With the establishment of University of Jammu and Kashmir in 1949 the mile stone of Kashmir University Library was laid. This Library was established to accommodate the ever growing needs of the students, teachers and scholars to help them excel in researches and studies. When in 1969 the University of Jammu and Kashmir was split and made into two different universities namely University of Jammu and University of Kashmir, the Library was shared by both the university Libraries. Until 1975 when the University of Kashmir planned to shift their Library to a new multistoried building where it currently stands. And in 1984 University of Kashmir Library was renamed as Iqbal Library then again n July 2002 it was renamed as Allama Iqbal Library which is its current name. The Allama iqbal library is the largest Library in whole state with the state of infrastructure facilities in its forty three seminars which are attached to different Departments and various institutes of university. And apart from the infrastructure this library has the largest network of libraries that serves various departments’ academic needs not only to the students but also to the researcher’s scholars and teachers.

If we talk about the infrastructure the library is one of the finest libraries in the country which houses more than four lacks books currently and growing to meet the needs of every one accessing library with new updates added at regular intervals. The library is divided in 16 divisions which are beautifully decorated and centrally heated and the people managing the library are well trained and qualified. The environment provided in the library is very cozy clean and calm to help people in concentrating. To keep the users of the library updated library has subscribed to various national and international subscriptions of newspapers. Library has also subscribed to J-gate service which is the online portal where content pages abstracts that appear in around eight thousand five hundred journals provides meaningful information to the users online. Apart from this there are various other facilities that makes it stand out like on the table Xerox service to the users and Internet facility is updated by V-sat and Radio link connectivity to keep the readers and students updated with the help of 48 computers that are available to use at any time round the clock in its newly constructed Internet Centre.

Services

• Reference
• Automation
• Reprographic Services
• Data Base Service through INFLIBNET
• Bibliographic Service
• Internet Service
• Inter Library Loan Service/Resource sharing
• Selective Dissemination of Information

Collection

Special Collection

• Iqbal collection
• Usmania collection
• Trilok chand Mehrooml Collections (Donated by Prof.Jagan Nath .Azad)
• Career Corner

Membership

Extension Activities

Apart from the steps taken to maintain the library there are some extension services taken from time to time which are listed below:

• Conducting Exhibitions
• Organizing computer training classes for faculty and stuff.
• Conducting Lectures by famous personalities who excel in academics.
• Providing help in publishing indexes to help the users in library and to support research.

Library Hours

• Summers: 8:30 a.m to 8:30 p.m on all working days
• Winter: 10:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m on all Sundays & Holidays

Library Software

• SOUL (Software for University Libraries)
• KLIBNET for connecting Libraries of the valley
• CDS / ISIS Software

Internet Access Center

The Library has Kept in pace with the changing times and has updated itself with the proper internet facility available round the clock. The internet has proved to be a boon for the Library, they are introducing campus networking and other network based services which will the library into a Virtual library system. Apart from the books the users have access to World Wide Web where the users can search the study material easily and also can access international journals and online international libraries.

Career Corner

There is a special cell in the library by the name of Career corner for the students giving different competitive exams at regional or national levels or even international levels. This special cell has books covering on all the topics to help them excel in there exams. Some of the Competitive Exams in which most of the student appears are Management aptitude test, Kashmir administrative services, Indian administration services, University entrance test, National education test, Test of English as foreign language and various other competitive exams. There are several benefits that can be availed from this cell like the study material is easily accessible to all apart from this there is also free consultation department in this cell which is not restricted only to users but to all the students even to the students from different universities and far off places to assist them in excelling the deserving student.

Contribution from Inflibnet Center Ahmedabad

The INFLIBNET centre has always helped the Library in the regular updating of the actions that are performed in library for its proper functioning. It has helped Library in following ways :

• TRAINING
• RETRO-CONVERSION
• VSAT FACILITY
• DATA BASE SERVICE
• WEB SERVICS
• SOFTWARES

Collaborations

The University has not only collaborated with national but also international organization so that right and useful information is available to the students.