Offices and Departments

The American Library(formerly AIRC)

The American Library formerly known as AIRC and earlier the United States Information Service (USIS) Library is a part of the Public Affairs Office of the American Consulate General, Kolkata. Through its various activities and resources the Library aims to promote a better understanding of the policies, values, institutions and culture of the United States. It provides a wide range of current, accurate and authoritative information from a vast selection of print and electronic resources using state-of-the-art technology.

The Library collection focuses primarily on U.S. government and politics, international relations, economics, business management, social sciences, human rights, American history, American literature and global issues such as environment, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. It maintains approximately 15,000 volumes of books, U.S. government and think tank reports, videocassettes on current topics, and subscribes to 162 American periodicals and 3 leading American newspapers. A range of CD-ROMs and electronic databases available for the use of patrons provide access to abstracts and full texts of articles from scholarly periodicals. Reference specialists assist patrons in locating information for queries received in person, by telephone, e-mail or by post.

The  collection may be accessed through the computerized Graphical Online Public Access Catalog (GOPAC). Available on the Worldwide Web, OPAC contains the complete holdings of the American Libraries in Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi. The book catalog of the four American Libraries in India may be searched by author, title, subject, keyword, publisher and call number at http://americanlibrary.in.library.net

The Library offers individual and institutional membership to residents of Kolkata and the entire eastern and northeast India. Members of the Library may borrow books in person or through post and request research material by either visiting the library or through telephone, letter or e-mail. Membership enrollment forms may be obtained by writing to the American Information Resource Center. The Library enrollment processing fees are the following:

Local and Outstation Individual Membership:
1 year – Rs.400/- ,    2 years – Rs.700/-
Institutions (Profit organizations):  
1 year – Rs.4000/- ,  2 years – Rs.7000/-
Institutions (Non Profit organizations):
1 year – Rs.2000/- ,  2 years – Rs.3000/- 
     
Non-members may use the library resources by paying a daily admission fee of Rs. 10/- .
For detailed information about the AIRC services, resources, products and publications please refer to the links on your left.