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Kathmandu Sunday January 27, 2002 Magh 14, 2058.
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With microfilming facilities,
old libraries may improve
By Ranjan Rijal
KATHMANDU, Jan 26: Old libraries in Nepal are in
a serious crisis. Not only are they losing books to frauds, the books are also gradually
turning into the cloud of dust due to the lack of proper care.
According to the chief of Nepal National Library
(NNL), Dasharath Thapa, the library’s location at Harihar Bhawan is not an
appropriate place for a library. "NNL is a depository library of national importance
which contains all literatures published about Nepal and has the responsibility of
preserving them for the future generation," Thapa said. "But, we are unable to
protect these valuable books and data because of paper-eating insects."
"Government should provide us insect-free
building for the library, otherwise, we cannot save these valuable books from the
insects," says Thapa.
But the situation is improving soon. The library
installed micro-graphic filming equipment to save the data in June 2001 with the financial
assistance of the Government of Japan, according to Thapa. But, says Thapa, "Those
filming equipment can only save the data and excerpts from the books but cannot save the
moral weight of the book."
The library has a rich collection of
masterpieces that are 100 years old. Thapa thinks that the new technology would only save
the data from the book but old books have their own weight and value. "We are
frequently using medicines to kill insects, but, it is still not working," says
Thapa.
In the duration of seven months of its
installment of filming equipment, the NNL has preserved more than 80,000 pages into the
microfilms and hundreds of thousands of pages are yet to be preserved.
The Central Library of Tribhuvan University, the
largest library in Nepal with the volume of 250,000 books, is also in the process to
install micro-graphic filming equipment with the assistance of Japan.
According to librarian Krishna Mani Bhandari,
insects can be avoided if the books are used frequently and will be affected if they are
not used for a long time. "We are using medicines to get rid of the insects and we
clean all the books to protect from the insects during long holidays," says Bhandari.
Bhandari further said that microfilming not only
helps to save the books from insects but would also makes readers easy to get information
from stored data. Bhandari said, "Microfilming helps to preserve valuable archives
for the 21st century and beyond."
According to librarian of the British Council
library, Beena Manandhar, the Council need not worry about insects, as they do not keep
old books. "We sale the old books in discount rates," she said.
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