India, Oct. 5 -- Delhi University's (DU) Central Library, the intellectual heart of the campus since 1922, is preparing to turn a new page. Once a modest hall with just 700 seats, the library is undergoing a major expansion that will push its seating capacity to nearly 3,400.

But the transformation is more than bricks and mortar. Alongside new wings and modern technology, the library continues to safeguard a legacy woven into the university's own history-18th- and 19th-century manuscripts, books in multiple languages, and the rarest of gems: three original farmans issued by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

When DU was founded in 1922, its library had a relatively modest beginning - it started with just 1,380 gifted books and 86 periodicals, op...