The materials kept there bear historical and intellectual significance. They are our

national heritage that we can feel proud of. They need to be protected, preserved and conserved for posterity without delay

The massive earthquakes of April 25 and several other powerful aftershocks devastated and damaged many library buildings located in Kathmandu.

Among many libraries, the most severely affected were four major libraries of Nepal, viz. Nepal National Library (NNL), Tribhuvan University Central Library (TUCL), Kaiser Library (KL) and Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya (MPP).

These are important libraries where our written heritage is housed. Even though three of the buildings, i.e. NNL, MPP and KL, were severely damaged, fortunately the library staff and other helping hands exerted their time and effort in rescuing the documents by putting them in sacks and cartoons.

There are very rare, unique, valuable   important   heritage documents available. With the exception of TUCL building, the buildings of KL, NNL and MPP had been totally destroyed by the earthquakes.

TUCL holds the largest academic collection consisting of valuable and unique works on Nepal. These special collections are Nepal collection, Nepali journal collection, Singha collection and manuscript collection.

Three manuscripts are historically very significant (Astasahasrika Prajna Paramita, Pancharaksaseetra, Karandavyuha) and are available only in three places, Bhagwan Bahal, Swayambhunath temple and TUCL.

One manuscript written in gold is still preserved. At present the library possesses more than four hundred thousand volumes of documents including the above mentioned special collection of the library of which 70 thousand volumes are considered extremely valuable, unique and rare.

After the earthquakes, various dignitaries, including the president, parliamentarians, foreign ambassadors, politicians, educationists, and TU authorities have visited the library to assess the volume of the damage suffered by the library.

TU Central Office itself has constructed a prefabricated small building comprising half dozen rooms nearby for shifting the documents of Singha collection, UN collection and periodical collection, which are now on the ground floor of the library.

These documents were brought to the ground floor since the upper floor was considered unusable and there was risk of further damage. Despite the terror caused by several continuing aftershocks the routine services of the library are kept running to serve the library users.

Nepal National Library holds 100,000 books and periodicals including valuable old government documents, literature and Sanskrit collection. The Sanskrit collection possesses 20,000 volumes of Sanskrit language books. Those books are very old and rare and need preservation and conservation.

The earthquake had totally damaged the old historical building. Soon after the earthquakes, the library staff rescued the documents from the devastated building and shifted the library materials to Mahendra Bhavan High School premises packing the sacks for temporary shelter.

The library is requesting the Ministry of Education for land and construction of a library building. Prince Claus Fund for Cultural and Development, Culture Emergency Response is supporting the digitization of the Sanskrit collection.

KL holds more than 60,000 books, documents, periodicals and manuscripts. Beside these collections there are rich collections of antiques, animal trophies, paintings and photographs, sculpture, old maps etc.

The library also looks like a museum.

The entire collection of documents is very unique, rare, and important and considered as a national heritage.

There are more than six hundred valuable manuscripts. Susrutasamhita is a manuscript about Vaislya science and is over eleven hundred years old of the Lichchavi period and has been registered in Memory of the World International Register of UNESCO on 18th June, 2013.

The earthquakes damaged the entire internal part of the building. But the library was able to save the collections and its materials. The library placed the documents near the entrance attached to the next building.

The animal trophies, paintings, and photographs have been kept on the big table in the hall. The building needs retrofitting to make it safe for use to the readers.

Puraskar Pustakalaya library holds a unique collection of 36,000 monographs, 5602 periodicals, 13,000 ephemera which describe different aspects of Nepalese society, culture history and Nepalese literature of different periods.

The collections also comprise rare newsletters, posters, pamphlets banners, calendars, manuscripts, reports, manifestos, letters, photographs, negatives, film-footage, press releases, images of wall paintings, audio recordings etc.

The earthquakes severely damaged the MPP building but its collection is safe. The library shifted those library materials in safe places packing them in apple cartons.

Service to the readers is suspended here. At present, the library’s temporary building’s ground floor is under construction and will be completed very soon.

The materials kept there bear historical and intellectual significance. They are our national heritage that we can feel proud of. They need to be protected, preserved and conserved for posterity without delay.

It is aptly said that the nation which neglects its intellectual heritage ultimately loses its soul.

The author is former associate librarian of Tribhuvan University Central Library