National Diet Library Newsletter
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To Protect
Irreplaceable Documentary Heritage
at the Foot of the Himalayas
-- Report of Visit to Nepal
Takao Murayama
Department Director, Collections Department
Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library
Former Director of IFLA/PAC Regional Centre for Asia
This
is an abridged translation of the article of the same title
in
the NDL Monthly Bulletin No. 522 (September 2004).
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Contents |
This article reports on the author's trip to the Kingdom of Nepal in February 1-10, 2004 as a part of the cooperative preservation activities of the IFLA/PAC* Regional Centre for Asia. The National Diet Library (NDL) of Japan has been designated as the IFLA/PAC Regional Centre for Asia. The main aim of my trip was to visit the Nepal National Library (NNL) and some other libraries, museums and archives located in the Kathmandu Valley; to conduct a preliminary assessment on preservation needs in these institutions; and to give a lecture on preservation to the staff of these institutions. This article is intended to give a brief report on my visit and the current situation of preservation in Nepal.
| *IFLA/PAC is one of the core activities of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) in the area of preservation and conservation. |
The
façade of the building that houses the NNL.
Armed
forces were on guard, but there was no security check
when
entering the building.
Background -- What brought me to Nepal?
NDL formulated a basic policy on preservation titled "Preservation and Conservation in the National Diet Library" in February 2003. This policy replaced "Preservation at the NDL After the Completion of the Annex" which had been NDL's basic preservation policy since 1985. The 2003 policy was established to respond to the changes surrounding preservation work inside and outside NDL: preservation priority shifting to preventive measures; increase of "packaged" digital publications and their inclusion in the legal deposit system (October 2000); and the restructuring of the whole organization and operations of NDL. The 2003 policy has set up the basic framework for NDL's preservation work: its objectives, priorities of items/collections in giving restoration treatment, methods, and the future plan. Based on the 2003 policy, NDL developed an action plan, "National Diet Library Preservation Plan for FY2003-2005." The plan sets up goals in the area of international cooperation: promotion of information sharing among Asian countries; the holding of preservation symposiums; and contribution to the preservation of paper materials in the area. These goals have been made clearer in the plan. The enhancement of international programs has been given a boost by the fact that each IFLA/PAC Regional Centre is now required to contribute to a specific area of preservation in which it has expertise (for example, paper preservation for NDL as the Centre for Asia) in addition to the contribution to each designated area’s development, and also the fact that National Library of China has volunteered to act as the national centre of IFLA/PAC for the country.
It was under these circumstances that Ms. Nobue Yamada, a senior overseas volunteer staff member of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), requested NDL to take part in a cooperation program for NNL's preservation work. Ms. Yamada had been sent to NNL for two years from April 2002 as advisor on library management. On her temporary return to Japan in July 2003, Ms. Yamada discussed with us the possibility of the cooperation program. In September 2003, we also received a letter addressed to Mr. Takao Kurosawa, Librarian of NDL, asking for the support of the IFLA/PAC Regional Center for Asia from Mr.Dasharath Thapa, Chief Librarian of NNL. In addition, in December 2003, the Director of the National Library of Bhutan visited NDL to call for the same kind of cooperation. Both national libraries have left the preservation problem untouched, so there is a high risk of deterioration of their precious documents. Urgent action was needed in both countries. Thus NDL accepted the request from NNL in the expectation that a preliminary assessment of preservation needs and the experience gained in Nepal would be a useful resource to Bhutan as well.
NNL was established in 1957, and belongs to the Ministry for Education and Sports. Its missions are as follows:
- To provide services as a central library such as compilation of National Bibliographies and National Union Catalogs
- To collect materials published in Nepal
- To organize and preserve all the materials related to Nepal
- To provide access to the library collections, and reference & information service for the people of Nepal
- To promote the literacy movement through a network of mobile libraries
- To help develop other libraries within the country and promote publication of Nepali literature.
NNL consists of three sections: Technical Section, Library & Information Service Section, and Administrative Section. There are 22 staff members: 4 qualified librarians including the Director, 7 assistant librarians, and others. There are four branch libraries in developmental areas: Pokhara Public Library, Mahendra Library, Kailali Public Library, and Salvajanik Vidya Bawan Library. The UNESCO project (1995-1999) helped NNL open the children's room and start services for children. The children’s room was reopened as an independent facility within the same premises as the Nepal Children’s Library in 2003.
According to the NNL annual report for 2002-2003, the library's collections are in Nepalese, Hindi, Sanskrit, Newari and some other languages. There are 77 thousand printed materials including monographs, serials, and other documents; 660 audiovisual materials including CD-ROMs; 156 titles of microforms. Annual addition to the library's collection is 3,138 items. Annual budget for acquisition of library materials is 210 thousand rupees while the budget for the whole library operation is 2.6 million rupees (1 Nepali rupee = about 1.5 yen). The number of visitors to NNL amounts to 12,270 yearly. Most of the materials are on open shelves that are divided according to the language, and the most heavily used materials are newspapers. Single sheet materials written on Nepalese paper in Sanskrit are the most precious, but they say that these materials were badly damaged when microfilmed.
