Slides Library has the largest collection of slides on Indian arts, and it is the only centre in India which is equipped with proper infrastructure for archival storage, computerization of data, duplication and digitization of slides. Its collection includes slides of Indian arts, paintings, sculpture, architecture, illustrated manuscripts and the performing arts. Over the years it has acquired and generated about 77,649 carefully selected slides from India and abroad. Notable among such acquisitions from museums abroad are the important slide collections from the Victoria & Albert Museum (UK) and the Chester Beatty Collection, courtesy of INTACH (Charles Wallace bequest). In addition to this, the American Committee for South Asian Art (ACSAA) has also gifted the Unit a complete set of 16,222 slides. An average of about 3,000 slides is added to the collection every year.
Besides slides, the Library also has a collection of more than 1,700 photo-negatives on the archaeological sites in Srilanka, museums in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Mathura. It has also acquired the photo-documented digital visual collection by Benoy K Behal on the archaeological sites and monuments in India and south-east Asia
Organisation of the Slides collection
All the slides housed in the Library have been properly classified, placed collection-wise in slide jackets and preserved in specially designed cabinets. A unique number is assigned to each slide for record and retrieval. In addition to ear-marking a copy of the slides for the use of the scholars in the Reference Library, other copies are also made in-house for the purpose of giving them to relevant parties/institutions/individuals.
The Unit maintains and provides slide-viewing cabinets, slide-viewers and slide projectors for in-house use. Scholars and researchers can access the slide collection and other photo-documented materials by using these facilities under expert guidance.
