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History of Delhi University Library System 1922-2024

The Delhi University Library commenced its journey in 1922 with a collection of 1380 gift books and 86 current periodicals. In the early years it functioned from different buildings which in turn housed the University. In 1933, when the University shifted to its current location, the Library was housed in the Ballroom of the Old Vice-Regal Lodge. Renovation of the Ballroom where the library was located was undertaken with a generous donation from Sh. G.D. Birla. Sixteen magnificent Burma teak cases were obtained from the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow and the Wardens and Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford. The present Central Library Building was inaugurated On December 01, 1958, by the then Chancellor and President of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. Its foundation stone had been laid four years earlier by Dr. G.S. Mahajani, the then Vice-Chancellor.

Sir Maurice Gwyer, Vice-Chancellor of the University from 1938 to 1950 was instrumental in the blossoming of the Library. Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, father of the Modern Library Science movement in India (then Librarian of University of Madras) and Professor S. Das Gupta, the first Librarian (1942-66) were the moving spirits behind its constant up gradation in the University apparatus. Prior to the appointment of a formal librarian, the Library was looked after by a “Library Committee” (amongst some of its office bearers were noted historians Professor I.H. Qureshi, Dr. T.G.P. Spear and Scientist Professor D.S. Kothari) and Honorary Librarians.

During this early phase of the development of University Library till the inauguration of the new building, another four important libraries developed simultaneously. The Law Faculty Library, established in 1924, became a pioneer in legal education in the country. Library of the Central Institute of Education, started in 1947, has played a complementary role in achieving the noble objectives of the Institute. Library of the MEL Department has been the hub of magnificent collection on European Languages, culture and literary studies since 1948.

The Library of the DSE, better known as the Ratan Tata Library (RTL) began in 1949. In the last more than fifty years, it has not only become a partial depository of publications of the United Nations and several other International Organisations (30,000 such publications are available) but has also developed a phenomenal collection of 40,000 documents of the Central and State Governments, including Reports of various Committees and Commissions. The RTL is not confined to Economics. Since the 1960s, Departments of Sociology, Geography and Commerce, too, have become its integral components.

The decade of the 1960s was noticeable for a new trend in the growth of the Delhi University Library. Starting with the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, several Departmental Libraries took roots in Faculties of Arts, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Science, and Management Studies. Between 1962 and 1965 all major departments in Science Faculty developed their separate collections. Some of these have, in more recent years, grown as nuclei of Advanced Centers (CARPA, CARB, CARC, CARK – for Physics & Astrophysics, Botany, Chemistry and Zoology respectively). The Faculty of Mathematics, established in 1963, also started its own collection which has been growing steadily since then. The incorporation of the Departments of Statistics, Operational Research, and Computer Science within the Faculty (now designated as Mathematical Sciences) has further widened the scope of its holdings. The Library of the Department of Chinese & Japanese Studies (because of the addition of Korean Studies, the Department has renamed as East Asian Studies in 2004) was started in 1967. Before the close of the decade, the Faculty of Management Studies also established its own library in 1969.

The existence of a large number of libraries necessitated a robust system of their administration and services. Inspired by an instinct of self-analysis and introspection, Dr. C.D. Deshmukh, former Vice-Chancellor (1962-67) invited Dr. Carl M. White, a renowned American Librarian, in 1965 to conduct a survey of the Delhi University Libraries. Dr. White was constrained to note that “The hard fact to be faced is that the University of Delhi inherited an educational tradition which treated the library as conventional but useless accessory”. Dr. White made detailed recommendations after conducting an in-depth analysis of the University libraries for about a year, and envisioned a system of distributed collections with central control mechanism under the Librarian.

The University of Delhi accepted the recommendations of Dr. Carl M. White and introduced sweeping reforms in the administration and services of the libraries. Ordinances were formulated to bestow the administrative authority – vested till then, in the Library Committee – on the University Librarian. The library staff was placed in a separate pool under the control of the librarian. The University Librarian also became the sanctioning authority for all kinds of funds allocated by the Finance Committee and the Executive Council of the University under the head ‘University Library System’. The organisation that emerged, came to be known as the Delhi University Library System (DULS). The development plan foreseen by Dr. White was initiated in January 1968 under the guidance and funds provided to the library system by the Ford Foundation and continued much beyond the three year period assigned for the task. The rebuilding programme suffered a huge set back in the unfortunate demise of the beloved librarian Prof. S. Dasgupta in 1966. Subsequently, Padma Shri Professor S. Bashiruddin (1966-1967), Professor B V R Rao (1968-1972), Dr. K L Kaul (1973) contributed to the development of the Library as Librarians.

In 1975 Professor Anand Prakash Srivastava (United Nations Expert 1968-74) was invited to assume the charge of the first University Librarian in the new dispensation. Prof. Srivastava successfully concluded the Ford Foundation Development programme. The library system scaled new heights in his stewardship. Several new libraries including the Central Science Library, Braille Library and Undergraduate Text Book libraries came into being and the staff strength and financial resources grew in a big way. Most importantly, all the libraries could be integrated to serve the entire scholarly community of the university.

Major transformation of the governance of the Delhi University Library System that took place in the early 1980s, early 90s, and in 2004 resulted in different degrees of financial and administrative decentralization of the system. However, the Delhi University Library System (DULS) continues to be headed by the University Librarian with Library Committees in each of the component library unit under the supervision and control of the DULS Governing Body

In 1995 the UGC provided a grant of Rs. 1 Crore for computerization of the University Library. The project started in 1999 after the appointment of Shri Mohan Lal Saini as University Librarian (1997-2004). The work was actively pursued by creating a Computerized Library Services Department. The core collection of the system has since been computerized and made searchable through web OPAC to fulfill the information needs of the academic community across various disciplines.

DULS started its web based activities in 2005. Dr. Suprabhat Majumdar, University Librarian (2005-2010) made concerted efforts to transform the system into a hybrid environment of traditional and ICT based library resources and services. The system started subscribing to fifty five reputed online electronic databases, launched its website and started an Information Literacy Programme for the benefit of the users at large. Around 8,000 Ph.D. theses awarded by the university and around 14,000 rare books were also digitized during this period. The University Library System contributed immensely to the first NAAC accreditation of the university under the then University Librarian Dr. Dharm Veer Singh (2015-2019). The Indian Library Association conferred Dr. L. M. Padhya Best University Library award for the year 2017 on Delhi University Library System in recognition of its outstanding contributions to the academia.

DULS is accomplishing its task of reaching to wider academic community under the able guidance of Dr. Rajesh Singh, University Librarian from 2020. The library system is actively involved in advanced web based information services. Prof. Yogesh Singh, Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi launched the DU E-library web platform in December 2021. It provides anywhere, anytime and multiple device, single window access to all subscribed content as well as around 1.4 million open educational resources. The system is regularly promoting the use of library resources in teaching, learning and research by conducting Information Literacy Programmes focusing on e-resources, research metrics- Impact Factor, h-Index, academic integrity, etc. for the benefit of scholars at large. The Central Library has evolved as a hub for plagiarism verification and control activities. It also publishes Abstracts of Theses entitled ‘Doctoral Research’ and organizes an exhibition of Theses, Dissertations and faculty publications on the eve of Annual Convocation of the university.

The library system is making rigorous efforts to upgrade its resources and services. It looks forward to the expansion and up gradation of the Central Library Complex with improved ambience and state of the art services and surveillance infrastructure including advanced library management software. In nutshell DULS endeavors to carve out an approach and create an atmosphere which is conducive to high quality academic activities in the university.