The Library shares the building with other institutions such as the Ministry of General Administration and UNDP/UNHRC* offices. For this reason the building is guarded by the national army. The corridors are used as reading space for the Library, and all the windows are open. There are many problems in terms of preservation such as sunlight reaching the stacks and naked electronic wirings. I was told that the voltage is fluctuates so much that there are frequent blackouts. However during my visit there was only one blackout.
| *UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)
UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Commission) |
For more information on the libraries in Nepal, please see Ms. Yamada's articles titled "Bori Bori Tsushin" (carried in Toshokan no Gakko
from October 2002 to May 2004, in Japanese).
The schedule of my visit was as follows:
| February 1 | arrived in Kathmandu |
|---|---|
| February 2 | visited NNL and JICA Nepal Office |
| February 3 | visited Mr. Thapa, Chief Librarian of NNL, Madan Puraskar Library, National Archives, and Tribhuvan University Central Library |
| February 4 | visited Asa Archives and National Museum |
| February 5 | visited Ministry for Education and Sports, Kaiser Library, and D.K. Regmi Memorial Library |
| February 6 | Gave a lecture on preservation at NNL; visited Social Science Baha Library |
| February 7 | visited Garima Library |
| February 8 | visited Sri Ugra Library |
| February 9 | visited NNL to give a briefing of the assessment to and have a discussion with the NNL staff and some other people (Mr. Thapa; Mr. Shresta, Bibliographic Officer, NNL; Mr. Pradeep Bhattarai, cataloger, NNL; Ms. Yamada; Ms. Indira Dali, Director of Social Science Baha Library) |
| February 10 | visited NNL to discuss with Mr. Thapa NNL's request to send a trainee to NDL and selection of a possible trainee |
| February 11 | returned to Japan |
As described above, I visited 11 libraries, museums and related institutions to assess the preservation needs in these institutions and to exchange ideas with them. At NNL I gave a lecture titled "Introduction to Library Preservation," after showing an educational video, "Slow Fires: On the Preservation of the Human Record" (A Terry Sanders Film / American Film Foundation 1987). There were 18 in the audience from 11 institutions, not only from those I had visited up to the previous day but also from other institutions including the Social Science Baha Library.
| At the same time, I showed them things that I had brought from Japan: examples of deteriorated microform materials, Japanese paper, preservation boxes, and NDL pamphlets and publications of the Japan Library Association and IFLA on the theme of preservation. These exhibits were well received by the audience. The following is the results of my assessment of preservation needs of the visited institutions compiled according to the kind of medium and the cause of deterioration. | 
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(1) Paper materials
The quality of paper is not particularly good. However, books badly damaged by acid in the paper could not be found. Most books do not have hardcover and thus do not stand upright on their own. It is necessary to use bookends to support them or use boxes when shelving them so that the materials do not suffer distortion. Western books (mostly written in English) are not badly damaged by acid, either. Some materials are difficult to open as the gutter was cut too much when they were rebound.
(2) Palm leaf materials
In Southeast Asia and South Asia, palm leaves had been used as a writing and drawing material even before paper became available (see note 1). At the Asa Archives, the palm leaf materials are well-preserved, with assistance from a private agency of Japan, compared with other institutions. They have digitized quite a few palm leaf materials to preserve the originals. At the Kaiser Library, discoloration was found. At the National Museum, materials were carelessly put in wooden boxes and kept in a warehouse that did not seem to provide good conditions for preservation. In the warehouse the materials were exposed to a risk of high humidity. Palm leaf materials are precious and at risk of deterioration. It is desirable to conduct a nation-wide inspection on this group of materials.
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Palm leaf materials held by Kaisher Library (center) and the front cover (right). Some letters are fading, and the edges are deteriorated |
(3) Microfilms
Microfilms were stored in cabinets in both NNL and the National Archives. We inspected samples, and none of them indicated the release of acetic acid. However, judging from the years that the films were made, they may be cellulose-triacetate based, so they need further inspection and measures to prevent deterioration (see note 2).
However, before thinking about measures against chemical deterioration of the media, the staff will need training in microfilm creation including its process management. In NNL, they microfilm newspapers after binding, which result in shading or blurring at the gutter. To force a bound material fully open may break it and requires re-binding which will further damage the original paper. It will be better to make microfilms after displaying for reading.
Although they have microfilming equipment provided by Cultural Grant Aid of Japan, as the scope of the Aid is limited to the distribution of equipment, technical assistance has not been provided except for the guidance when the equipment was installed. From this fact, I recognized again that cultural organizations have to cooperate with each other to provide effective assistance, including restocking consumable supplies and mechanical maintenance, for a developing country to achieve cultural self-reliance.
