The International and Area Studies Library maintains an excellent collection of printed and electronic resources that support teaching and research in South Asian studies. The collection covers India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, though coverage is strongest for India. The collection has both English and vernacular language materials with priority being given to materials in Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit, Prakrit and Tamil. The primary focus of the South Asian collections is on humanities and social sciences and is strong in the areas of linguistics, literature, geography, history, Indology, philosophy, religious studies, cultures, societies and women studies.
Currently, there are more than 135,000 volumes in vernacular languages that include books and serials in Assamese, Bengali, Burmese, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Prakrit, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and other dialects.
Reference works and a selection of current serials in English and South Asian languages are housed in the International and Area Studies Library on the third floor of the Main Library, with all other materials being housed in the Main Stacks and other departmental libraries.
Revised April 2013