Libraries And Cultural Heritage Preservation.pptx

Libraries and Cultural Heritage Preservation in Nepal

Libraries play a crucial role in preserving Nepal’s rich cultural heritage by safeguarding historical manuscripts, rare books, and archival materials. As custodians of knowledge, they ensure that centuries-old traditions, languages, and literary works remain accessible to future generations.

In Nepal, libraries such as the Nepal National Library, Keshar Library, and Dilliram Kalyani Regmi Library serve as key institutions for cultural preservation. They house invaluable collections that document the country’s diverse ethnic, linguistic, and historical heritage. With the rise of digital technology, efforts are being made to digitize rare texts and artifacts, ensuring their protection from natural disasters, aging, and loss.

This initiative highlights the shared responsibility of librarians, scholars, and policymakers in safeguarding Nepal’s cultural identity. Strengthening library infrastructure, promoting research, and leveraging digital preservation techniques are essential to maintaining Nepal’s historical legacy in the modern era.

This presentation explores the evolving role of libraries in Nepal and their impact on cultural heritage preservation in both local and global contexts.

1. Libraries And Cultural Heritage Preservation Global Library Summit 2025 5-7 February 2025 New Delhi, India Pushparaj Subedi President Nepal Library Association (NLA)

2. Introduction Libraries have long been recognized as vital institutions in the preservation of cultural heritage, serving as custodians of our collective memory and as bridges connecting past, present, and future generations. This presentation explores the transformative role libraries play in safeguarding cultural, historical, and literary artifacts, while also adapting to the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly evolving digital era.

3. Defining Cultural Heritage Cultural heritage includes tangible elements such as manuscripts, books, artifacts, architectural heritage, and paintings. It also includes intangible aspects like oral traditions, folklore, languages, and rituals, along with digital resources including digitized collections and born-digital materials. Libraries, as knowledge repositories, facilitate the preservation and accessibility of these cultural assets by:

4. Types of Cultural Heritage

5. Role of Libraries in Cultural Heritage Preservation

6. Challenges in Cultural Heritage Preservation

7. Solutions & Recommendations for Cultural Heritage Preservation

8. Cultural Preservation Practices in Nepal Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Hindi, Newari and Nepali; some on very fragile writing supports such as palm-leaf and birch-bark, others on more solid traditional paper. An estimated 25–30 % of the known 180,000 manuscripts in Nepal are kept in public institutions National Library of Nepal preserves government documents, archives rare manuscripts and historical texts, ensures public access to knowledge, supports research through collaborations with academic institutions, and advances digital library initiatives for wider accessibility and efficient information retrieval. National Archives: repository of government records Kaiser and Dilliraman Kalyani Regmi Library, house rare books and historical collections Partnerships with universities and institutions for heritage conservation. TUCL, KUCL, PUCL and other Universities Āśā Saphūkuthi (Asha Archives)-Preserving Newari literatures Tharu Cultural Museum in Chitwan and Dang Developing Nepal National Digital Library.

9. Āśā Saphūkuthi (Asha Archives) Āśā Saphū Kuthi (आशा सफू कुथि) – The Āśā Archives is a free library dedicated to Nepal Bhasa (Newar) materials and is the largest repository of its kind, housing inscriptions, chronicles, and a vast collection of texts.

10. Nepal National Archive: Preserving cultural heritage through microfilming and digital formats. Source: http://narchives.gov.np/content.aspx

11. Tharu Cultural Museum and Research Center, Chitwan Source: https://www.tharumuseum.org/

12. Tharu Cultural Protection Center, Chakhaura Dang Nepal Source: https://www.facebook.com/touristdestinationtharuindigenousculturalmuseumdng/

13. Tharu Cultural Protection Center, Chakhaura Dang Nepal

14. Multimedia collections by UNESCO Nepal Source: https://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/place/nepal

15. International Practices

16. UNESCO, Europeana and Library of Congress

17. Technology Adaptation in Heritage Preservation

18. Role of Stakeholders

19. Future Strategies for Libraries

20. Conclusion