Rare Books
The National Library has innumerable number of rare books and other reading materials. Earlier, these items were stacked with other books. But, in 1973, a separate Rare Books Division was established to take care of the rare books. At present the books published prior to 1860 are considered as rare books. Along with such materials, manuscripts and microfilms of the library are also stacked in this division.

The division also provides reading facilities to the users who wish to consult these items. At present the division has 4,700 monographs, 3000 manuscripts and 1500 microfilms

The oldest book in the Library
(in Latin)

Science and Technology Collection

As per the recommendations of the 'Reviewing Committee' (1968), Science and Technology Division was set up in 1972. in the National Library, India. The basic function of this division is to collect and disseminate the core material in science and technology. At present the division holds about 17,000 books and monographs and 800 titles of current periodicals. The division provides reading facilities to the users. This is the only division which has an open access stack system.

Indian Official Documents

All the publications of Government of India, State Governments, Union Territories, Government Undertakings, Autonomous Bodies are collected, processed and preserved separately. A separate division for this purpose was established in 1972. The Library owns a very rich collection of Indian official documents from the days of East India Company to the present day. The collection also includes the documents published by the Government of Great Britain relating to India. A good collection of Burmese documents and few documents of Aden, Ceylon, Persian Gulf Political Residency are also part of this collection. At present the division has 4, 90,000 documents.

Foreign Official Documents

The National Library is one of the repository libraries for United Nations organisation and its agencies. Thus all the publications of U.N.O. and its agencies are received by the library free of cost. These documents are processed and stacked separately. The library also receives publications of the Governments of United States of America, Great Britain, Canada, Commonwealth Nations, and the publications of European Economic Committee. Almost all the volumes of the sessional sets of British Parliamentary papers since the beginning of the 19th century are also available.

Apart from the depositary copies, the Library also acquires selected foreign publications through purchase. At present the Library has 400,000 foreign official documents.

Newspapers and Periodicals

All the newspapers and periodicals of Indian languages are received and processed in their respective language divisions. But English newspapers and periodicals - both the Indian and foreign, are acquired and processed separately. Separate Serials division is responsible for acquiring and processing of English Newspapers and periodicals. Library has a rich collection of late 19th and early 20th century newspapers and periodicals, but almost all of them are incomplete. The catalogue of periodicals, newspapers and gazettes available in the library up to 1953 is available.

Hicky's Gazette

The first Newspaper in India

Manuscripts

National Library has about 3600 rare and historically important manuscripts in different languages. These manuscripts are preserved separately along with other important and rare books in the Rare Books Division. The xylographs presented by H.E. the Dalai Lama are also preserved in this collection.

Maps and Prints

The library has a rich collection of maps. The collection ranges from 17th century onwards. Indian topographical sheets of earlier days (at scale of one inch, half inch and quarter inch to a mile) and maps of natural resources, population, transport and communication systems, agricultural production, Soil, Vegetation and Geology of India form the major part of the collection. At present the library has 85,000 printed maps, 54 cartographic manuscripts and 280 atlases