South Asia Department

The South Asian collections include publications on Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, covering various research fields and in many languages. The collections serve primarily the various research activities of the South Asia Institute but are also open to the public.

Since 2022, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has been funding the FID4SA - Specialized Information Service South Asia as part of the funding programme "Specialized Information Services". Heidelberg University Library and the CATS Library / South Asia Section are thus continuing the development and expansion of information services for the German South Asia-related sciences, which began in 2016 and are oriented towards peak scientific demand. One focus of FID4SA's work is electronic publishing in open access. With Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing (HASP), FID4SA offers Asian scholars worldwide the opportunity to publish their research results electronically in a timely manner and free of charge, thus increasing the visibility and impact of their publications.

The initial work of the library began as early as 1960, two years before the official founding of the South Asia Institute. The basis of the library, which today accommodates 300,000 volumes, consists of around 7,500 volumes from the private libraries of the renowned scientists Geiger and Walleser. In addition to books and journals, electronic media, videos and microfilms are also part of the collections or services offered.

Publications by numerous governmental and non-governmental institutions and organisations (e.g. Census of India since 1961 or the extensive collection of Indian school textbooks) make the library a treasury of exceptional material.

Until 1995 the region of South East Asia was also part of the collection profile. Today this region is covered by the Anthropological Collection.