The Tata Institute of Social Sciences established in 1936 is one of the premier Institute in the country in the field of Social Sciences and has been recognized as one of the progressive centers of learning catering to the educational and research information needs of academic and scientific community for excellent teaching, research and development work carried out by the faculty members, research scholars and students. The University has been viewed as the harbinger of positive social change in view of the tangible improvements it has brought about in the fields of intellectual awareness, aptitude for learning and pursuit of scientific endeavor. Considering the progress and achievements the university could accomplish in the last two decades, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore has accredited the institute with FIVE Stars.

TISS Library established along with the institute way back in 1936 is one of the leading social science libraries in the country. The library was named as "Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial Library" on 3rd May, 2002 in the memory of late Sir Dorabjii Tata. It is geared to meet the academic and research information needs of the user community. It provides a conducive environment for intellectual enquiry by providing user-focused services to obtain and evaluate scholarly information and knowledge. Since the library specializes in the field of applied social sciences, it has become most sought after library for the social scientists in India. It is a unique Knowledge Centre, which offers essential and specialized information resources and services to meet the growing information needs by;

• Developing user-based resources;
• Organizing information resources;
• Providing human and technologically moderated access to information; and
• Facilitating users to identify, locate, obtain and evaluate information.