News & Events

July,2008

Dasho Gyonpo Tshering Appointed as Chief Librarian

On 1^st July,2008, Gyonpo Tshering, the Chief Research Officer of the Research and Media Division under Department of Culture, has now been appointed as Chief Librarian /Director of the National Library& Archives of Bhutan in accordance with the order declared by the RCSC.

Ever since the transfer of former Director Dorjee Tshering, to the Department of Culture, MOHCA, on September, 2007. Gyonpo Tshering has been looking after the National Library & Archives as the Officiating Director for interim period.

February, 2008

 

NLB Website Relaunched

On the occasion of HM the King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck’s birthday, 21^st February, 2008, the National Library and Archives of Bhutan relaunched this completly updated and expanded web site. The relaunching ceremony was presided over by Ven. Minyak R. Tulku Rinpoche, former director of the National Library and it was attended by senior government officials from the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs and the Department of Culture.

As a part of the DANIDA sponsored Library Twinning Project to strengthern IT capacity of the Library the website has been completely re-designed, updated and expanded. In particular almost all content is now in our national language Dzongkha as well as in English. At present this is the only website in Bhutan in which almost all content is available in both Dzongkha and English.

The NLB website is intended to introduce people inside and outside of Bhutan to the facilities and collections of the National Library; and to make our catalogue, and eventually some of our collections, available online. In addition this website provides a gateway to learning resources and other libraries around the world for our citizens and a window on Bhutan for the world. We hope this goes some way towards fulfilling our mission of preserving Bhutan's rich literary and archival heritage and making it available to the nation and the world at large.

January-February, 2008

 

Thangkha Conservation workshop.

Under the auspices of the Department of Culture, Ms. Ann Shaftel has been conducting a practical workshop in our new building to train nine nuns in thangkha conservation and preservation.

Ms. Shaftel who is based in Halifax, Canada has 37 years of experience as a consultant and conservator for museum and monastic collections. The idea of training nuns for the project was that of the former home minister, Jigme Y. Thinley, who met met Ms. Shaftel in Halifax, Canada, during the international conference on Gross National Happiness held there in 2006. The nuns who came from nunneries in different parts of the kingdom are particularly suited to this work as they have great respect for the thankgkhas and are particularly capable of delicately exercising the tremendous care, discipline and patience required for this work.

On Feburary 14^th a small exhibition of conservation work by the students was held and certificates presented by Ven. Minyak R. Tulku Rinpoche.

The conservation workshop was made possible by the Ministry of Home & Cultural Affairs working in partnership with Friends of Bhutan’s Culture, based in Bellevue, Washington, with funding from the Getty Foundation.