Mongolian National Library () located in Sükhbaatar District,

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

, is the largest and oldest library in Mongolia. It houses over three million books and publications, one million of which are rare and valuable books, sutras and manuscripts, including the world's only surviving copies of many ancient

Buddhist texts Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and Schools of Buddhism, its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli C ...

Collections

The purpose of the National Library of Mongolia, according to its Rules of Organization and Operation, is “to collect and preserve manuscripts, sutras, academic degree dissertations, as well as books and periodicals that are published in Mongolia and significant foreign books and periodicals; to create a

national bibliography A national bibliography is a systematic bibliography of acquisitions of a national library. Most countries either have a national bibliography or are in the process of compiling one. Some countries that do not have a national bibliography of their ...

; to serve efficiently the library users with the above material and to provide other public libraries with professional methodology, guidance and information.” The National Library of Mongolia is not only the largest library in the country, it is also the Professional Methodological Centre that develops regulations and legal documents to be applied in libraries in the country, develops and publishes professional publications, guidelines and bibliography and provides consultancy to over 1,500 public libraries of the country. Among the over one million rare and valuable books is a collection of historical materials in

Mongolian Mongolian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia * Mongolian people, or Mongols * Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924 * Mongolian language * Mongolian alphabet * ...

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

, Tibetan, and

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

. There are also contemporary collections in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, and

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

funded by non-profits from the respective countries in addition to a

Soros Foundation Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is an American grantmaking network founded by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with the st ...

funded English education room to help students prepare for language proficiency exams abroad. There is a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

depository reading room and ten computers for Internet access. The National Library also has a significant collection of photocopied

pictographs A pictogram (also pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto) is a graphical symbol that conveys meaning through its visual resemblance to a physical object. Pictograms are used in systems of writing and visual communication. A pictography is a wri ...

and old

woodblock printed Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later on paper. Each page or image is creat ...

books. "Messenger for the People" Mobile Library has opened in 2011 in cooperation with Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and Rural Education and Development Project. A former branch of the National Library is th
Children's Book Palace
in

. It has an impressive collection of over 100,000 books in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, in addition to three reading rooms. The reading rooms have titles like “Big Knowledge Man,” for younger children, “Dream,” for teenagers, and the “Education and Development” room with Internet access. The library has received the support of international organizations such as the Soros Foundation,

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

History

The National Library of Mongolia was officially established on November 19, 1921 under the auspices of the Scientific Committee of Mongolia. The decision was taken at the government's 24th meeting just four months after the

Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921 The Mongolian Revolution of 1921 was a military and political event by which Mongolian revolutionaries, with the assistance of the Soviet Red Army, expelled Russian White Guards from the country, and founded the Mongolian People's Republic in 1 ...

in July. Originally called the Institute of Sutra and Scripts, its original collection contained a mere 2,000 books all donated by the famed Mongolian scholar Tseven. According to its charter, the library's objectives included: " Assembly and preservation of manuscripts, sutras, thesis for degrees, as well as books and periodicals that are published in Mongolia, as well as significant foreign books and periodicals, and for the creation of the National Library for effectively provide readers the above materials, and to provide other public libraries of professional methodology, guidance and information." Librarians and scholars were brought in from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to establish the first book exchange with the largest libraries of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1924 and Soviet bibliographers initiated the first retrospective compilation "Bibliographical Index of Mongolian books". The library's first reading room opened on November 24, 1923. Prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Mongolian library collaborated solely with Soviet libraries. Starting in the late 1940s they began to interact with the libraries of other countries, first with

communist bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

nations such as

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(1948), from 1963 - with libraries in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

(1963). By 1965 the library was collaborating with libraries from 26 countries, using funds of 49 libraries. Today, it has a book exchange program with 100 libraries in 70 countries. In 1963 the hall of the scientific literature was opened. In order to make the ancient texts of the Mongolian Script and Culture more accessible to foreign as well as domestic researchers, the small museum dedicated to rare and valuable books had been established in 1981. The Library became a member of the

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is an international body representing the interests of people who rely on Library, libraries and information professionals. A non-governmental, not-for-profit organizati ...

(IFLA) in 1991 and currently has book exchange programs with over 100 libraries in 70 countries. In 2005 the library opened a Turkish Reading Room (1600 publications, more than 600 readers per year). In February 1990 the MPRP Politburo ordered the removal of

Josef Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's statue from in front of the library in one of its first concessions to pro-democracy demonstrations that would lead to the 1990 Democratic Revolution. In 2004 the writer and journalist Gotovyn Akim was appointed General Director of the library. Based on his recommendation a statue of

Byambyn Rinchen Byambyn Rinchen (; 21 November 1905 – 4 March 1977), also known as Rinchen Bimbayev (), was a Mongolian scholar and writer. He was a researcher of Mongolia's language, literature, and history, and a recorder and preserver of the country's cult ...

, a translator, scientist, linguist and prominent figure of modern Mongolian literature, was erected on the 100th anniversary of his birth in front of the library where the statue of Stalin had stood for nearly 40 years. The new building of the library was commissioned in 2024 and on the same year, all of the collections from the old building was moved to the new one in April 2024. The books relocation was done by the library's staffs and supervisors.

Rare and Valuable Books Museum

The National Library of Mongolia holds significant Buddhist canonical texts, including the ''Kanjur'' (108 volumes) and the ''Tanjur'' (226 volumes), which comprise teachings attributed to the Buddha and accompanying commentaries. The ''Kanjur'', meaning "Concise Orders" in Mongolian, includes over 1,260 works from the Indian ''Tripitaka''. The library preserves over ten notable editions of the ''Kanjur'', including manuscript, printed, and uniquely crafted versions.

“Messenger for the people” mobile library

In 2011, with financial support from the

, the library launched the "Messenger for the People" (''Ardyn Elch'') program to deliver books to nomadic populations, residents of Ulaanbaatar’s yurt districts, the military, prisoners, people with disabilities, pensioners, and out-of-school children. The National Library currently advises approximately 1,500 libraries across the country and, in the year of the program’s launch, received around 7,000 new publications through allocated funds.

References

External links

* *http://yavuuliinnomiinsan.blogspot.com/ *http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66551 {{coord, 47.9149, 106.9162, type:landmark_region:MN, display=title 1921 establishments in Mongolia Buildings and structures in Ulaanbaatar Libraries established in 1921 Libraries in Mongolia

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Sükhbaatar, Ulaanbaatar