Chief Librarian of National Library and Government Official of Nepal Invited to the NDL

Lecture on book repair

Mr. Yadab Chandra Niraula, Chief Librarian of the Nepal National Library, and Mr. Yam Bahadur Bashyal, Section Officer, Ministry of Education, were invited to the National Diet Library (NDL) to receive training and give a report on the post-earthquake situation in Nepal. This is a part of the cooperative activities of the IFLA PAC Regional Centre for Asia (PAC Asia).

The two arrived on February 15th, 2016, and receive training for four days up to the 19th, mainly on the basics of preservation and conservation of library materials, centering around disaster-preparedness.

The Reporting Meeting was held in the afternoon of February 17th. Mr. Niraula reported on overview of libraries in Nepal after which he explained the post-earthquake situation of the Nepal National Library (NNL). The NNL main building has been abandoned due to the danger of collapse. Library materials were evacuated to a nearby school in plastic bags. Luckily enough, the monsoon started on the next day after the evacuation, so damage from heavy rainfall was avoided. However, the schoolrooms are too small to provide library service. The government has promised to give a budget for reconstruction of the library building. Now the library management is looking forward to the new site. Mr. Bashyal gave an overview of the Nepalese school system and school libraries. Generally the condition of the school libraries is poor, but the Nepal government has planned to improve school libraries and is committed to the program called "one school one library." During the following question and answer session it was discussed how the lessons learned from the earthquake could be implemented in the reconstruction of libraries and other city planning matters.

• Short overviews of libraries in Nepal (PDF: 53.2KB)
  Yadab Chandra Niraula, Chief Librarian, Nepal National Library
• Short introduction of Nepal's school system (PDF: 174KB)
  Yam Bahadur Bashyal, Section Officer, Ministry of Education