NATIONAL LIBRARY OF VIETNAM

An Overall View
of the National Library of Vietnam

PHAM THE KHANG

Director, National Library of Vietnam
July, 2007
Administrative Structure
of Vietnamese Libraries:
Vietnamese Libraries operate under the Administration of
the Ministry of Culture and Information

 Library Department is responsible for Policy Advisory

 The National Library of Vietnam is responsible for Professional
Advisory

Vietnamese Library Association was set up in November 22, 2006 with the
office located at the NLV’s campus

1/ Public Library System:

 The National Library of Vietnam (NLV);
 Libraries established by the People's Committees of all levels
 Cities/Provincial Libraries: 64
 District Libraries: 585
 Commune Libraries Village Book Stacks: 7,000
Administrative Structure
of Vietnamese Libraries (Cont.)
2/ Academic Library System:
 University Libraries: 300
 School Libraries: 19,000

3/ Special Library System: 218

Including:
 Libraries of State Bodies (Political Organizations, Socio-Political
Organizations, Social Organizations, Economics Organizations and
Public-service Units);
 Libraries of Scientific Research Institutes and Centers

4/ Military Library System:

 Academy/ Institutes: 53
 Libraries and Reading Rooms of Armed Forced Units 1,300
NLV’s General Introduction
 NLV was founded in 1917 by the Governor General of
Indochina

 NLV is located in the heart of Hanoi Capital

 NLV’s area is of 16,000 sq meter, with 7 centralizes air-

conditioning buildings

 NLV’s staffs:186 (145 Librarians, 1 Doctor, 30 Masters)

 NLV’s Computer network: 10 servers & 200 work stations with

internet connection

 All professional activities have been automated using an

Integrated Library System Software (ILIB)

 NLV’s Website: http://www.nlv.gov.vn

 NLV’s Tasks & Responsibilities
NLV has been the Center Library of Vietnam (under Library
Ordinance, 2001)

 To exploit documentary sources at home and abroad to meet the readers

demands;

 To receive copy right publications deposits at home according to the

regulations, to build and preserve for long term the stocks of Vietnamese
publications; to compile and publish the National Bibliography of Vietnam;

 To organize the service of readers of all kinds

 To undertake the cooperation and exchange of documents with libraries at

home and abroad;

 To conduct Scientific and Technological research projects in the field of

Library & Information and apply new Scientific Technology on Library
activities

 To organize professional fostering courses for librarians and give

librarianship instructions to libraries throughout the country
National Collection
NLV is the largest Library in the nation with approximately 1.3
million items housed on about 6 mile of bookshelves

 Books Collection:
 Vietnamese: 334,280 copies
 Russian: 267,874 copies
 English: 99,057 copies
 French: 87,539 copies
 Chinese: 47,230 copies
 Sino-nom: 6,000 copies
 Others languages (Japanese, Spanish, Korean, etc.)
Every year, the NLV acquires app. 14,000 titles of books in
Vietnamese and foreign languages to the collection

 Periodicals Collection:
11,000 titles of Vietnamese and foreign Newspapers and Magazines
National Collection (cont.)
 Indochina Collection:
The greatest collection in the region (53,901 volumes of books, journals
and Newspapers published in French Indochinese territories from 1861 to
1954)

 Doctoral Thesis Collection:

11,000 Doctoral Thesis written by Vietnamese citizens at Vietnamese and
foreign Institutions since 1954.
NLV has digitized the abstract and full-text of the collection

 Microfilm Collection:
600 titles of Newspapers (10,000 meters)
10,000 titles of books published in Indochina before 1954 (in form of
Microfiches)

 Multimedia Collection:
Tape, Video, CD-ROM, DVD, Abstract and Full-text databases
National Collection (cont.)
 Sino-Nom Collection:
The NLV’s Sino-Nom collection is diversified in content and types and
can be seen among the big Sino-Nom collections in Vietnam

 NLV started to collect Sino-Nom collection since 1954

 The collection was catalogued and on service since 1963
 The collection has been seen as the rare collection of the NLV with
an independent storage, one reading room with special
preservation conditions
 NLV’s Sino-Nom Collection: About 1,000 titles
(298 titles manuscripts, 257 titles written in Nom, old Vietnamese
scripts which was derived from Chinese scripts, Sino-Nom-Modern
Vietnamese scripts, Nom-Modern Vietnamese script)
 The Collection covers such fields as Literature, History, Geography,
Medicine, etc.
 Many titles were written centuries ago with high value. The oldest
book was printed in 1763
 NLV has compiled a Bibliography of the NLV’s Sino-Nom Collection
( by Prof. Ngo Duc Tho )
NLV’s Readers
In principles, the NLV is open to the Public. However, due to
its limited space and number of copies per titles, at present
the NLV is only able to provide reading services to its
registered members

