About the Library
Mysore University library is housed in Manasgangothri is one of the largest university libraries in the country and in particular, the largest of all libraries in karntaka. The University was established on 27-07-1916 by its founding father His Highness Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar- IV the then Maharaja of Mysore and Sir. M Vishweswariah the then Dewan of Mysore. University of Mysore was the 5th university established in the Country and the very pioneer in the Princely State of Mysore. The present jurisdiction of the University covers 4 districts viz., Mysore, Hassan, Mandya and Chamaraja Nagar.
The Mysore University Library is one of the largest University Libraries in the Country. The Library started functioning in the year 1918. It has a glorious record of 88 years of worthy service with a resource collection 6 Lakh volumes in its systems today. The inception collection of the library was around 2311 books which was housed in Jubilee building and later moved to Maharaja’s college campus and finally the library shifted to new building at Manasagangotri Campus in 1965. Foundation stone of this functional building was laid by first UGC Chairman Prof. C.D.Deshmukh on 11th July 1960. It was inaugurated by the then President of India Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan on 7th Dec. 1965. The library is beautiful and attractive, housed in a building 99,000 sq.ft in area. It uses the Dewey Decimal Classification and is a vast knowledge bank.
Information resources and library services at Gangothri are segregated into 10 divisions namely :
1. Government documents
2. Archival and Rare-books
3. Reference
4. Indian and Foreign languages
5. Periodicals
6. Acquisition and Processing
7. Kannada
8. Text - book lending
9. Information Technology (E-mail and CD-ROM workstation)
10. Home lending books.24 cubicles for researchers, reading halls that can accommodate 500 readers, display and exhibitions, inter-library lending, study carrels in reference division, bibliography of archival materials and reprography are the additional facilities offered by the library.
Apart from the conventional book resource, the library collection comprises 770 current periodicals, 9,500 reference works, 12,000 report literature, 4,500 archives and rare materials, 60,000 kannada books, 220 maps and Atlas and 400 microfilms.
Special Collections : The library is an ocean of information and has a rich collection of very rare books dating back to the 16th century including records of the Princely State of Mysore, History of Mysore, Indian painting, art, architecture, proceedings of the Constituent Assembly, history, literature, Sanskrit and Philosophy. The collection also consists of 5000 old and rare books published prior to 1950.
It is worth mentioning that more than 2.3 lakh journal issues and mutilated books have been bound and archived. Books on M.Sc programmes have been catalogued and made available online. The library plans to digitise rare books that are out of print for preservation. The Gangotri library is open to public only for reading and reference, for which the user is required to provide a requisition to the library in-charge. Membership is given to students of the University only.
