Collections.
General
The total collection of the library has been divided into different sections according to the language they are published. In addition there are periodicals and children’s sections.
- General collection
- The Hindi collection
- Nepali
- Sanskrit
MAPS AND PHOTOGRAPHS:
The library has district-wise maps of Nepal and other maps and atlases in its possession. The users can fully exploit them upon request. There are some photographs of Kings and some well known personalities of Nepal.
AUDIO VISUAL:
Audio visual materials are one of the important parts of its collection. There are some audio cassettes and video tapes deposited as copyright and some number of encyclopaedias and other databases in CD-ROM. JICA has donated some Japanese animation video tapes to add into the Children’s Section of the library. Educational videos are useful especially for children. Such materials can be used within the premises of library.
REPORTS & THESIS:
The library has some governmental and other reports in closed access. These can be used upon request.
DISSERTATIONS/THESES:
This library has more than 1200 theses and dissertations of Ph.D. and Master Degree. These theses and dissertations are received from Tribhuvan University Central Library, Kathmandu University and other institutions. The theses and dissertations submitted to the Ministry of Education and Sports for Mahendra Vidya Bhusan are also collected here. These dissertations and theses are in closed access and are available upon request.
ADB DEPOSITORY:
NNL has been designated as the “Depository Library” for the publications of ADB since August 2001. The collection is available upon request.
Periodicals
There are back issues, including many bound volumes, of the major Nepali newspapers, mostly dating from around 1980 (2037 BS), and of Nepali magazines and journals spanning the past 4 decades. A few Nepali periodicals date back to the 1940’s. Many are literary magazines such as Madhu Parka, Juhi, and Damuna, but other holdings of historic interest include early issues of the Nepali Law Review, Sipahi, the journal of the Royal Nepal Army, Ramjham, a current affairs magazine, and Prashashan, journal of Nepali administration.
The section also has many journals from Hem Raj Pandey’s collection, dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The majority were published in India. English titles include the Calcutta Review, the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Modern Review, the Theosophist, the Vedic, and many others. There are also many Hindi and Urdu journals from the same period, including some long runs. These holdings are a goldmine of largely unexploited material, of special interest to students and researchers of studies relating to the Indian Subcontinent.
The Periodicals Section has suffered greatly from under-funding over the years, in spite of the fact that the NNL spends more than 50% of its book fund on periodicals. Without adequate budget to maintain subscriptions, the majority of the holdings are now discontinued titles, and it has only been possible to continue binding a few key Nepali newspapers and journals. The very many new Nepali periodical titles which have appeared in the last decade are hardly represented at all in the NNL’s holdings, and many back issues and short-lived titles may have already been lost to the nation.
Maps and Photograps
The Hindi collection :
About 75% of the books in this section are in Hindi. They form a collection of particular interest to researchers in Hindi literature. Most items in the collection were published pre-1960, and there are many dating from the early twentieth century and before. The stock includes historic encyclopedias and dictionaries, religious texts in Hindi translation, works on ayurveda and on Indian philosophy. The collection is on open access and is indexed both in the card catalogue and OPAC.
Other Indian languages :
A substantial collection of books in a number of other Indian languages including Bengali, Urdu, Marathi, and Pharsi have also been preserved from the legacy of Hem Raj Pandey, but full cataloguing of these sections remains to be carried out.
NEPALI COLLECTIONS
The Nepali book collection has gradually been built up over the past 40 years, since the establishment of the Nepal National Library. Almost 50% of the collection comprises Nepali literary works, including poetry, drama, essays, short stories, and novels. Of the other subjects covered, the social sciences are most strongly represented, followed by history, biography, religion and language. The collection, which is on open access, is classified by the Dewey Decimal Classification, and author, title and subject indexing is provided by the card catalogue and there is also OPAC facility.
SANSKRIT COLLECTIONS
The Sanskrit collection contains some rare and valuable books, including printed “lipi” or leaf books. Some items date back to the early nineteenth century. For Sanskrit scholars and researchers this is the most significant collection and one of the largest collections of printed Sanskrit books in Nepal. The collection includes many works of philosophy, religion, history, Ayurveda and Sanskrit literature. The collection can be searched through OPAC.