 Membership:
+ Vietnamese University students (60%)
+ Vietnamese University graduates and scholars (40%)
+ Foreigners with valid passport

 NVL issues about 30,000 membership cards annually

 NLV receives an average of 2,000 visits per day

NLV’s Reading Room Systems
NLV provides both Open Stack reading service and on
request reading service in 13 Reading rooms:

 2 Open stacks of Books in Vietnamese

(Social Sciences & Humanities; Natural Sciences &
Technology)
 1 General Reading Room
 1 Special Collection Open stack (Sino-Nom Collection)
 1 Multimedia Reading Room
 1 Friendship Open stack
 1 Chinese Open stack
 1 UN Documents Open stack (Sponsored by the UN)
 1 English books Open stack (Sponsored by TAF/ U.S.A)
 1 Reference Open stack
 1 Librarianship Materials Open stack
 1 Periodical Reading Room
 1 Microfilm and Microfiche Reading Room
NLV’s Reading Services
 On-side Reading Services
The NLV offers both Open Stack reading
service and on request reading service.
However, it provides no lending service
because of limited copies and over crowded
clients

 Reference Service:
 Information services: press clipping, subject
bibliographies
 Local History Bibliographies
 Readers’ assistance
NLV’s Reading Services
 Technical Service:
 Setting up computer network
 Librarianship & IT training
 Software Installation
 Hardware Maintenance

 Internet Access: (Multi media Reading Room )

 40 workstations of ADSL and Wireless net
 Software, Databases of special subjects
 Multimedia collection
 Audio-visual facilities
Reading Promotion
Activities

 Topic Talks and Seminars

(1 every two months and on request)

 Books and Images Exhibitions

 Exhibition of new books
 About 10 exhibitions per year on special occasions
 NLV or NLV cooperates with Embassies &
International Organizations in Hanoi

 Reading Festivals (Since 2006)

In-house Publications

 National Bibliography (monthly & annually)

 General Bibliography of Vietnam

 Vietnamese Library Journal

 Standard Manuals on library profession:

Description Rules for Books, Classification Table, Key
words, Author’s Code, etc.
Professional Guidance
 NLV’s Sciences Research Division has
provided regular Technical assistances
to lower levels libraries throughout the
country;

 NLV hold national workshops

 Librarian Further training
 New Library Standards & Technology
training
 Professional Experiences Sharing workshops
 Annually and on requested
Current Major National
projects
 Project entitled "Electronic Library"
 Has been implemented at the NLV & 34 Major
Provincial Libraries
 All Libraries are equipped with a fully Library
Automated System
 The project is funded by the Budget of Vietnamese
Government and Local Peoples’ Committee of all
levels

 Project of setting up a National Centre for

Material Preservation at the NLV
 Facilities equipped
International Cooperation
 NLV has become official member of IFLA & CONSAL since 2000

 NLV has regular materials exchange relations with 122

Libraries and Information Agencies of 32 countries in the
world.

 NLV has a close relationships with the National Libraries of

ASEAN countries, U.S.A, China, Japan, France, Spain, Australia,
Russia

 Every year, about 50 foreign delegations visit the NLV and

around 30 NLV staffs attend Regional and International
training Workshops and Conferences

 NLV co-operate with International Organizations and

Embassies in Vietnam to organize international training
workshops and Books Exhibition annually
 NLV is the Host Country for CONSAL XIV (2006-2009)
 NLV is the Host Country of CDNL-AO (2009)
International Cooperation
(cont.)
 Current major projects:

 DDC translation and training/ In cooperation with RMIT

University Vietnam/ Funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies,
U.S.A
 English Books Donation/ Funded by The Asia Foundation,
U.S.A
 Preservation Manuals translation and training/ Funded by
The Ford Foundation, U.S.A
 Microfilming of early Vietnamese Newspapers/ Funded by
the Centre for Research Library, U.S.A
 Digitization of Books in French published before 1954 at
the NLV/ Funded by French Government within VALEASE
project
 Sino-nom Digitization/Funded by Vietnamese Nom
Preservation Foundation, U.S.A
Developing Strategy
 To become a standard modern Library of
Vietnam
 To apply International Standards in professional activities
 To become an electronic, digital library

 To become a National Center for materials

preservation

 To expand International Cooperation with

more Libraries and Information Agencies in
ASEAN, ASIA, French, United Kingdom,
Australia, New Zealand, Spain, U.S.A
Thank you!