What the Soviet Era LeftThe transition from a communist society to a free market economy may have brought democracy to Mongolian libraries, but it also destabilized many of the existing social services that brought books and education to Mongolians, especially children. Children's author Dashdondog Jamba famously responded by touring the rural country, seeking to provide the only books in the country that were "free of Communist propoganda." A children's cafe was turned into a beer garden, and a children's theater became a stock exchange. Libraries were forced to examine new roles and methods of coping with the sudden disappearance of a system they had relied on for support. While Mongolian libraries were no longer a tool to serve Soviet needs, over half of the nation's libraries suddenly had to shut down due to lack of funding. Twenty years later, Mongolian libraries are stabilizing. Although funding problems persist, the language and ideas of the new market economy have permeated library services, which now have a "supply and demand" attitude (Johnson 2010.) Beyond recovery. Mongolian libraries are beginning to excel in services such as providing resources to the blind and expand into areas such as automation.
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Dashdondog Jamba and his mobile library, this time transported by van.
Literature ReviewThe available English-language literature in the Library and Information Science Field concerning Mongolia is scant and, for the most part, at least a decade old. Because of this, most of the information you will see on this site comes from the webpages of Mongolian libraries and new sources, or from older scholarly articles that are still relevant today. The publications of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries in Asia and Oceania (CDNLAO) were one source of current information on the state of Mongolian libraries. However, Mongolian libraries are in the midst of making significant changes, re-evaluating traditional functions and transitioning to the digital age. I predict that, as Mongolian LIS professionals become more involved internationally, and as the world notices the innovations of Mongolian libraries, we will see more conversation between Mongolia and the English-speaking world.
SPECIAL NOTE: Many linked pages are in Mongolian. Some have English options, but those that do not may be viewed in English by opening the website in the Google Chrome browser and responding to the prompt at the top of the page, or right-clicking on the page and selecting "Translate to English." Be sure that the language is set to Mongolian, not Russian. This is often the only way to obtain the information in English. |
Organization and Infrastructure
(Please click the map to enlarge. Note that Inner Mongolia is a province of the People's Republic of China, and is not part of Mongolia proper.)
Most of Mongolia's major libraries are located in the country's capital city, Ulaanbaatar. The oldest is the Mongolian National Library, established in 1921. There is also a public library with one central location and four branches, all in Ulaanbaatar. Additionally, Ulaanbaatar is home to several of the country's major universities and their libraries. Thirteen Mongolian institutions are members of the EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) consortium. All thirteen are located in Ulaanbaatar, which gives us a picture of the imbalance between the capital and the rest of the country. ICT infrastructure is incomplete and most of the country lacks internet access. There are significantly fewer libraries outside of Ulaanbaatar, and few of them maintain a web presence. One library in Choibalsan, Mongolia's fourth largest city located in the northeastern corner of the country, does host a website with access to ebooks, listings of new holdings, and an excellent collection of images from their home province, Dornod. The Dornod library's website can be accessed through this link. |
1996 CIA Map of Mongolia. Image courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongolia_1996_CIA_map.jpg
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Photograph of the Chiobalsan International Airport, one of many hosted on the Dornod Library's website.
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The Ulaanbaatar Public LibraryThe Ulaanbaatar (UB) Public Library's central branch is located in downtown Ulaanbaatar, near the National Library. Four other branches are also located throughout the city. Together, the five locations have approximately 80 staff and 450,000 items, according to a Library 2.012 conference presentation by staff member Begzsuren Jamsranjav. Their website, which includes news, an online catalog, and information about library location and hours, may be accessed here. The UB Public Library is the home of the DAISY Talking Book Center, which was established in 2010 to provide services to the blind and visually impaired. The program has been so successful that it prompted a national law which grants a player to every visually impaired person in the country.
It is important to note that, currently, access to the library is only free to young children. All others must pay a fee for one year of access to the library, as the library runs on an annual budget of $176,000, all while providing internet access and other services to 232,000 annual visitors. On Oct. 11, 2013, over 200 students held a flash mob protesting the city's abundance of bars and nightclubs and lack of free library access. |
National Library of MongoliaThe National Library of Mongolia is Mongolia's oldest library and it houses a large collection of precious manuscripts in many languages. Multiple digitization efforts have been undertaken to make some of the rare texts widely available. One of the largest efforts is run by the Asian Classics Input Program, which seeks to catalog and digitize the works, which they believe constitute the largest collection of Tibetan Buddhist texts in the world.
