Tribhuvan University Central Library

त्रिभुवन विश्वविद्यालय केन्द्रिय पुस्तकालय

The Tribhuvan University Central Library (TUCL), which is today Nepal's largest library, was founded in 1959 AD alongside the university with the primary intention of assisting the university in achieving its goals. TUCL had a limited collection of only a few hundred books when it was founded. Since then, the collection has continued to develop, and it presently has about 410,000 volumes of papers, including books, bound journals, theses, audiobooks, and other materials.

TUCL is considered the largest library in the country. Philanthropists and bibliophiles alike have contributed to the growth of the library. The library is not only considered largest in terms of building/space but also in terms of its collection, visitors, clientele, technical manpower, and the number of library members.

Library clienteles:

TUCL is an academic library that was designed to assist the university's teaching, study, and research needs. However, Kirtipur has expanded its services outside the university's campus. TUCL offers memberships to the general public as well as foreigners residing in Nepal. 

Salient Features

Special features

  • ISBN National AgencyConsidering the TUCL’s collection, manpower, and the variety of services being rendered to its clienteles, in January 2000, the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) Headquarters designated TUCL as the only National agency for Nepal for distributing ISBNs.
  • UN Depository Library: Since 1964, TUCL has been entrusted to serve as the only depository library in Nepal for the publications of United Nations and her agencies, viz. ILO, IMF, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc.
  • NeLIC databasesTUCL has also been subscribing to some prominent databases such as JSTOR and Project MUSE from the organization NeLIC (Nepal Library and Information Consortium). JSTOR provides thousands of peer-reviewed full-text articles of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Similarly, Project MUSE provides access to an online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books on humanities and social science content.
  • NepJOL database:  Nepal Journals Online (NepJOL) is a database of peer-reviewed scholarly journals of Nepalese origin being hosted by TUCL itself. 
  • Nepal Theses database: TUCL has been maintaining Nepal Theses Database where all the Ph.D. theses and dissertations submitted to TUCL by Nepalese scholars at home and abroad are uploaded and are given access to use.
  • TUCL Publications: TUCL does also publishes some useful documents from time to time. In addition to regular publications such as annual reports, brochures, and yearly compilation of periodicals’ lists, it has also published more than 3 dozen documents.
  • CIP distribution: Like the Library of Congress and British Library, TUCL does also prepares CIP (Cataloguing -In-Publications) and is distributed to the books that are going to be published. It's usually done if only the authors or publishers approach TUCL’s technical section at the time of obtaining ISBNs for their books. (CIP is bibliographic information of the book in card catalog format printed on the backside of the title page).
  • TU Archive and rare books collection: TUCL has maintained a section exclusively dedicated to preserving Tribhuvan University’s publications. In addition, TUCL has also been preserving the books that are deemed significant from the historical point of view. The library is planning to digitize all these documents in the future and give easy access to them online.
  • Manuscripts collection: TU Central library has a collection of 731 old manuscripts. All these manuscripts have been digitized and the manuscripts have been preserved separately.

Library Membership

TU Central Library provides membership to teachers, students, research scholars, and administrative staff of Central Departments of T.U. Kirtipur. Similarly, it also provides membership to the permanent teachers of all other TU colleges in Kathmandu Valley. Any Nepalese citizen can be a private member of the Library. For non-Nepalese nationals, they should produce an official recommendation letter from their employer or a photocopy of their valid passport to be a member of the Library with a refundable deposit of Nepalese Rupees 3,000/-. For the Nepali nationals, the refundable deposit charge is Rs.1500 /-

There is also a provision of Temporary Membership. If an individual wants to use the Library resources for a few weeks only, s/he could be granted temporary membership. The temporary membership fee is NRs.100/- for a period of 15 days.

Catalogue type/search

T.U. Central Library has maintained a hybrid type of catalog viz. traditional card catalog as well as machine-readable computer catalog i.e. OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue). The card catalogs have been filed alphabetically under the name of Authors, Titles, and Subjects. Computer catalog search can be done from the library’s computer search terminals placed at different sections of the library or can also be done remotely from home.


About Tribhuvan University Central Library

The main objective of TU Central Library (TUCL) is to help its mother institution i.e. Tribhuvan University in attaining the objectives of quality education. Besides this, TUCL shoulders have the following secondary objectives:

  • To preserve the intellectual heritage of the nation.
  • To promote information literacy, readership, and life-long learning.
  • To provide materials both in conventional and e-formats and furnish an environment conducive to study & research.
  • To promote resource sharing, networking, and exchange of databases.
  • To provide documentation and information services and bring out relevant publications.
  • To help develop scholarly standards, guidelines, and best practices in libraries.
  • To promote professional expertise in information management and conduct training in librarianship for the TU librarians and library staff.

TU Library Development Committee

In order to govern the TU Central Library and to formulate policies to run and improve the overall condition of the libraries under the umbrella of T.U., there is a provision of a higher governing body, namely T.U. Library Development Committee (LDC). The committee consists of 25 members chaired by the Rector of T.U. and the chief librarian of T.U.Central Library works as the Member-Secretary. All other members are nominated by the Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of the Rector. The tenure of this committee is of three years and holds meetings once a year or as per the need. The T.U.Central Library works as the secretariat of the committee. The committee is formed as mentioned hereunder:

Rector, Tribhuvan University

Chairperson

Deans, Tribhuvan University (9)

Member

Directors, T.U.Research Centers (4)

Member

Director, Curriculum Development Center, TU (1)

Member

Head of the Departments, TU Central Depts. (any 3)

Member

Campus chiefs, TU campuses (any 2)

Member

Campus chief, from TU affiliated campuses (any 1)

Member

Library chiefs from TU libraries (2)

Member

Library expert anyone from among Nepali librarians (1)

Member

Chief Librarian, TU Central library

Member-secretary

T.U. Library Special Committee

This Library Special Committee is the steering committee formed by the Governing body i.e. Library Development Committee (LDC) to help the chief librarian of T.U.Central Library in the implementation of the policies and programs formulated by the LDC. This committee is formed by the Chairperson of the LDC i.e. the Rector. This committee consists of 7 members. The tenure of this committee is also three years and the meeting is held twice a year or as per the need.

  • Tribhuvan University Central Campus, Kirtipur, Kathamndu, Kirtipur
  • Established 1959 AD
  • 977 01 4330834/ 4331317
  • info@tucl.tu.edu.np
  • http://www.tucl.edu.np

Get Directions

Map for Tribhuvan University Central Library

NETWORK INSTITUTIONS

Tribhuvan University
Tribhuvan University
  • Kirtipur, Kathmandu
Nepal Journals Online (NepJOL)
Nepal Journals Online (NepJOL)
  • Tribhuvan University, Central Campus, Kirtipur, Kathmandu