Nepal Library Foundation completed library management training, provided books and computers; installed e-pustakalaya server in Middle Region Police Training Center of the Government of Nepal in April 2015. Mr. Ramesh Kharel, Senior Superintendent of Nepal Police and head of the Training Center requested NLF assistance in upgrading the existing library in the Training center after witnessing NLF’s work in the development of library in Laxmi Secondary School in Chitawan. Mr. Som Sapkota coordinated the project and fund raising efforts. Police Officers and their families use the library. Dr. Vijay Jha and Mr. Kapil Thapa contributed computers. Mr. Kharel says the library has changed the culture in the academy. “Officers are spending much of the leisure time in the library. This is quite heartening. They seem to be anxious to learn how policing is done in other parts of the world. The demand for new books and police magazines, particularly covering police investigative stories has escalated”. Naresh Koirala, President of NLF, visited the Training Center library in 2015. The library now has nearly 50 computers, which are being used extensively as a resource for expansion of knowledge.

The Nepal Library Foundation family’s hearts go out to the people of Nepal at this time of suffering and tragedy.

Please consider sending a donation to the Red Cross or an organization of your choice. The Canadian Government will match any donation you make to the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) and possibly other organizations until May 28th. CRC donations will be passed directly to the Nepal Red Cross.

An MOU has been signed between NLF Nepal and Janajagriti Ma Vi Baglung for establishment of e-pustakalaya. NLF is going to setup a library with 15 computers and install e-pustakalya software, train users for the School. It will also monitor and support the library once its established. The funds for this project has been provided by past students of the school with co-ordination from Som Sapkota, an NRN from Denmark.

The complete MOU can be found here.

Between December 11 and December 24, 2013 Naresh Koirala, President along with Dhan Kumar Shrestha, NLF’s program officer, visited a number of libraries supported by NLF to:

Assess their uses and to try and understand the impact these libraries have made to the local community and
To understand the issues and problems they have faced moving forward

The assessment was based on on-site interaction/discussion with the Library Management Board and the library users. Each discussion session lasted 2 to 3 hours. At the end of the discussion the Library Management Board and NLF) agreed to a plan of action to address identified deficiencies.

Naresh Koirala also visited a number of other libraries where he was invited for consultation and exploration of collaboration.

This report presents a summary of my observations and discusses the agreed action plan. An estimated cost to update each library is provided with the summary observations for that library.

Please download the report here: http://www.nepallibrary.org/sites/default/files/Library%20Visit%20Report...

On December 24, 2013 Naresh Koirala, President of Nepal Library Foundation (Canada) and Dhan Kumar Shrestha from the Nepal Library Foundation (Nepal) in Kathmandu, visited the Shree Bishwamitra Library where they met with the Library Management Committee and members of four Readers' Clubs in order to discuss how the community had benefitted from the establishment of the library. Most responses were extremely positive and included comments on:

. the wide range of topics available, from practical to academic
. the wide range of readership, from school chidren to the elderly
. the value of the resource for teachers and students alike
. the forging of a link between the library and the community
. the value of reading clubs

Teenagers Ms Dikshya Dahal and Ms Nisha Acharya stated: "We, the teenagers, have found a special purpose in being organized in reading clubs and here, in the library, we can find reference materials for our regular studies, too. We sometimes organize such interactions and competitions as well. Even the children happily join us."

Issues that are yet to be addressed include:
. fundraising
. establishment of an e-library with internet connection

NLF, Nepal held their AGM on June 27 as planned.The new NLF Nepal Board includes the following:

Ganesh Shah, Former Minister of Science and Technology, GoN, President
Binda Pandey, Central Committee Member, UML
Jugal Bhurtel,Ph.D., CEO Mai Khola Hydro Project
Bhola Sharma, Former Under Secretary, GoN, General Secretary
Pradeep Koirala, Former Manager, Ilam Tea Estate, Secretary
Yagya Raj Bhatta, Tribhuban University, Kathmandu, Director
Mani Phuyal, Librarian, Biswamitra Library, Lalitpur , Director
Kapil Dev Thapa, Japan, Director

Atul Koirala, an IT specialist also joined NLF to head its IT Group.

Earlier, NLF Nepal had started a membership drive to raise endowment fund to pay for the operating cost of the library. At the time of the AGM, 20 members had joined the AGM. The drive continues.

A presentation on the works of Nepal Library Foundation is scheduled 15 March in Altanta Georgia. Anyone interested in attending is very much welcome.

The details of the event are as follows:

Date: March 15, 2014, Saturday
Time: 6-7 pm dinner, 7-9 pm presentation and q/a session
Venue: Himalayan Spice Restaurant, 2773 Clairmont Road, Atlanta, GA 30329

NLF thanks the Nepalese Association in Southeast America (NASeA) community for hosting the event.