Rural Access to Books |
The Tempangma manuscript of the Tibetan Buddhist text, the Kangyur, recently digitized in a joint project between the National Library and two foreign organizations (see website for more information.)
Children's Book PalaceThe Children's Book Palace, a division of the National Library, is framed as a triumph over the closure of many children's libraries and centers after the transition to democracy. In July of 2009, the National Library of Mongolia and the National Central Library of Taiwan opened the Taiwan Reading Garden in the Children's Book Palace to promote intercultural understanding and development. The Taiwan Reading Garden is not the only place for intercultural development in the Children's Book Palace; it is joined by U.S., German, French, and Swiss reading sections. Additionally, the Children's Book Palace provides mobile outreach for children in rural areas around the city and special programming for physically disabled children.
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The rural areas are punctuated by few public libraries, including the Dornod Library (above.) After revealing that traditional library services reached only 5% of the population in 2011, the National Library debuted a mobile library, called Messenger for the People. The outreach services seek to reach in particular:
(List courtesy of the CDNLAO newsletter) Additionally, many aid projects have sought to bring books to children in rural areas. Books for Asia provided 250,000 books over the course of 15 years. When the switch to a free market economy in 1990 occurred, many government run children's centers shut down. Children's author Dashdondog Jamba began touring the country with a mobile library. Sometimes on camel, horseback, oxen, or in a van, the library brought Mongolian and international folktales to rural children. Perhaps the most successful has been the Rural Education and Development (READ) Project, sponsored by World Bank. The READ project created libraries in every primary school in Mongolia. Rather than simply depositing books, the program also taught a more dynamic style of learning. Traditionally, Mongolian teachers stood at the front of the class while students sat in rows. Using the new style of teaching, students' desks face each other. Collaboration and talking is encouraged, and lessons are open ended. The children are motivated to create and tell their own stories, giving them an agency they usually lacked. The Mongolian Minister of Education, L. Gantumur, described the project as being so successful that the government chose to implement the new teaching style in urban areas, too. The entire budget for the project was $4 million USD. Full details of the project can be found on the World Bank website. ConclusionMongolian libraries have made incredible progress since the transition to a democratic society caused the close of over half the libraries in the country. Although the desire for progress has been expressed both by citizens (like the student protesters) and librarians (see Begzsuren Jamsranjav's slides,) Johnson speculates that the inequalities caused by the expense of ICT and existing social inequalities will frustrate attempts to make internet access widespread in rural Mongolia. Nonetheless, the spirit of innovation and persistence shown by library professionals is promising for the future of Mongolian libraries.
Further ReadingJohnson, Catherine and Borchuluun Yadamsuren. "Libraries in transition: How librarians in Mongolia are re-visioning the role of libraries in the new democracy, a case study." The International Information & Library Review 42 (2010): 1-7.
---, L. Ariunaa, and J.J. Britz. "Constructing the Pillars of a Knowledge Society: The Challenge of Providing Access to ICTs in Rural Mongolia." Libri 55 (2005): 216–224. Kaplonski, Chris. "Archived Relations: Repression, Rehabilitation and the Secret Life of Documents in Mongolia." History and Anthropology 22, no. 4 (Dec. 2011): 431–444. Rakhmatullaev, Marat. "Advanced information library infrastructure: as an important social tool for the prevention of crisis situations in Central Asia." Library Hi Tech News 19, no. 9 (2002). Segbert-Elbert, Monika and David Fuegi. "Planning the Future of the National Library of Mongolia." Ariadne 63 (April 2010). |
Digital LibrariesAlthough few Mongolians have internet access, the Ulaanbaatar Public Library provides free internet access. From there, users may visit several digital libraries. The eLibrary provides access to poetry, folklore, children's literature, novels, Mongolian comedy, and history in several languages, especially Mongolian. In May, the National Library launched a digital library for rare and precious books. The Arts Council of Mongolia and the Open Society Foundation have another digital library, this one in English and Mongolian.
EIFL documents users learning to work with DAISY Talking Books devices at the Ulaanbaatar Public Library.
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