The University of Karachi was established through the parliament as a Federal University in 1951. However, through another act of the parliament in 1962 its status was redefined as university of the province of Sindh. On 23 October, 1950 the Karachi University Act was passed and after an amendment in 1951 it was enacted. For the first two years, the University of Karachi remained as an examination University for the affiliated colleges. In 1953 it started its teaching and research activities at two Faculties of Arts and Science. Opened with an initial intake of 50 students, the university is now a sprawling structure of 53 Departments and 20 Research Centers and Institutes, under eight faculties of Arts, Science, Islamic Studies, Engineering, Law, Pharmacy, Management and Administrative Sciences and Medicine. At present the enrolment of regular students at the campus is slightly over 24,000. There are about 700 faculty members and more than 2500 supporting staff.On 18 January, 1960 the university was shifted to the new campus on a plot of 1279 acres located on the Country Club Road (now University Road).
The Dr. Mahmud Hussain Library is an imposing three-storey structure situated firmly in the centre of campus activities. The library was established in 1952 with the start of University of Karachi. The library previously resided in another building before moving to the present building. The library houses 350,000 volumes, some of them dating back to the 1600s. The library also proudly holds the status of being the depository of the personal book collection of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Teachers from over 100 affiliated colleges frequent the university, along with scholars from 19 research institutions. A loan and resource sharing system exists with other academic entities in the Karachi area. A digital library was recently provided, enabling the scholars and students to access many online books and journals.
25 librarians, 10 assistant librarians, and around 90 nonprofessional staff help maintaining the library. The library is on the upper end of the academic spectrum in Pakistan. The building includes reading rooms (six for general purposes and another six for research).
