About us

On 16 May 1827, the library was opened by Desbassyns de Richemont. In 1884, it was located near the Ateliers des Ponts-et-Chaussees (present P.W.D.). Later, it was transferred to Rue des Capucins (Romain Rolland Street).

In the beginning, it was open only to Europeans, but, after 1837, natives were allowed in the reading room so that they could acquire a good knowledge of the French language. In 1852, a section of Archives was created as an adjunct of the library. In 1935, the library had about 25,000 volumes. In 1942 a museum was added. On 27 August 1967, the birth centenary of the Great French Scholar Romain Rolland - a contemporary and close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, the library was renamed Romain Rolland Library; in 1974, it was shifted to its present location.

The Romain Rolland library, now has a rich collection of more than 4,00,000 volumes of books both in French and in English. The Library, earlier known as 'Bibliotheque Publique', is one of the oldest Libraries in the country and the biggest in the Union Territory. The books in the various administrative establishments formed the nucleus of this Library which was enriched in course of time with further additions through proper financial allocations in the budget.

More than 60,000 adult members are utilizing the Library and nearly 2,00,000 books are annually loaned to the readers. Apart from this, nearly 190 periodicals are being subscribed to and is indeed heartening to note that on an average about 1,000 readers are making use of the reading room facilities every day. Recently the Library has not only developed in size, but has improved its service by making available a large number of books, and by opening more sections to render all possible help to the reading public.