Library Functions

There are several functions of the National Library from the acquiring materials to the library until to placing on the respective shelves. After shelves systematically, the library provides services to the students, researchers, and the public for their easy use of library materials. For less and damage of library materials, inventory-taking by RFID (Radio Frequency Identification System) and conservation is undertaken regularly.

 Apart from that, for the promotion and dissemination of library and information subject, Library education activities, cooperation, and collaboration activities with libraries associations from local and overseas are conducted.

 National Library undertaking the acquisition, data processing, circulation, and library development functions along with the timeline and advanced information and communication technology.

(1)  Acquisition

Acquisition is one of the main functions to acquire library materials to the library in various ways in order to be collection development. Library materials include printed materials such as book and periodical, monograph, pamphlet, map, and non-printed materials such as palm-leaf manuscript, parabeik manuscript and other kinds of manuscripts, music score note, photograph, movie, film, disc, video and audio-tape, records on paper and other medium and their reproductions.

The Library acquires its holdings through

1. Legal deposit,

2. Purchase by Government budget,

3. Exchange with libraries in abroad, gifts, a donation from private and organization, requisitions,

    Materials are added to the collections of the Library at a rate of 3,000 volumes per year.

a)     Legal Deposit

The National Library Law was approved on 26th Auguest 2020, the National Library Law (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No.14 of 2020), signed by the President, was promulgated by the Notification No.(41/2020) of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Office.

The Rule and Regulation of Library law are approved on 8 September, 2022. According to the National Library Law,a publisher including the government department, government organization shall deliver five copies of every printed and unprinted library resources published locally are of the same quality as those for publication and sale, to the National Library free of charge within one month from the date of publication.

b)     Purchase

As the National Library is responsible to collect local publications to meet its vision, the library purchases local publications, publications on Myanmar from other countries, research papers, dissertations, gazetteers, reference books, etc. by its annual budget.

c)     Donation, Gifts and Exchange

By the exchange programme and gifts from oversea libraries and organizations, donation of private and organizations, the library has increased collection development. The Library also accepts the donation of specific donation of book collections and book lovers who want to keep their collections in a single place and maintain as Special Collection Corner. There are average 3,000 volumes of books and periodicals per year.

(2)  Data Processing

Data Processing is one of the main functions of the library to prepare book catalogues and periodical indexes in order to easily searching by the library users. 

Bibliographic tools applied by the National Library are AACR 2 (Anglo−American Cataloguing Rules )(Second Edition) for cataloguing, Dewey Decimal Classification 23 Edition for classification, and Sears’ List of Subject Headings 23 Edition. 

Library catalogues are in both ways as card catalogue as OPAC. In order to easily searching for the library collections, the National Library has upgraded the National Library Myanmar Management Software (NLMM-Software) as a web-based integrated system.

 Any library users can search the data of the National Library’s literature property at www.nlm.gov.mm.

Among the various collections at the National Library, locally printed books are classified according to subjects. Reference books, government publications, rare books, and collections about Myanmar that are written with the English language, foreign books, ASEAN collections, UN collections, thesis, gazetteers, etc. are arranged by the accession numbers.

Rare and valuable ancient Myanmar manuscripts which got via donation are kept and maintained particularly as Myanmar literature heritage.