The financial details of Nepal Library Foundation has been released. This includes the Charity Return, Income Statement and Statement of Operation. You can view them in the downloads section. Thanks to Suman Basnyat, CGA of S Basnyat & Co. Inc. who maintains the foundations accounts, pro bono.

Flickr

Nepal Library Foundation and Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding for establishing collaboration on academic, research and professional matters at the University premises. Work succeeding this understanding is expected to fill a huge gap in Nepal's Library Development. The highlights of the MoU are:

In March this year, students of Sutherland School got the opportunity to see Nepal first hand and visit Prakash Library and Buddha Academy Boarding School that they have been supporting for a while now. The NLF is glad to know that the feedback students got from the visit was that Sutherland School's efforts have been "helping girls and women become self-sustaining and avoid early marriage".

Included here are some of the pictures the children shot during the visit to Nepal. If you want to see more, head over to picasa here.

Sutherland School, North Vancouver has been supporting Prakash Community Library in Banepa for the last four years. The students under the leadership of teacher Cynthia Bunbury at the school hold yearly fasts and the amount collected thus goes to supporting their efforts in Nepal through Nepal Library Foundation. The effort is led by teacher Cynthia Bunbury.

On April 4, 2012 Nepal Library Foundation (NLF) hosted an “Appreciation Dinner” in Café Kathmandu, Vancouver, Canada to recognize local volunteers who have worked tirelessly over the last three years to raise funds for the Foundation. Thirty five people including the Foundation Directors attended. During the evening Naresh Koirala presented a slide show introducing different aspects of Nepal and, in particular, showing many of the libraries that NLF has supported. The volunteers saw, for the first time, the libraries supported with the funds they raised. Many were surprised by NLF’s accomplishment since its establishment six years ago. We hope that, someday some of the volunteers will visit our libraries and experience first hand the impact their work is making in the life of young people who had never seen a functioning library before. The visitors will certainly be made most welcome, in true Nepali style.

Nepal Library Foundation has finally published its yearly newsletter for the year 2011. You can read it here in pdf.

In other news, "Library Development in Nepal: Problems and Prospects" authored by Naresh Koirala and Paul Bird has been published in the European Bulletin of Himal Research. You can download the article here.

NLF Initiative with the Government of Nepal

For the last two years, Dr. Shiva Gautam of Nepal Library Foundation(NLF) has been lobbying the Government of Nepal (GoN) to allocate funds to start an ICT based education pilot project and e-library in Nepal. NLF believes that ICT based learning in all Nepali schools will be impossible without GoN’s unreserved commitment. The foundation president Naresh Koirala and board member Dr. Shiva Gautam recently flew to Nepal for a meeting with GoN in this regard.

The meeting held in March 16, 2011 was chaired by Mr. Leela Mani Poudyal, Cabinet Secretary of GoN. Besides Naresh Koirala and Shiva Gautam, representatives from Ministry of Education (MoE); Ministry of Finance and Kathmandu University and Open Learning Exchange (OLE), Nepal attended the meeting. Mr Narayan Krishna Shrestha, Under Secretary of the MoE presented a paper outlining the MoE’s vision of ICT based education and e-library to the meeting. After nearly two and a half hours deliberation it was agreed that MoE will revise the paper based on NLF, OLE and other participants' input and submit it to MoF for approval. NLF provided comments on the paper about a month ago; we understand the paper is currently being revised.

We have created a brand new Twitter account, nepallibrary. Please follow us at http://twitter.com/nepallibrary and spread the word.

We have just created a facebook page for the foundation. It can be accessed at http://www.facebook.com/nepallibrary.org. Please spread the word by pressing the "like" button.

We hope to have wonderful and interesting discussions on library laws, Nepali libraries and readers in the facebook page.

In line with the non-profit nature of the foundation, the board recently decided to obtain ".org" domain for the foundation and discontinue using the ".com" domain going forward. In line with the decision, the domain name, nepallibrary.org has been registered for the foundation and is fully functional as of now.

However, our old domain, nepallibrary.com will continue to function for two more years until the transition to nepallibrary.org is complete. For now, even if you type nepallibrary.com, you are being redirected to nepallibrary.org.

Additionally, all our ".com" email addresses are being transitioned over to the ".org" domain. All ".com" email addresses will be discontinued in a month's time.

We regret any inconvenience caused by this change. If you find any difficulties accessing the site or in contacting us, please let us know.

Our website has been given a facelift and the underlying technology upgraded. This should allow for better content management and usability. Please standby for news in this section. Meanwhile, please surf around and let us know how you feel.