diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/wcslib/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/wcslib/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ba2d1ab11fc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/wcslib/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+{ fetchurl,  stdenv, flex }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  version = "5.12";
+  name = "wcslib-${version}";
+
+  buildInputs = [ flex ];
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "ftp://ftp.atnf.csiro.au/pub/software/wcslib/${name}.tar.bz2";
+    sha256 ="1r4dz5514pba2d5cc2ydpnqm85xsvy65hlvzdqayl6sl40liizsh";
+  };
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "World Coordinate System Library for Astronomy";
+    homepage = http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/mcalabre/WCS/;
+
+    longDescription = ''Library for world coordinate systems for
+    spherical geometries and their conversion to image coordinate
+    systems. This is the standard library for this purpose in
+    astronomy.'';
+
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.lgpl3Plus;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 993f8d8be12b..f98465f45f4f 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -8688,6 +8688,8 @@ let
 
   webkit = webkitgtk;
 
+  wcslib = callPackage ../development/libraries/wcslib { };
+
   webkitgtk = callPackage ../development/libraries/webkitgtk {
     harfbuzz = harfbuzz-icu;
     gst-plugins-base = gst_all_1.gst-plugins-base;