Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts (DLLM)

04 Jan 2010

National Library of Laos, Vientiane, Lao PDR.

Self-description:
"The Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts makes images of almost 12,000 texts from throughout Laos easily accessible for study. Collaborating institutions are the National Library of Laos, the University of Passau, and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

There is a wide diversity in the manuscript collection, covering a large geographical area and historical timeframe, different literary traditions and schools of scribes, and different languages and scripts. The majority of the texts are from the Lao, Lan Na and Tai Lue traditions, with smaller numbers in Tai Nuea, and Tai Dam, etc. The DLLM database can be searched by title, ancillary term, language, script, category, material, location, date, and code number. Grey-tone images of the manuscripts (digitised from microfilm) can be viewed online or copied to your desktop, and complete sets of images of inventoried texts can be downloaded. The DLLM website also provides information about the Lao literary tradition, the Preservation of Lao Manuscripts Programme, study resources, and a gallery of photographs showing the manuscript preservation work of the National Library of Laos.

[...] The DLLM website was launched in September 2009. At present 6,173 texts are searchable. More texts will be added regularly until the full collection of almost 12,000 texts becomes available in late 2010. Feedback on the functionality of the site and suggestions for improvement are welcome."

Supplied note:
"The National Library of Laos is pleased to announce the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts (DLLM), a web application which will make images of almost 12,000 texts from throughout Laos easily accessible for study. We hope that this collection may be if interest to users of the Asian Studies WWW VL. [http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html - ed.] The digital library can be viewed at [the URL below].
Please note that the website will not be available on 07 and 08 January 2010. - DLLM Project."

Site contents:
* About (Background, DLLM Project, DLLM Collection);

* Resources (# Languages and Scripts [information about the languages and scripts found in the DLLM collection, including resources such as primers, dictionaries, grammars and other reference works, together with selected articles and links to further resources.], # Research Papers [collected papers in Lao, Thai and English from the international conference 'The Literary Heritage of Laos: Preservation, Dissemination and Research Perspectives', held in Vientiane in January 2004, and other research papers.], # PLMP Newsletter [digital copies of the 22 volumes (issued biannually 1993-2003, PDF format - ed.) of a Lao-language newsletter Khao bai lan published during the Preservation of Lao Manuscripts Programme, containing news from the various field sites where the survey and microfilming took place, together with short extracts from palm-leaf manuscripts which had been found in those locations.], # Gallery [a gallery of photographs: Lao Buddhist temples, Buddha images and murals, village life, festivals, making palm-leaf manuscripts, and subsequent related fieldwork conducted in Northern Laos.], # Links [online dictionaries and reference works for Pali and other languages, online resources for Buddhist texts in Pali and in translation, and links to universities and other institutes with relevant courses and programmes, etc.]);

* Help (General Help, Site Help, Search Help, Results Help, Text Overview Help);

* Site Map;

* Contact Us;

* Search the Database (Search by Title, Ancillary Term, Language, Script, Category, Material, Location, and Date);

* Site Search [Google custom search];

* PLMP Code [Number] Search;

* DLLM Glossary [terminology used in the context of the DLLM database and website];

* DLLM Bibliography;

* DLLM Directory [Names, Institution/Organisations, and Areas of interest of researchers who registered themselves with the DLLM project];

* View Favourites.

[The documents and other information published online by the DLLM Project are the most wonderful Christmas/New Year present that librarians, researchers, and students worldwide could ever hoped to receive so freely, so elegantly, and so amply. Congratulations, hoorays and words of deep gratitude to the National Library of Laos, the University of Passau, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz, the German Research Foundation, and the German Federal Government; felicitations and assurance of endless vicarious delight to all present and future visitors to the DLLM website - ed.]

URL http://www.laomanuscripts.net

Internet Archive (web.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]

Link reported by: DLLM Project (laomanuscripts--at--gmail.com)

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Documents/ Study/ Online Guide/ Corporate info.
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Library
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]:
Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
- under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30

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Please note that the above details were correct on the day of their publication. To suggest an update, please email the site's editor at tmciolek@ciolek.com

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