University of Colombo library

University of Colombo library is a centrally-administered network of libraries in University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is home to one of the largest and oldest collections in Sri Lanka with this roots dating back to 1870 with the establishment of the library of the Ceylon Medical College.

History

In 1870 the medial library of the Ceylon Medical College was established at its premises. After the establishment of the Ceylon University College in 1921 a new library was founded for the university college supporting its two departments of Arts and Science. It began in a room of College House with a collection of books belonging to Arunachalam Padmanabha, gifted by his father Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam. The Vol. 1 of the 11th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica was given the accession number 1.

With the establishment of the University of Ceylon, the Ceylon University College and the Ceylon Medical College where amalgamated forming the new University. Therefore the libraries of the University College and Medical College where amalgamated yet remained based separate. University College library, that now became the University of Ceylon library was housed at Villa Venezia in Queens Road by this time and the Medical College library which became the Medical Faculty Library was housed at the Ceylon Medical College building in Kynsey Road.^{[1] [2]}

Following completion of buildings at Peradeniya Arts and Oriental Studies faculties were moved in the early 1950's. With this move collections of the library used by these faculties were moved to the new seven story library building in Peradeniya along with much of its administrators. The Medical Faculty Library remained at its original location and collections of the library used by the Science Faculty moved to the facility premises at the Old Royal College Building. This lead to the formation of two semi-independent branches of libraries that continue to this day under the University of Colombo library system.

Following re-transfer of the departments of Law and Education; as well as the re-establishment of the Arts faculty a new collection began to support these faculties as well as other centers and institutions that began emerging in the Colombo Campus of the University of Ceylon from 1952 to 1972 thereafter the University of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978. In 1979 with the formal establishment of the University of Colombo, the University of Colombo library system was born. Due to a lack of a permanent building the units of the library kept moving until the Central Library Building was built in the late 1990's at Reed Avenue. The Law library collection was moved here to the second floor as collections of Humanities, Education, Management and Social Sciences. Two semi-independent branches of libraries faction at the Medical Faculty and the Science Faculty. All other faculties, departments and institutes maintain there own libraries for reference purposes with collections lend from the central library.