The Cultural Frontiers of Librarianship: A Case Study of Nepal

I spent two years in Nepal working as a librarian, and I learned that the reality of Nepal is quite different from its popular image. There are two essential truths about Nepal. The first truth is that Nepal is an exceedingly complex place. The first truth, I suppose, is the truth anyone learns living in a foreign country, but its importance for me was that such a small, primitive country could contain such a complex culture. The second truth about Nepal is historical; until 1950 it was closed to the West. Fewer than one hundred Westerners had travelled inside the country and then usually on foot and under considerable hardship. The country had been closed not only to outsiders, but there was no incentive nor encouragement for Nepalis to travel outside of Nepal, except for a privileged few. It is this fact which makes Nepal so unique as an example of a developing country. It has had no modern history of colonialism, imperialism, nor extensive international warfare. Ghengis Kahn, the Chinese, and the British East India Company have all been thwarted by Nepal's malestrom of mountains. Most of Nepal still lives in the Middle Ages.

I worked for two years as a librarian in Nepal. From my office in the Indian built Tribhuvan University Library, I could look out over the terraced rice fields towards Kathmandu. As the seasons passed, jyapu peasants planted and harvested their crops as they have done for centuries. No mechanical equipment nor plows were used in the cultivation of their terraced fields, and they sang as they performed their rhythmic tasks on the steep hill behind the university stood the city of Kirtipur, accessible only by a steep foot path. This village has been called one of the most “medieval” in Nepal, and except for electric lighting, it is a medieval bazaar—dirty, noisy, confusing; and Kirtipur has not changed for hundreds of years.

This paper is divided into two parts: the first is an “objective” study of librarianship in Nepal and the second part is an experiential and “subjective” portrayal of my experience. The first part is a case study of library science in a developing country; the second part is a case study, where I was often the case.