Access to Information on Sri Lankan Publications

Upali Amarasiri

Director/NILIS, University of Colombo

(Presentation at the Jaffna Science Association at University of Jaffna on 29th July 2010)

What are Sri Lankan Publications:

National Library Definition; ‘Publications published in Sri Lanka, Published by Sri Lankan or Published on Sri Lanka’

Publications mean ‘Manuscripts, Print, Audio-Visual or Digital media’

Important Landmarks

a) Introduction of printing 1737 b) Ceylon Oriental Library 1870 c) National Museum Library 1877 d) Legal Deposit Law 1885e) Sri Lanka National Bibliography - 1962

Printers & Publishers Ordinance (Legal Deposit Law) 1885

a) Deposit 3 copies of every publication with Govt. Archives, National Museum Library, British Museum Library

b) 1952 Amendment - 4 copies to be deposited; one at Peradeniya University Library

c) 1976 amendment - 5 copies to be deposited; one at National Library Services Board (NLDSB)

Early Catalogues indicating the Sri Lankan Resources

a) Catalogues of National Museum Library: Richard Van Cuylenburg1877, Gerald A. Joseph,1892/ 1894/1896/1899, Henry M Gunasekara, 1904, W.A. de Silva,1938

b) Catalogue of the Library of Royal Asiatic Society by Gerald A Joseph, 1895,

c) Catalogue of Sinhalese printed books in the Library of the British Museums by Don Martino de Silva Wickramasinghe, 1901;

d) Catalogues of the Royal Botanic Gardens by Ms M, Willis

e) A descriptive catalogue of Sanskrit, Pali and Sinhala literary works of Ceylon, 1870;

f) A catalogue of Pali, Sinhalese and Sanskrit manuscripts in the temple libraries of Ceylon by Louis de Zoysa, 1876-1885;

g) Catalogue of the Sinhalese manuscripts in the British Museum, D M de Z Wickramasinghe, 1900;

h) Catalogue of Pali, Sinhalese and Sanskrit manuscripts in the Colombo Museum Library, H M Gunasekara, 1901

Catalogues of National imprints;

a) Ceylon Blue Book from 1862 -

b) Annual Administration Report of the Government Printing Office from 1879 -

c) Statement of books printed in Ceylon from 1885 -

Sri Lanka National Bibliography (SLNB)

a) Coverage; books, series, first issue of periodicals, govt. publications, reports, maps, atlases etc.

b) Format; Bibliography, Alphabetical Index, Subject Index, CIP section

c) Commenced 1962 under National Archives Dept.d) Compiled & Published by NLDSB since 1973e) Quarterly publication

Retrospective Sri Lanka National Bibliography

a) Similar coverage and format to SLNB

b) Period; 1737-1962

c) 1737-1940 period has been completed

d) Compiled & Published by NLDSB

Bibliography of Ceylon

a) Compiled by Dr H A I Goonetileke, former Librarian, Peradeniya University

b) Coverage English publications

c) Six Volumes by a Swiss publisher

d) Most famous bibliography on Sri Lankan publications

Coverage of Periodicals

a) Index to the Journal of Royal Asiatic Society Ceylon Branch (1845-1945, Lyn de Fonseka) (1946-1970) T. Devendra),

b) List of Scientific Periodicals in Libraries of Ceylon; M.U.S. Sulthan Bawa – 1953

c) Ceylon Periodicals Directory by National Museum Library 1971 –

d) Sri Lanka Scientific and Technical Periodicals Directory by National Science Council; 1976 –

e) A Union List of Social Science and Humanities Journals in Sri Lanka Libraries, NSC, 1979-

f) Union Lists of Periodicals: Union List of Scientific periodicals in Ceylon, M A P Senadeera; 1980.

g) Union List of S & T Periodicals in Sri Lanka Libraries; NSC, 1980 -

h) Union List of Economic and Social development Periodicals in SL Libraries; Centre for Development Information, 1982 -

i) Sri Lanka Periodical Article Index, NLDSB, 1998 -

Coverage of Theses

a) Index to Postgraduate Theses (1947-2000) 3 Vol.s, NLDSB

b) ‘Theses presented for higher degrees of the University of Ceylon (1942-1992), 4 Vol.s, Uni. Of Peradeniya Library,

c) Other theses indexes by Uni. SJP (1981-1990), UoC, PGIA,PGIM, NSF, CDS,

Coverage of Newspapersa) Dept. of National Archives; List of Newspapers

Published in Sri Lanka, b) An alphabetical list of English Newspapers published

in Ceylon from 1832-1960, c) An index to the Sinhala Newspapers since 1862-1960

available with the Registrar of Books and Newspapers of the Dept. of Government Archivist,

