State Central Library, Public library in Afzal Gunj, Hyderabad, India.

The State Central Library occupies a 72,247-square-yard site at Afzal Gunj on the bank of the Musi. Its stone building, designed by British architect Vincent Jerome Esch and supervised by Aziz Ali, has tall ceilings and large halls that recall a palace. An annex was added in 1961.

The library began in 1891 as the personal collection of scholar Moulvi Syed Hussain Bilgrami, later renamed Asafia State Library after the Asaf Jah dynasty. Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan laid the foundation stone of the present building in 1932; designed by British architect Vincent Jerome Esch and supervised by Aziz Ali, it opened in 1936 for the Nizam's silver jubilee. The Hyderabad Public Libraries Act of 1955 made it the State Central Library.

The library's name Asafia honours the Asaf Jah dynasty, and its Urdu name is Kutub Khana Asafia. It holds copies of Hyderabad Samachara, a monthly newspaper published by Mir Osman Ali Khan in 1941. About 17,000 palm-leaf manuscripts were moved to the Telangana Oriental Manuscripts Library in 1967.

The library uses digital software to simplify access to books and information. Visitors can browse printed works and use digitized collections when entering the building.

The library's digitization program was carried out with international support and makes thousands of books available online in Hindi, English, Telugu, Urdu, and Persian. These multilingual digital archives allow people around the world to access collections that were once available only in person.