Introduction with Progressive History

The Library acquired the documents on zoological researches of more than a century old from the former museum (1814-1875) of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and the Zoological Section of the Indian Museum (1875-1916) in Calcutta. The Library of Zoological Survey of India started its journey on 1st. July, 1916 with 12000 volumes of documents transferred from Indian Museum. Mr. C. O. Bateman was its first Librarian. During 2nd World war, the library was shifted from Calcutta to Banaras on 11th May, 1942. Due to Varuna Flood in 1943, the library was completely disorganized and virtually shattered. But due to remarkable and efficient supervision of late Shri Samarendra Nath Ghosal, Ex-Librarian, the library was set in order and the books were reconditioned in record time. In early 1949, the library was again shifted and rehoused in the Indian Museum. In 1950, the personal collection of Dr. G. D. Bhalerao was added to the library which was a notable acquisition during that period. The Library of Z.S.I. functioned from 1949 to 2000 in Indian Museum. In the year 2000, the total collections of the library were transferred from Indian Museum to the new Annexed Building of Z.S.I. at New Alipur.

The library holdings both at the Headquarter Library, Kolkata, and 16 Regional Centers located in different part of India have a total collection of approximately 1,35,519 nos., which includes Books, Bound and Unbound journals, Monographs, Reports of Expeditions and faunal surveys, documents on non-book materials, etc.. The library is having more than 400 titles of Rare Books starting from the year 1547. The holdings have unique collections of books, periodicals and other archaic literature on the particular subject--Zoology and related animal sciences—and form perhaps the biggest library on Animal Sciences in Asia. Even the original publications of Carl Linnaeus and Fabricius, the monumental documents of animal taxonomy, original paintings and drawings of world famous Scientists, biogeographers and Naturalists have enriched the library collections. The rare collections of the Library are in fact the treasures of this institution as well as the whole scientific community of this planet.

Zoological Survey of India Library is having precious departmental publications since its inception:

• Records of Zoological Survey of India since 1907 (Vol. 1);
• Memoirs of Zoological Survey of India since 1907 (Vol. 1);
• Occasional papers Since 1974 (No. 1);
• Hand books and Pictorial Guides since 1991 (No. 1);
• Special Publications Since 1983 (No.1) like a. Animal Resources of India, b. Ecosystems of India, c. Red Data Books, d. Zoological Research in Human Welfare, e. Faunal diversity of different Ecological areas of India etc.;
• Status Survey of Endangered Species Since 1994;
• Fauna of India since 1961;
• State Fauna Series Since 1987;
• Conservation Area Series Since 1987;
• Estuarine Ecosystem Series Since 1992;
• Wetland Ecosystem Series Since 1995;
• Himalayan Ecosystem Series Since 1995;
• Marine Ecosystem Series Since 2007;
• Animal discoveries of India (New Taxa) since 2008;
• Annual Reports since 1916;
• Bibliography of Indian Zoology since 1958;
• Technical monographs since 1980;
• Bulletin of the Zoological Survey of India since 1983.

The Library of Zoological Survey of India (at Headquarters and 16 Regional Centers) is also subscribing 364 titles of National and International Scientific Journals.

The Library collections at ZSI Headquarter, Kolkata:

Rare Books—More than 400 titles of rare books and journals starting from the year 1547 (majority of them are not available in any other library of India).

Publications of the Zoological Survey of India:

• Records of Zoological Survey of India: Vol. 61 (1963) to Vol. 111 (2011). (Library is having Records of Indian Museum renamed as Rec. Zool. Surv. of India since Vol. 1 (1907) to Vol. 60 (1962);
• Memoirs of Zoological Survey of India: Vol.14 (1963) to Vol. 21(2009) (Library is having Memoirs of Indian Museum renamed as Memoirs of Zool. Surv. of India, Vol.1 (1907) to Vol.13 (1962);
• Occasional papers: No. 1 (1974) to No.335 (2012);
• Hand books & Pictorial Guides: No. 1 (1991) to No. 42 (till 2010);
• Special Publications: No.1 (1983) to No.59 (till 2011);
• Status Survey of Endangered Species: Reports No.1 to No. 9 (till 2010);
• Fauna of India: No.1 (1961) to No. 54(till 2011);
• State Fauna Series: 65 No. of Publications covering 16 states of India (Since 1987 till 2011);
• Conservation Area Series: No.1 (1987) to No.44 (till 2010);
• Estuarine Ecosystem Series: 6 No. of Publications (Since 1992 till 2011);
• Wetland Ecosystem Series: 13 No. of Publications (Since 1995 till 2011);
• Himalayan Ecosystem Series: 02 No. of Publications (Since 1995 till 2011);
• Marine Ecosystem Series: 01 No. of Publications (Since 2007 till 2011);

Scientific Books and Bound/ unbound Scientific Journals in Z.S.I. Hqrs. Library:

• The library at Headqarters has approximately 40,000 scientific books covering Taxonomy, Ecology, Biology, Wildlife, Marine Biology, Zoogeography, Environmental Science etc. A rich library collection has been developed in different animal groups like Invertebrate Zoology, Reptilia & Amphibia, Fishes, Birds, Mammals, Maps & Gazetteers etc.
• The library also holds approximately 40,000 bound Scientific Journals and 20,000 unbound scientific journals.

Subscription of Scientific Journals in Hqrs. Library:

The Hqrs. Library is presently subscribing 40 titles of Indian Scientific Journals and 24 titles of Foreign Scientific Journals, and receiving approximately 120 nos. of Indian and Foreign Scientific Journals in Exchange to our publications.

Proposed Modernization:

• Complete database of entire collections of the library is to be created using suitable software.
• The Z.S.I. Institutional Repository has to be created in the following way:
  • Scanning & Image Processing of pages of documents (Institutional Publications & Rare Documents)
  • Optical Character Recognition (OCR) facilitating conversion of scanned images into searchable text.
  • Metadata extraction, E-Prints Installation;
  • Upload to E-Prints;
  • Publication of DVD of ZSI publications.
  • Progress of Digitization—All the volumes of Records of Indian Museum and Records Zoological Survey of India, Memoirs of Indian Museum and Memoirs of Zoological Survey of India and Occasional papers have been scanned.
• Procurement of E-Journals:
  • Procured E- copies of 23 foreign Scientific Journals for scientists of ZSI Hqtrs.
  • Arrangement for free Access to all E-journals to the scientists of ZSI Hqtrs.

To cope up with the highly exploring electronic era, a mission is being set up to update the library infrastructure and its management system including holdings within 2013. In this regard plan of actions has already been initiated with the procurement of Face-up Scanner. Digitization of the records of National Zoological Collections and other invaluable documents has also been completed. In this connection, conducted survey tour to model Digitized library and invited experts of different aspects of Digitization.

Further steps are being taken to modernize the entire setup for the better utilization of the library for the scientific community not only in India but also in whole South-East Asia.