d) An index to the Tamil and Malayalam Newspapers since 1864 to 1924

e) Sri Lanka Newspaper Article Index, NLDSB ,1990 -

Coverage of Conferences, Seminars etc

a) NLDSB; Sri Lanka Conference Index – 1988 onwards

b) NSF,CARP Databases

c) Libraries of respective research institutes

Government Publications

a) Index to Sessional papers 1885-1959, Govt. Printing Dept;

b) Index to Hansard, 1877-1903, 1904-1931, 1948-1972, 1972-1977, 1981-1984, Govt. Printing Dept.;

c) Directory of Government Publications, NLDSB, (1990 -)

d) Sri Lanka Standards Year book (bi-annual & online)

e) Sri Lanka National Bibliography (Current & Retrospective)

Union Catalogues

a) National Union Catalogue, NLDSB (Collection of 75 libraries)

b) Union Catalogue of Purna, NSF (Collection of 35 libraries)

Major Institutions engaged in Bibliographic Control

a) National Library and Documentation Services Board (NLDSB)

b) National Science Foundation

c) Centre for Development information, Ministry of Finance and planning

d) Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy

Main Library Collections of Sri Lankan

Publications; a) National Museum Library; (Private collections of H C P Bell,

Hugh Nevile, W A De Silva, Soloman Dias Bandaranaike (Henry Blake Collection), Ven. Kalukodayawe Pannasekara (Sri Lankan Newspaper and periodical collection); Main Treasures, Blue books (1864-1938), Administrative Reports (1867 to date), Sessional Papers (1860 to date), Hansard (1863 – to date) National Museum Palm leaf collection (largest in the country; Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit, Burmese, Telegu, Tamil languages; Subjects – Buddhism, literature, History, indigenous medicine, astrology, folklore etc.;

b) National Archives Collection; ( Some copies of Records of Portuguese Period (1505-1640), Records of Dutch Period (1640-1796), Records of British Period (1796-1948), Govt Gazettes (1802 onwards, Blue Books (1821-1935), Sessional papers (1862 onwards), Administrative Reports (1867 onwards), Hanzards ( 1870 onwards), Sri Lankan publications (1885 onwards)

c) National Library Collection ; SL Publications from 1976 onwards, D E Hettiarachchi Collection, M H Peter Silva Collection, Martin Wickramasinghe Collection, Palm leaf collection, Peter Wijesinghe Folk literature collection;

d) Peradeniya University Library; Special Collections: Lasely de Saram, Donald Ferguson/W A de Silva, M D Rathnasuriya, D J Kalupahana, John Blaze/ R Sri Pathmanadan, A. Pathmanabha, Charles Batuwantudawe, T W Rhys Davis, Rev. Rambukwelle Siddhartha, Andreas Nell, Lucian Janz, W. Nicholos, Sri Lankan Legal Deposit Publications (1952 onwards), Palm leaf collection (5000)

e) National Science and Technical Information Centre of National Science Foundation ( Sri Lanka Science Index- data base with seminar, conference reports, journal/ newspaper articles published in S & T field in Sri Lanka, Union List of S & T Periodicals in Sri Lankan Libraries,Directory of Websites, Natural Resources database

f) Dept. Archaeology Library: Collection of rare books and palm leaf collection

g) The British Library; Hugh Nevil Collection of the British Library (2227 manuscripts in Sinhala, Tamil, Malayalam and Pali), Mr K D Somadasa produced 7 volume detailed descriptive index for British Library; Sri Lankan publications received under legal deposit law from 185 to 1977

h) The Library of Congress; Selected Sri Lankan publications collected by the Library of Congress New Delhi regional office are deposited in the Library of Congress

Online Access of Sri Lankan Publications

a) National Union Catalogue of National Library & Documentation Centre (www.natlib.lk)

b) National Library Catalogue (www.natlib.lk)

c) National Science Foundation Union Catalogue (www.nsf.ac.lk)

d) Sri Lanka Journals (www.sljol.info/

e) British Library Catalogue (http://catalogue.bl.uk)

f) Library of Congress Catalog (http://catalog.loc.gov/g) Peradeniya University Library Catalogue

(www.lib.pdn.ac.lk)h) Colombo University Library Catalogue

(www.cmb.ac.lk)i) Ruhuna University Library Catalogue

(www.lib.ruh.ac.lk)j) Moratuwa University Library Catalogue (www.mrt.ac.lk)k) Dept. of National Archives Catalogue

(www.archives.gov.lk)

l) Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research policy (www.carp.lk)

m) University of California (www.srilankaresearch.org)

n) WorldCat (www.worldcat.org)o) INFOMINE (http://infomine.ucr.edu)p) Web of Science

(http://thomsonreuteurs.com/)q) other

Thank You