Pustaka Nalanda is an integral part of Nalanda Buddhist Society in fulfilling its objectives to promote learning, study, practice and understanding of Buddha’s teachings. It provides correct and quality learning resources and materials to support educational programmes offered by Nalanda Institute, Nalanda Dhamma School, Nalanda Free School and other Nalandian divisions/departments. Thus, the Library is an important component in making Nalanda a centre of excellence in Buddhist education.

Pustaka Nalanda was previously a department under the management of Nalanda Institute.  It was upgraded and redesignated as a separate Nalandian division on 1 May 2011. Bro. Ananda Fong was appointed Pustaka’s first Director.

Objectives

1. To make available the correct and quality reading materials to promote the learning, study, practice and right understanding of Buddhist teachings.
2. To maintain a current and adequate multi-media collection of learning resources.
3. To support and complement Nalanda’s educational programmes.
4. To be well-equipped as a reference library for academic courses in Buddhist studies up to Bachelors Degree level.

Youth Library

The Nalanda Youth Library based at Nalanda Youth Centre, Sri Serdang, was established on 1 January 2013.  The Youth Library is an extension of Pustaka’s services to cater for the reading and learning needs of Nalanda’s teenagers and younger adults.

Catalogue

Pustaka Nalanda currently has more than 5,100 titles comprising Pāli Scriptures, Buddhist Encyclopedia, reference materials, books, periodicals, magazines and other publications in several languages.  It also has a large catalogue of multimedia (DVD, MP3, CD) materials.  Personal DVD/MP3 players are available for use at the Library.

The Youth Library has a further collection of 1,100+ titles appealing to teenagers and younger adults.

Rare Collections

Pustaka Nalanda hosts 3 precious sets of Pāli Tipitaka in Roman, Sinhala, and Devanagiri Scripts.  The Library also has the English translation of Tipitaka published by the Pāli Text Society, as well as the entire set of Buddhist Encyclopedia (edited by Prof. G. P. Malalasekara) published by the Government of Ceylon (presently Sri Lanka) in 1965.