRINS, created and deployed a customized profile system for IIT Delhi, which makes customized data about the institute and its staff available in the most presentable format. It enables faculty members to collect, curate, and promote academic communication efforts while also providing an opportunity to build a scholarly network. The library maintains Inter-Library Loan relations with a number of institutions and libraries including IITs, BARC, NITIE, NCST, IISc, IIG, TIFR, IGIDR, TISS and NICT for exchange of books, journals, photocopies and videocassette.

## Collections

The Library subscribes to 73,143 current journals/conference proceedings. The Library has a rich collection of books on science and technology including chemistry, mathematics, physics, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, electrical and electronics engineering, textile engineering, biochemical and biomedical engineering. Besides, Library also has a good collection in the areas of humanities and social sciences.

## Institutional repository

The IIT Delhi Institutional repository is an electronic collection of research produced at IITD, including full-text book chapters, conference/proceeding papers, technical reports, journal pre-prints & post-prints, working papers, Patents and annual reports. The eprints@IIT Delhi hosts full-text research articles by teachers and researchers at IIT Delhi utilising DSpace, an open-source Digital Library software developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. eprints@IIT Delhi enables academics and researchers to deposit, reuse, and distribute their research papers. The repository may capture, index, store, and preserve digital materials developed throughout the Institute. Faculty and researchers can register with the digital repository to submit pre-prints, post-prints, and publisher PDFs. In addition, IR hosts abstracts of Ph.D theses filed at the Central Library, IIT Delhi.

## Staff

Dr. Nabi Hasan is the current Librarian