National Library of LaosStaff of National Library of Laos
⦿ Mrs Homsombat Thongbang

⦿ work at Archives of Traditional Music in Laos
⦿ Responsibility is record the data of Music⦿ Mrs Thongphanith Phoukham
⦿ work at Acquisition service

⦿ Responsibility is record the data of books

Introduction
The establishment of the Lao National Library Is a contribution to theprotection and Creation the Nation along with the rich and modern socioeconomic development.
The National Library of Laos was established in 1956 which was the technicaldivision under the Fine Arts Department in the Ministry of Education, Sportand youth. Then Continued to build a Tripitaka hall/ historical Archives in thereign king Anouvong in the early 19th century.
The King Phatsalat collected the manuscript documents, some Lao languageand French books which is considered a representative of the National Libraryof Laos.
In the year 1960, The National library also plays a role in human resource
development to train and study abroad many time. After that National Librarychanged its name to the Libraries and Museums Department under the same
ministry.
⦿Continue
After national liberation in 1975, The National Library has available service to the public and library,Museums and ancient resources seeking to services. The Lao Government’s policy is to develop thehuman resource and Library infrastructure in order to promote information literacy within the countryand quality services in the library sector.
In 1989, the National Library be came the technical division under the Publishing Department in theMinistry of Information and culture. It’s the main institution responsible for all libraries development
and activities, for reading promotion, the sharing of information and for the preservation of cultural
heritage and documents. The National Library also Responsible for managing, collecting information,
manuscripts for providing to the public.
The National Library has continuously improved the training of its technical staff with short and longterm excursions at both domestically and internationally for modernization work.
In 1990 we started creating 20 mobile bookcases to the remote area services for reading Promotion
activities was well received supported by Unicef Organization. After that we started funding for creating
the mobile bookcases and received encouragement from many parties, many organizations andNGOs to cooperate and provide constant support.
At the Currently, the National Library is Under the Publishing,
Literature and Library Department in the Ministry of Information Culture

Continueand Tourism. The Library in Laos has grown exponentially with over 2,000 libraries
included as: Library Association, National Library, 11 public Libraries and 5 mobile
Libraries included, 78 University and college Libraries, 40 special libraries, 15
private libraries, 1,956 school libraries and more than 8,500 mobile bookcases. For
the development of library human resources, there is also a bachelor's degree on
Library and Information Science at the National University of Laos.
The National Library of Laos has a total of 34 staff, with 19 females staff includedand Divided into 6 Section Such as: Administration Section, Acquisition and ISBN
Issueless Section, Cataloging and Publication Technically Section, Reading andpublic relations services, Palm leaf an Manuscript Section, Reading Promotion andLibrary Network Section
In the past, the number of members accessing the library service increased every
year, but from 2020 to the present, our country has been affected by Corona virus
Disease 19 (COVID-19) that make decreasing number of the user as below:

Most of the users are students, staff, and general people. Inaddition, The National Library also provides a mobile library toschools to raise awareness of reading in the community. To
increase books access for primary school students in remote areas.

The New Normal Library service
In the outbreak of coronavirus 19
The National library complied with the order of the Ministryof Information, culture and Tourism.
Before serving readers or those who come to work in theNational library must measure the temperature of handwashing with alcohol 70.gel.
Library ceased operations in September 2021
Due to unfavorable environmental conditions
There is an increase in the number of cases of coronaryheart diseasein the city The National Library has changed services
Online via whatsApp, telephone and order from readers⦿In the Future Action plans(if Covid 19 does not extend)
The National library of Laos will be training
two times per years inside the country
2. Looking for a new system for input the database and make the next work to branch withpublic library around the country
3. Exchange knowledge and experiencelibrarians
4. Established reading room in school andchildren’s activities
1.

Action plans (con’t)
5. Mobile library service haven’t Library at school6. Improved and Development PMB system with 2 provinces such as
Xiengkhoung and Xayyabouly
7.Publish journal of the Association library of Laos
8.Update the DDC book
9.Updated the library's basic knowledge handbook
10. Academic librarian textbooks in 3 languages: Lao, English ,and Vietnamese
11.Publish the book for the author code in Laos languages

BeforCovid19
Training Activities

Participants from ProvinceBefor Covid 19@ schools

Before Covid 19
Reading promotionBefore Covid 19
Mobile Library Activities

Before Covid 19
Luang Prabang LibraryBefore Covid 19Luang Prabang LibraryThank you