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Prison Library Campaign

Nepal Library Foundation strongly believes prisons should have facilities where prisoners can educate themselves and learn new skills. Upon their release, the knowledge and skill acquired in the prison will help them to rehabilitate into the society with honour and dignity. Until now, except a few libraries in prisons in western Nepal established about three years ago (NLF was involved in the establishment), Nepal’s prisons did not have libraries. Cognizant of this, about six months ago, the NLF Nepal started a campaign to establish libraries in all district level prisons in Nepal. The prisoners are consulted to decide the genera of books they would like have in the library. Generally, the library holdings consist of books on various skill development; Nepal and world history; general knowledge and so on. Besides providing books, NLF also trains the prison staff /prisoners in library management and in setting up a Book Club, where the inmates meet periodically to discuss books they have read. Nepal’s Local Government’s officials and prison officials have been very helpful in executing the project.   

Endowment Fund Campaign

Since its registration in late 2005 as a Canadian Charity with a mission to “enhance education opportunity to Nepali people through the medium of libraries”, the NLF has assisted in establishing libraries, both digital and conventional, in over 238 schools, communities and prisons across the country. Besides assisting in libraries, the NLF also provides training in library management; setting up ‘Book Clubs” to promote reading habits; setting up a ‘Home Library’ and advocates for library development in the country. We estimate over a million people have benefited from this work.

Nepal does not have a law that makes community or school libraries mandatory. The need to continue NLF’s work is therefore critical. The NLF is run entirely by volunteers and targeted project-based funding it receives from donors who value education and community service. This has made it possible to complete large number of projects, but has created enormous strain in managing its operating cost.

NLF Nepal has started a campaign to raise funds to establish an Endowment fund to address the situation and provide continuity to its work. The interest from the fund will be used to defray the foundations operational costs. We implore you to join the campaign and contribute to the fund. Your help will help us to open the doors of libraries across the nation.

E-Library User Training

The travel restrictions due to Covid limited NLF’s technical personnel’s ability of on-site visits to libraries to to provide technical support. To alleviate this situation, NLF started to provide basic training to set up a local area network of computers and to connect them to e-library server in NLF’s office in Kathmandu. Computer teachers in schools with NLF supported libraries were invited to join the training. Under this program, computer teachers Sri Shesh Kant Dhakal and Sri Rajesh Adhikari of Sri Tri-Sahid Secondary School, Sanja and Sri Bal Kalyan Secondary School, Lamjung respectively were trained and servers with e-library content were handed over to them.

 

Advisors to NLF, Nepal

Nepal Library Foundation, Nepal Board’s meeting of January 2022 appointed the following are NLF’s new advisors.  

  1. Govinda Bandi, ex-Minister of Law, Government of Nepal
  2. Ramesh Kharel, Former DIG, Nepal Police
  3. Mahabir Pun, Entrepreneur, Innovator and Social worker
  4. Ram Thapa, Patron, NRNA

They add to the current advisors Dr. Jugel Bhurtel and Dr. Binda Pandey and together bring over hundred years of experience in management; education and social work in Nepal. NLF greatly appreciates their willingness to advise the NLF as it moves forward in its mission.

E-Library in Sri Jan Jagrity, Secondary School, Solokhumbu

NLF provided technical support to install an e-library server in Sri Jan Jagrity, Secondary School in September 2021. There are 20 computers in the school. Eightytwo years old Prem Kumari Shrestha, a resident of Okhaldhungda, contribute her old age allowance to cover the cost of system management for this project.  The funding raising for the project was coordinated by NLF’s International Coordinator Shibaji Shrestha.

 

Women’s Computer Literacy Program

Following the very successful “Womens Computer Literacy “programme, in Sangam Library, Gaighat, Udayapur about six years ago, the NLF provided Computers to Chaturbhujeshwor Community Study Center (CCLC) Sukhepokhari Sarlahi to run their “Women’s Computer Literacy” programme. The three months long basic level course was completed in April 2021 with technical support from IT Plus Sarlahi.

CCLC chairman Mr. Yamini Kumar Deep says the next phase of the training shall resume after the CoVid lockdown is lifted. The course was run in accelerated time and completed in two months. Nineteen homemakers participated in the training.  

 

Home Libraries Initiative

During the period of lock down of the country due to CoVid-19 in 2020-2021, when access to libraries was restricted due to restriction in movement, the Nepal Library Foundation came up with the idea to promote every home to establish library within its premises. Consultation for execution of the idea started in January 2021 and by March, 2021, it had turned into a national campaign. The campaign’s mission is to encourage every house to systematically arrange books, magazines and other materials at a visible location in the house, for example the drawing room and promote reading.

By March “Home Library Coordinators” had been appointed in 18 districts. Generous donations of books have been received from publisher and a recognized writer Chayadatta Newpane and Mausami Shrestha, a Nepali resident in the USA. Newpane has donated two books each to 152 houses and newpane has pledged Rs. 2000 for ten poor families.

The municipality of Triguna , Udayayapur, Gaighat now requires a room dedicated to a “ Home Library” in all building permit applications. A copy of the municipalities’ order is included in the Gallery.

“Pustakalaya Awaj”, Nepal’s only magazine dedicated to library development, published a story on the development of the “Home Library” campaign in its April, 2021 issue.

 

Sangam Community Library and Suhrid Library - A Video Travelogue

A visiting team of Canadian volunteers travelled to Sangam Library and did a video this year. It includes the sights and sounds of people who're directly benefitting from this venture and the decades long work of the NLF team. Huge thanks to Dan Little and his team for creating a beautiful video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlptUN6ChBM

 

MoU signed among NRNA, NLF-Canada and NLF-Nepal

A Memorandum of Understanding for the partnership framework among Non Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), Nepal Library Foundation - Canada (NLF - Canada) and Nepal Library Foundation - Nepal (NLF - Nepal) was signed 15 July 2020. The partnership is a key initiative to bring together the three main parties that are aligned in the development and growth of public libraries in Nepal. As per the MoU,

Dolakha Learning Center Update

After the earthquakes of 2015, and the severe damage inflicted on the school buildings in Dolakha, the NLF was involved in the building of a learning centre composed of a computer room and a library and another room to provide a resource to the community and school after the school buildings were devastated. Apart from the building itself geotechnical work needed to be carried out. Significant assistance for this was provided by BGC Ltd, a Vancouver based engineering company.

NLF helps setup ten libraries inside prisons in Karnali Region

Nepal’s police officers are not usually known for establishing educational facilities in the prisons they manage however Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) Mahesh Bikram Shah is an exception. He is an established author and the recipient in 2007 (2063 BS) of the Madan Puraskar, Nepal’s premier literary award. “I have always been interested in writing and literature but I had never thought prisoners might like to read and that prisoners would benefit from libraries” he says, “The epiphany moment occurred during my interaction with a prisoner about eighteen months ago.

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