Nepal

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Formal Name:        Nepal National Library

Name of Librarian: Sushila Dwivedi
Address:                 Harihar Bhawan, Pulchowk Lalitpur, Kathmandu
Phone:     01-521132

The Nepal National Library was established in 1955, after the royal government bought the private collection of the royal priest Pandit Hemraj Pandey. It is located at Pulchok, Patan, in Kathmandu Valley. It contains 70,000 books in 11 languages. The library has not been able to function as a national library should. It is more like a museum than a library.

The Nepal National Archive has a long history. It began in the time of the Malla kings more than two centuries ago. The Bir Library, the oldest library of Nepal, was renamed the Nepal National Archive. Located at Thapathali, Kathmandu, it has 63,750 manuscripts; ofthese, 12,000 are on palm leaves. It has many valuable manuscripts that are not available in any other part of the world. These manuscripts were microfilmed under a joint Nepal- German Manuscript Preservation Project.
 

Sources:

World guide to libraries. New York: Saur, 1998.
World encyclopedia of library and information services. 3rd ed. Chicago: American Library Association, c1993.