The mission of the Center for South Asia Libraries (CSAL) is to promote and enhance the study of South Asia (Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India) by operating a network of research-support centers around the region. This network, together with a close-knit federation of unique research institutions, libraries and archives of the subcontinent, makes possible the preservation of and new access to the most significant research resources required by scholars. Spanning all disciplines that enable a broad and deep scholarly understanding of South Asia as a region, the research materials that CSAL makes available are physically housed in archives, libraries and local documentation centers in the subcontinent, and are most often NOT held in libraries outside the region. Bibliographic, full-text, statistical, geographical, and other unique image-based content is also accessible online through CSAL’s digital library initiatives. Thus, the students and scholars who access CSAL's physical or digital holdings are provided with the best possible support for single- or multi-country research on the South Asian region.

In addition to close coordination with four other American Overseas Research Centers in the region, CSAL maintains its own research support centers for scholars at the Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya (Kathmandu, Nepal), the Urdu Research Center (Hyderabad, India), the Roja Muthiah Research Library (Chennai, India), and the Center for Studies in the Social Sciences (Calcutta, India). Each of these CSAL Centers provides local logistical support for visiting students and researchers, and operates its own library of research materials.

CSAL has fostered a close and productive working relationship with a broad network of South Asian libraries and archives. CSAL works together with these South Asian institutions, as well as international research institutions, funding agencies and foundations, to identify the most significant and unique research materials critical for the study of South Asia. Once identified, CSAL creates collaborative projects to preserve, provide broad bibliographic access, and to selectively digitize the material, as appropriate, to ensure the widest possible access for the scholarly world. CSAL holds annual international planning conferences at which librarians, research center administrators, and South Asian studies scholars help ensure the Center’s projects and research support resources are directed at the most pressing needs of the field and respond most closely to its emerging trends.