The Universities' Central Library (; abbreviated UCL) is a

academic library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution and serves two complementary purposes: to support the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. It is unknown how many academic librar ...

located on the

University of Yangon '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

campus in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, Myanmar. UCL is Myanmar's biggest academic library and plays a pivotal role in collecting and preserving historical Burmese manuscripts. UCL has the largest collection of traditional manuscripts in the country, including 15,000

palm-leaf manuscripts Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia reportedly dating back to the 5th century BCE. Their use began in South Asia ...

and 4,000 parabaiks. The library possesses 600,000 books.

History

In 1929, the

Rangoon University '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

Library was established as a research and reference library. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the library building and rare manuscript collections were destroyed, and the library re-opened in 1952. In 1964, the library was renamed the Universities' Central Library. UCL began collecting parabaiks in 1964. In 1973, a modern replacement building to house the library was designed by Kin Maung Lwin, slated for completion in early 1975. The 1974

U Thant funeral crisis The U Thant funeral crisis or U Thant crisis ( my, ဦးသန့် အရေးအခင်း) was a series of protests and riots in the then-Burmese capital of Rangoon triggered by the death of U Thant, the third Secretary-General of the ...

at the university delayed construction, which was finally completed in 1980. In 1987, the Yangon University Library was established in UCL's old premises. Prominent Burmese scholar,

Thaw Kaung Sithu Thaw Kaung ( my, သော်ကောင်း) is a Burmese university librarian, historian and leading authority in Asian library studies. He specializes in the preservation and archival of traditional documents, including palm leaf manu ...

served as UCL's chief librarian from 1969 to 1997. In 2016, it co-founded the Myanmar Academic Library Consortium to foster collaboration among academic libraries in the country.

References

External links

* {{library-stub Libraries in Myanmar Buildings and structures in Yangon Libraries established in 1929 1929 establishments in British India