WELCOME TO PAIKS-2027

Presidency University would not have seen the advancement of learning without the enduring support of its library. The University's glorious academic tradition, built over more than two centuries, has been complemented by a very rich and diverse library collection comprising books, journals, reports, official documents, and other invaluable scholarly resources. Hindoo College bequeathed its excellent Library along with its assets and staff to Presidency College. The library collection was subsequently enriched with books transferred from the libraries of the defunct Fort William College and the Anglo-Indian College. By 1857, the library housed 7,315 volumes. Over the following century, its strength grew substantially, and by 1955 the collection had expanded to nearly 75,000 books, excluding the extensive collection of bound journal volumes. The library boasts of an extraordinary collection of rare and historically significant works. The earliest known publication in its holdings is Mikrókosmos: A Little Description of the Great World, written by Peter Heylyn and published in 1629. The collection also includes numerous scientific classics by eminent scholars such as Robert Boyle and Bertrand Russell, alongside rare books and documents of exceptional historical value. Among these are James Rennell's 1788 work, Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan or the Mogul Empire…, and a remarkable seventeen-page letter written by Professor P. C. Mahalanobis to W. A. Jenkins, D.Sc. Director of Public Instruction, Bengal, advocating the establishment of a separate Statistical Department in Bengal. This document is widely regarded as the early vision of Prof. Mahalanobis that eventually led to the establishment of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
Building upon this rich legacy, the Presidency University Library continues to evolve as a state-of-the-art learning resource centre. Most of its in-house operations and services have been computerised, enabling efficient access to both print and digital resources. The library provides seamless access to a wide range of subscribed electronic resources as well as open-access scholarly content. Its redesigned website serves as a unified gateway to all library resources and services. In collaboration with the National Digital Library of India (NDLI), the library has also established the Presidency University Digital Archive to preserve, and provide access to, the University's invaluable documentary heritage. Blending a rich historical legacy with modern information services, the Presidency University Library continues to serve as a vibrant knowledge hub for the academic community.