When microfilms were produced by a third-party, it was not clearly stated in a contract that one copy should be donated to the original holder. Therefore some microfilms are not held by NNL, and the library staff do not know which materials have already been microfilmed. Some kind of project manager is needed to supervise all aspects of the work.
(4) Temperature / Relative Humidity
All libraries but the National Archives have no air conditioning systems. The climate in this country has, however, a large daily temperature range, which tends to damage library materials. In addition, while I visited Nepal in the dry season, a dense fog rose every morning, and the daily range of relative humidity was large. Appropriate measures should be taken to minimize the effect of temperature and humidity on the materials.
Ultraviolet in sunlight accelerates a chemical reaction and hastens the deterioration of materials. Most libraries in Nepal open the windows, and in some places the sunlight falls directly onto the materials. Although the rooms were cold while I was there, the windows and doors were open every day. They were commonly working on catalogs by the windows, and at the Kaiser Library they were making catalogs on the balcony. Users were reading materials near the windows, too.
(6) Gaseous Pollutants
/ Particulate Pollutants
Kathmandu Valley suffers the most serious air pollution in the world.
Sootfall from brickyards, automobile emissions and dust float in the air,
which is full of gaseous and particulate pollutants. These substances enter
through the windows that are always open. In addition to cleaning the rooms
regularly, they need measures to prevent such substances harmful to materials,
especially to microfilms and digital materials, getting into the library.
As initial investment for microfilming and digitization is expensive, a
further cost for restoration and recovery of the systems will be too great
a burden for libraries. Microfilms and CD-ROMs need to be stored in cabinets
after being individually boxed, and technical equipment should have covers.
(7) Damage Caused by Animals / Mold
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Materials in every library have been eaten by mice. They can get in from everywhere, and they nibble at electronic wiring as well as library materials to cause a short-circuit which may result in a fire. Mold was found only on the books on the lower part of the shelves in the Kaiser Library. The mold has grown because of bad ventilation and the large amount of water used for washing the floors. At the National Archives, they dry the materials when they are first acquired in order to prevent mold. Many valuable materials like palm-leaf sutras and official documents are wrapped up in red cloth, probably because a pigment in the red color helps prevent insects. |
gnawed by mice (NNL) |
According to the report of the Asian Disaster Reduction Centre (http://www.adrc.or.jp), Nepal, located in the Himalayan region, has experienced many severe earthquakes: for example, an 8.4 magnitude-earthquake centreed on Kathmandu killed more than 160 thousand people and destroyed over 310 thousand buildings in 1934, and a 6.5 magnitude-earthquake centreed on Bajhang (1980) and 6.6 magnitude-earthquake centreed on Udayapur (1988) also struck this area. There are many brick buildings in Nepal, which collapse easily in earthquakes.
From December to February, the temperature drops after dark and people use heating even in Kathmandu. In addition to the dry season, lack of social infrastructure including fire-fighting measures in crowded city blocks can easily bring about a conflagration once a fire breaks out like the one that occurred in Kathmandu in 1999.
In NNL, fire extinguishers are placed high up on the wall, and they are too heavy to be held by one person. They also need to be checked to see if they can be really used in an emergency, and full disaster prevention measures should be planned out.
(9) Handling of Library Materials
Many library materials were damaged by disorderly shelving. I also saw materials waiting to be cataloged piled up randomly on the floor. To make things worse, cutting-out of pages and theft by users are reported. Both library staff and users need to be more conscious about how to handle materials properly.
Most buildings that accommodate libraries and archives are not exclusively for the library's use. However, they are taking measures to clear up these inconveniences.
Although core personnel is indispensable to push ahead with preservation projects, there is no preservation specialist assigned to NNL, while the National Archives and the National Museum have one called "senior conservator." Also, NNL wishes to acquire the knowledge and skills to preserve a large number of publications brought in by the legal deposit system to collect publications of the private sector and implementation is now under consideration.
As a result of this assessment, although there are many problems to be overcome Ebudget, facilities and human resources, for example EI am convinced that they can slow the deterioration and prevent future damage to documentary heritage if preventive measures for preservation are taken. However, I have found that the staff are engaged only in specific segmented work in national organizations in spite of the fact that they are relatively small in scale. Also, national organizations had not regarded user services and preservation issues as very important up to that point.
So Mr. Thapa requested the NDL to accept one of the staff of NNL as a trainee in Japan. Mr. Thapa wanted him/her to learn about the legal deposit system, compilation of national bibliography, library management including children's library and user services as well as preservation techniques. The NDL plans to assist NNL to build up a base for its self-reliant preservation projects, in hope that what is done there will spread to other organizations in Nepal.
I would like to thank Ms. Nobue Yamada for her assistance in this survey, which I could not have accomplished without her support. I would like to express my gratitude also to Mr. Thapa, Mr. Shresta, other staff of NNL, Mr. Eitaro Mitoma and other staff of the JICA Nepal Office for their wonderful hospitality, the Japan Library Association for providing data and Mr. Shuji Kamiya for his advice on acid-free paper.
At
the Garama Library. The author is in the center.
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