The institute has a history of more than 175 years. It was established as an astronomical observatory in 1823 and became the first regular geomagnetic observatory in 1841. In 1971, the Institute became an autonomous body and was named as Indian Institute of Geomagnetism.    The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) Library has the  most comprehensive and unique collection of geomagnetic resources within the country. The library reflects the history of the Institute in its collection. Thus subjects like astronomy, astrophysics and meteorology also finds its place along with present subject interest. Its present collection can be broadly classified in the areas of Geomagnetism, Upper Atmosphere, Solid Earth Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism, Environmental Geomagnetism, Plasma Physics, Applied Mathematics, Computers, Electronics & Instrumentation and Antarctic Geosciences. This collection also includes the Indian Magnetic Data, published since 1845. The main collection of the library is books and journal volumes. The library collection also comprises of scientific publications of the institute scientists, maps and scientific reports. This print collection of geosciences  is complemented in the electronic format. Library has  subscription databases, publicly available resources, web sites and physical electronic data in CD-ROM or DVD formats, electronic reference materials, abstracts and indexes and bibliographic databases.   The  library facilities are  also available at  the regional research centers at Tirunelveli and Allahabad. Basic books related to the field are available with all its ten observatories located throughout India.   Library uses SLIM21 software for all its activities. The services provided are,

• Borrowing
• Inter Library Loan
• Online Access to e-resources and non book collection
• Current Awareness
• Reprography
• Digitization of scientific publications like Ph.D.Thesis and project reports

The library users comprise of institute scientists/faculty, Ph.D. students, B.Tech, M.Sc students from other institutes and universities, and visiting/emeritus scientists.