Miscellaneous
Country’s two main libraries destroyed
Two of the country’s main libraries`—Thamel-based Kaiser Library and the National Library in Hariharbhawan—have been destroyed by the 7.9 magnitude earthquake on April 25.Kaiser Library, established by Kaiser SJB Rana as a personal library, was handed over to the government after his death. The government converted it into a national property as per Rana’s wish, allowing everybody to benefit out of it.
The entire Kaiser Mahal is in the dilapidated condition and could collapse any time.
According to chief at Library Janaki Karmacharya, managing the books in the library has become a big challenge. The library is home to around 70,000 books worth millions of rupees, including many dating back to centuries. “We are having difficulty in salvaging the books from the rubble,” she said.
The management is looking for alternative places to relocate the library, including the empty rooms in Mahendrabhawan Higher Secondary School in Gyaneshwor. However, it is not possible to run the library from the school building. The library used to receive on average 150 visitors a day.
Similar is the fate of Nepal National Library. Established in 1957, the library boasts around 84,000 volumes of books, journals and other materials in different languages. But most of the books have been buried in the rubble and the management is desperately looking for a safe location to shift the library. According to the management, preparations are afoot to store the books in the Food for Education Programme godown in Naxal on temporary basis. Around 100 people used to visit the library a day.