Started with the founding of the Institute in 1955 and developed in close collaboration with the IFP's researchers, the library has a rich and varied collection relating to the domains of Indology, Social Sciences and Ecology. Its primary geographical coverage is India and more generally South Asia. As of today, the collection consists of 70 000 books, 460 theses, 1700 articles, 450 reports and 760 journals of which 133 are received currently.

E-resources

The Institute’s research staff, doctoral students and interns have access to thousands of e-resources (journals, books, databases, indexes) via the BibCNRS and N-List portals. The library is also a member of DELNET (Developing Library Network) which provides inter-library loan and document delivery services.

Readers

Although the library’s primary function is to serve the Institute’s staff, it also welcomes outside readers who are engaged in serious research and study, particularly post-graduate students, researchers and academics. The collection attracts research scholars and students from India and abroad. Admission is free of cost.

Facilities

  1. Borrowing privileges are reserved for the Institute’s staff. Other readers are welcome to consult books in the reading room.
  2. Access to electronic resources and inter-library loan facilities are also reserved for the Institute’s staff.
  3. Photocopies can be made on a payment basis. Old and/or damaged books are not photocopied.
  4. The library reading room has wi-fi and plug-points for the use of laptops.

Our Team

ANURUPA NAIK (Chief Librarian)

R. NARENTHIRAN (Librarian – Indology)

G. SARAVANAN (Librarian – Ecology)

About the catalogue

The catalogue contains the entire documentary collection of the IFP library, including serials. It also contains a small part (around 2300 records) of the collection belonging to the Pondicherry Centre of the EFEO.

The Indian language books can be searched and viewed both in the original scripts (Devanagari, Tamil etc) and in the Roman alphabet.

Original script:

For example search on the author Kalidasa would have to be entered as: कालिदास.

The Tamil author Cujata would have to be searched as: சுஜாதா.

Transliterated form:

Search will have to be made on "Kalidasa" (i.e. the correct Roman transliterated form, but without diacritics).

Similarly, for the Tamil author Cujata, the search term would have to be Cujata and not Sujatha.