Collège de France Indian and Central Asian Studies Library

The library of the Institut d'études indiennes - founded in 1927 on the initiative of Émile Senart, Alfred Foucher and Sylvain Lévi - houses a collection of over 70 000 volumes of printed works, including 600 journal titles (40 in progress) and a selection of dictionaries, databases and online resources concerning the Indian world (Indianized Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka) : sanskrit texts, Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian border languages, Tamil texts, philology, linguistics, political and religious history of classical India, etc.

In addition, there are some 100 manuscripts, 50 works of art, scientific archives (S. Lévi, L. Renou, P. Reichert, G. Fussman, M. Biardeau, Ch. Bouy), a map library of some 2, ,700 maps (including almost complete coverage of the Indian peninsula at 1 : 50 000 and 1 : 250 000) and a photo library with over 40, ,000 images. With Salamandre, the Collège de France has launched a digitization program to make its heritage collections accessible to a wider public. The entire art collection, as well as part of the photo library, audiovisual archives and manuscripts from the Sylvain Lévi collection, are already available for consultation.

The library offers 58 seats, including three carrels and two rooms for group work in a reading room shared by the five Asian Worlds libraries. Reservations are made via the Affluences platform.

Access terms

The library is open to researchers, university faculty, PhD and post-doctoral students, on recommendation from their research supervisor. Master's students may also use the library on formal request from their research advisor.

Lending terms

On-site consultation.

Loans (with restrictions).

Collège de France Institute of Indian Studies Library