Dr.T.S.Avinashilingam, founder of this institution, a distinguished educationist and Dr. Rajammal P. Devadas, the first Vice-Chancellor and the spearhead of women’s education recognized the importance and the place of the Library in the university education and established one (along with this Institution) in 1958. With dynamic changes towards positive fruition as the university library in 1988, its service is enhanced by its extensions in the Faculty of Engineering (1996) Faculty of Education (2003) and Self Finance Library (2017) in the Campus II, at Varapalayam.
The library aims to integrate the information support system with the educational activities in all possible ways and to leap forward to the expectations of the academic community of our institution and also to those who resort to our library resources from other academic and R & D institutions
The Library is situated at the heart of the campus, incorporating modern technologies to provide the readers with the right information at the right time. The total area of the library is 33,205 sq. Ft. the area with a seating capacity of 770 for information seekers. The central library is well structured and spacious with a centralized air-conditioned reading hall. It functions throughout the year except for few national holidays. The signboards and guide cards placed in the library enables readers to locate resources quickly. It follows an open access system for all users. Various sections of the library are under CCTV surveillance. Safety fire detection alarm is made available.
The library has a rich collection of more than 2,52,148 volumes comprising of books, journals, thesis, back volumes and non-book materials, etc. Subscription is made to various online resources like e-databases (SCOPUS, SciFinder, EBSCO, DELNET, Capitaline, Indiastat, Economic Outlook and EPWRF), 1,258 e-journals ( IEEE, EBCSO Business Source Elite) and 1,74,044 e-books (Ebsco Academic ebook Collection, Springer, Cambridge, Pearson, PHI, Elsevier). Also, eShodhsindhu membership provides more access to online resources. Urkund, web-based Anti-plagiarism software under Shodhganga project and Turnitin subscription bases access is made available for evaluating research papers.
The library has an excellent computing infrastructure, which includes hardware with networking equipment, software and it has been completely automated all its services with Koha and in-house software and well-networked Wi-Fi connectivity. The library has internet connectivity with one Gbps leased line. Software’s like Grammarly, INFED help faculty members, scholars and students to have local and remote access to the library resources on a 24/7 basis by adopting a virtual learning environment. OPAC/web OPAC is the tool for providing access to the library collection. 80 systems are made available for access to online resources.
A separate well-equipped digital library with 100 nodes is housed in the central library and faculty of engineering to access the e-resources. The ILL (Inter-Library Loan) is provided to the readers through DELNET and J-gate Plus. The RFID technology implemented in the library helps for quick access to library resources and better security of library materials. The library website provides information about resources and provisions to search for library materials. Staff publications, theses, rare books, question papers are digitalized and an institutional repository through Dspace is created.
The Library has established a special unit in the name of Print Accessibility for Print Disabled in the reading hall. Four computers have been established specially for visually challenged students to access e-resources and braille books. Special softwares like Job Access with Speech Software (JAWS), Non-visual Desktop Access (NVDA), Kuruzweil Reading Machine Software (Visually Impaired/ Low Vision), Magic Software and specially configured hardware such as Read it Wand, Read Easy Move and Seika Braille reading device are accessible. The library building has a ramp, wheelchair for easy and convenient access to differently-abled users.
The library has extended a wide range of services
- E-learning service
- E-Alert service
- Domain – Specific User Orientation
- Document Delivery Request
- Service on Request
- Multimedia Service
- E-Reference Desk
- Photocopying /scanning / printing Service
- Virtual Reference Library