Mohan Raj Pradhan

M. Lib. Inf. Sc., MBA, Ph. D.

Lecturer, Dept. of Library & Inf. Sc.

Tribhuvan University

Kathmandu, NEPAL

Digital Library Initiative in Nepal

Country Background

Situated in South AsiaNepal is an elongated, rectangular country,

with an area of approximately 147’181 square kilometers.

Geopolitically, the nation lies between India and China, and is land locked.

Administratively, Nepal is divided into five development regions and 75 districts.

Country Background..

Administratively, Nepal is divided into five development regions and 75 districts. The lowest administrative division is the Village Development Committee (VDC) of which there are 3996.

The Internet in Nepal

The Internet in Nepal was first introduced in 1994 through dial-up connection (via uucp) and Fidonet

Nepal started Internet in mid-July 1995, when it established an on-line International link via NTC to Singapore Telecom through commercial ISP

Digital Library Initiatives..

Preservation of manuscripts; Establishment of locally generated

digital Libraries; Provision of foreign research digital

Libraries;

Digital Library Initiatives..

Telecentres;Integration of conventional and digital

Libraries.

Preservation of Manuscripts

Digitization of manuscripts was done with German help

Established Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project in 1970 (NGMPP)

NGMPP has microfilms more than 180,000 manuscripts

Preservation of Manuscripts

Published preliminary list of Microfilmed by the NGMP in June 2003;

Locally generated Digital Libraries

R & D projects report their results in limited quantity

Chart Nepal’s development efforts, experiences and priorities

Tools Used

WWW in HTML FormatDatabaseCD-ROM

WWW in HTML Format

WWW in HTML format is the most widely used tool for generating information in digital format.

Up to 2003 2500 np domain name has been registered.

Database

Most widely used software package (99%) for creating database is CDS/ISIS

To date only five organizations, namely ICIMOD, HLMC, TU Central Library, NHRC and HELLIS has searchable database in the web

CD-ROM

CD-ROM has become alternative means of accessing information in digital form.

Universities, INGO and NGO such as Tribhuvan University, UNICEF, HealthNet Nepal, etc have produced their information in CD-ROM format.

Establishment of Locally Generated Digital Libraries

For making accessible Nepalese newspapers, journals and scientific journals, WWW is used

Establishment of Locally Generated Digital Libraries

Organizations involved in establishing locally generated digital libraries:

HealthNet Nepal– Provides Nepalese Medical journals– Annotated health science bibliography of

Nepal– Theses and report

Establishment of Locally Generated Digital Libraries

Mercantile Communication Pvt. Ltd– Online news services about Nepal from

different newspapers and journals published from Nepal are hosted

Establishment of Locally Generated Digital Libraries

Programme for Enhancement of Research Information (PERI), INASP, UK is planning to provide support for publishers of scientific journal of Nepal.

Provision of Foreign Research Digital Libraries

HINARI is supported by WHO.This initiative provides free access to 1500

medical journals

Establishment of Locally Generated Digital Libraries

INASP, UK initiativeThis initiative provides 10,700 full text

online journals, current awareness databases free of cost.

The publishers joined in this initiative are Blackwell, EBSCO, Emrald, Cochrane Library and Oxford University press

Telecentres

To alleviate the poverty and meeting the information needs 15 telecentres will be established

The focus will be on information related to crops, fertilizers, plant diseases, veterinary services, human diseases, family planning, terrorism, sanitation techniques

Integration of Conventional and Digital Libraries

In Nepal, only a portion of library has been digitized

Conventional library still is important to meet the information needs

The challenge is bringing a range of technologies and services together for creating an interlibrary loan and document delivery service meeting the requirement of users and the librarians.