A leading light of Lanka’s Library and Information Science

N. Amarasinghe, former director of the Sri Lanka National Library Services Board (SLNLSB), (present National Library and Documentation Services Board (NLDSB)) and founder Head of the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Kelaniya passed away recently. With his demise Sri Lanka lost a pioneering bibliographer, excellent teacher in Library and Information Science (LIS) and a quality librarian.

Mr. Amarasinghe studied at Nugawela Central College and later at the Peradeniya University, where he read for a Sinhala honours degree. After graduation he joined the Department of Archives as an Assistant Archivist. During that time he was involved in the launching of the Ceylon National Bibliography (CNB) project together with A. J. Wells, the legendary former editor of the British National Bibliography. Mr. Wells came to Sri Lanka under the auspices of UNESCO for this purpose.

The National Bibliography which lists the publications of a country is a prerequisite to an organised and quality library and information management of a country. Technically the compilation of the National Bibliography is a function of the National Library. Since there was no National Library in Sri Lanka at the time, the Department of Archives stepped in to fulfil the requirement.

The National Bibliography branch was established at the University of Ceylon Library, Peradeniya by the Department of Archives in November 1962 and Mr. Amarasinghe was appointed as the first editor of the CNB to understudy Mr. Wells. This was a successful initiative and the Sri Lanka National Bibliography is still thriving as the official publication on Sri Lankan publications, presently under the NLDSB.

The UNESCO was keen to lay a strong foundation for this national project and provided a fellowship to Mr. Amarasinghe to the University of London, where he studied bibliographical services and librarianship from 1963 to 1964 and obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Science. After returning to Sri Lanka he continued to work with the National Bibliography project at the Department of Archives.

Since his postgraduate qualifications were in LIS and also due to the scarcity of qualified librarians, Mr. Amarasinghe received many lucrative employment offers.

In 1968 he joined the Junior University College of Dehiwala as a lecturer and was responsible for the highly successful but short lived Junior University Diploma programme in Library and Information Science. Thereafter he assumed duties as a Senior Assistant Librarian of the Peradeniya University. In 1974, the Kelaniya University sought his services for the newly created Department of Library and Information Science, as the founder Head of the Department. Although he stayed there only for a short period, he managed to give it a strong foundation, on which it still thrives offering both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

In 1976, he became the second director of the Sri Lanka National Library Services Board after the first Director, K. D. Somadasa (1971-1975), former Librarian of the University of Ceylon, left the office to join the British Museum Library (presently the British Library). Mr. Amarasinghe served for 12 years (1976-1988) as the Director of SLNLSB, during, probably the most turbulent time of the organisation. The long delay in constructing the National Library building, lack of office accommodation and forced migration from one place to another, scattered office accommodation in several places, inadequate funds for projects and the scarcity of qualified senior staff were the order of the day. Even under these trying circumstances, Mr. Amarasinghe and staff, with the help of some dedicated SLNLSB chairmen such as M.J. Perera, H.P. Siriwardena and Sugunadasa Athukorale weathered the storm and contributed significantly to the strengthening of the new institution.

The National Library building at Independence Avenue was built during his tenure. The design of the building was prepared by a UNESCO architect, Prof. Michael Brawne of the University of Bath, UK. Although the main building plan was prepared in 1973/74, designing of the library furniture, interior designing and some improvement to the initial building plan -- e.g. addition of the present auditorium -- were carried out later in consultation with the UNESCO expert.

Building up the National Library collection, introduction of the Publication Assistance Project with the initiative of the then Chairman, Sugunadasa Athukorale, strengthening the National Bibliography Project, introduction of the ISBN and ISSN numbers to the publishing field in Sri Lanka, assisting the establishment of the Non-Aligned Databank Project in Colombo which was initiated and ably assisted by the then Sri Lankan Ambassador to France, Bandu Silva with the assistance of UNESCO (which was subsequently abandoned), expanding the Library Education and Training activities of the SLNLSB including the LIS correspondence course for the benefit of the library staff of rural areas, establishing the APINESS (Asia-Pacific Information Network in Social Sciences) national focal point at the SLNLSB, commencing the folklore collection with the assistance of late Peter Wijesinghe and initiating a number of other LIS projects (e.g. District Central Library Project, Technical College Library Development Project and Book Box Scheme for selected local authorities) were some of the projects initiated at the tenure of Mr Amarasinghe.

With his initiative, the Conference of Directors of National Libraries in Asia & Oceania (CDNLAO) was held in Sri Lanka in 1986 with the participation of a large number of National Library directors from the region.

Mr. Amarasinghe was well known and widely respected within the LIS field as an excellent teacher and educator. In addition to teaching at the Junior University and Kelaniya University, he taught extensively in both Sinhala and English at the Library & Information Science Diploma classes conducted by the Sri Lanka Library Association (SLLA) in Colombo and Kandy and also served as the Education Officer of the SLLA. He has a number of publications to his credit including the ‘Catalogue of postgraduate thesis available in Universities and Research Libraries in Sri Lanka’.

After leaving the SLNLSB in 1988, he joined the Papua New Guinea University and served as a senior lecturer of the teaching faculty and subsequently as the Librarian of one of the university campuses till 2005. Mr. Amarasinghe’s contribution to strengthening LIS in Sri Lanka in general and National Bibliographic Services, Library Education and Training and National Library Development in particular is significant. He will be remembered as a pioneer of the national library services, national bibliographic services and library education and training in Sri Lanka.

May he attain Nibbana!

Upali Amarasiri