Library of Tibetan Works & Archives

Origin

The Library was established in the year 1970 by the Tibetan government in exile headed by His Holiness Dalai Lama. It was accorded the status of National Library, National Museum and National Archives in 1996. It is being governed by an governing body consisting of three members from Govrnment of India and six members are appointed by the spiritual leader Dalai Lama.

The library is a store house of rich Tibetan literature. It has four sub-sections, i) Foreign Language Reference Library, ii) Tibetan Books & Manuscripts Library, iii) Publication and iv) Tibetan Cultural Research.

Building

The LTWA consists of two traditional buildings,one three storey and one two storey. Though old the building is well maintained and is cozy and comfortable.

Location

Dharmashala is located in Himachal Pradesh state of India in Kangra district.

Dharamshala is about 520 Kms from national capital New Delhi, 235 Kms from state capital Shimla and 252 Kms from Chandigarh. It has an average height above sea level of 1475 meters.

Staff

In all there are about 60 people working for the organization. Of these 10-12 people are working for different sections of the libbrary.

Collection

The library has a rich collection of about 100,000+ manusripts. A substantial part was brought here by the Tibetan Government in excile when the leaders left Tibet under political pressure. The library also treasures a big collection of books on Tibetan literature in different languages including Tibetan. The library has 26000+ books in foreign languages. An collection of 27000+ Audio/Visual resources is also available in the library. Some newspapers are also available for the readers including a special newspaper in Tiberan language published three times a month. The whole collection is being maintained using Libsys software.

Membership

The library provide book lending service also along with its popular reference services unit. For this purpose the library offers membership to locals at a nominal fee. For ge neral readers the membership fee is Rs 100/pm and for advanced users like research scholars the fee is Rs 300/pm. A registered member is priviledged to borrow upto three books for a period of 14 days. Reference service is also available through phone or other modes of communication to non-local users who can't visit the library personally f or genuine reasons.

Information Technology

The organization has a network of 50 computer with internet connectivity. Computers also available for library users to access the rich library collections wich are available in Libsys and to access resources over the internet. Photocopy facility is also available for reference sources like manuscripts and rare books.

Working Hours

The library opens from 9 am to 5 pm from Monday to Saturday. Lunch break is from 1 pm to 2 pm. Sundays, 2nd and 4th Saturdays are holidays.

Contact

Library of Tibetan Works and Archives,
Gangchen Kyshong,
Dharamshala (HP)-176215.
INDIA.
Phone: +91 9882255047
Fax: +91 (0)1892 229106
E-mail: ltwa1970@gmail.com
Website: http://www.ltwa.net/library/index.php?option=com_multicategories&view=categories&cid=3&Itemid=15