New National Library of Laos Construction Complete

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National Library of Laos

A handover ceremony for the newly constructed National Library of Laos was held on 29 December 2016 between the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and Chitchareune Construction.

Construction of the new national library began in 2013, and was expected to be complete by mid-2015. Due to delays, it has only now been finished.

Aside from the library itself, the complex includes a conference room, working rooms, research room, and reading rooms. The building is fully equipped with CCTV, fire alarms, and internet infrastructure.

The new National Library of Laos is located behind the Kaysone Phomvihane Museum, in Sivilay Village, Vientiane Capital.

 

The Fate of the Original National Library of Laos Building

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The iconic original site of the National Library of Laos

Both the original national library building and the Lao national museum are slated for redevelopment, according to a 2013 article by the Vientiane Times.  The article goes on to say that the buildings which house the existing library and museum are no longer adequate to store the expanding collections they contain, so the ministry proposed that new premises be built in a more suitable location.

Under the terms of an agreement with developer Chitchareune Construction, the ministry will give the existing downtown library to the contractor for redevelopment purposes.

The original National Library of Laos was established in 1956. The library resources were first stored inside part of another ministry, before being moved to the library’s independent location on Setthathirath Road.

One of the library’s most famous achievements was creating the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts, in collaboration with the Berlin State Library.

 

 

1 COMMENT

  1. To the Music Library

    Gräfelfing, 18 June 2017
    Ladies and Gentlemen,
    in order to update my catalogue, I ask for information, which manuscripts and old and modern prints of works of my great-great-grandfather Theobald Böhm (flautist, composer, flute maker, inventor of the Böhm flute, Munich, 1794–1881) you possess.
    Besides, I ask for information, whether there are the two missing works with a dedication for Theobald Böhm in your library:
    Grandaur, Franz: Sérénade mauresque, flute and piano, London c. 1860 (mentioned on the cover of the “Flute Player’s Journal”, second series, no. 7, Rudall, Rose, Carte & Co., London c. 1857–1871)
    Sauvlet, Antoine: Souvenir de la Volga, flute and piano, (St. Petersburg?) c. 1870 (mentioned in the biography of Prof. Dr. Carl von Schafhäutl).
    Also missing are the orchestra parts of Amtmann, Prosper: Air varié, opus 3 and the piano part of Popp, Wilhelm: Souvenir de Theobald Böhm, Opus 434.
    In 2012 and 2013, I informed some libraries that my complete edition of the musical works of Theobald Böhm (40 works with an opus number and 48 arrangements without an opus number) as well as 24 books from and about him were now available. You find all front pages and the first page in my homepage http://www.theobald-boehm-shop.de.
    The music was newly written by the musicologist Michael Nowotny, who works for the renowned publishing house Henle, the corrections were made by the renowned musicologist Dr. Raymond Meylan. There exist very positive reviews from:
    Claudia Wälder-Jene (In: Flöte aktuell, Frankfurt am Main March 2013, p. 26–30; March 2014, p. 24–32)
    Dr. Carla Rees (In: Pan, London June 2014, p. 47–49, part 1; September 2014, p. 36–37, part 2)
    Pascal Gresset (In: Tempo flûte, Paris July 2014, numéro spécial, p. 1–84; extracts in: Tempo flûte, Paris May 2013; p. 49–52; November 2013, p. 47–50),
    Katsuro Kato (In: Japan Flutists Association, Tokyo July 2014, p. 33–43),
    Prof. Vicente Martínez López (In: Todo Flauta, Madrid October 2014, p. 23–25),
    Dr. John Bailey (In: The Flutist Quarterly, New York November 2014, p. 62–63),
    Prof. Dr. Peter Thalheimer (In: Tibia, Celle January 2015, p. 359–366),
    Rien de Reede (In: Fluit, Amsterdam, March 2015, p. 15–21),
    Francisco Javier López R. (In: Todo Flauta, Sevilla May 2015, p. 12–16) and
    Prof. Dr. Manfred Hermann Schmid (In: Musik in Bayern, Munich August 2016, p. 293–298).
    Today I want to inform you that finally, also the 19 works with a dedication for Theobald Böhm are now ready for print. The composers are Prosper Amtmann, Giulio Briccialdi, Anton Bernhard Fürstenau, Karl Keller, Emanuele Krakamp, Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner, Berhard Molique, Wilhelm Popp, Giuseppe Rabboni, Antonio Sacchetti, Ludwig Stettmeyer und Joseph Hartmann Stuntz. If you are interested in the acquisition, I ask you to write to me. Most pieces cost 15 EUR. The print is planned for June 2017.
    Kind regards
    Ludwig Böhm