Writing has been in existence since the arrival of the Aryans in the fifth century B.C. However, no definite proof can be found until after the advent of Buddhism in the third century B.C.. The chief source of linguistic history upto about tenth century A.D. were the inscriptions incised above or below the drip ledges of cave dwellings of Buddhist monks and thereafter both literary works and inscriptions exist side by side by carrying the heritage of the long history of the Sinhala language.
As mentioned in Mahawamsa, the main historical chronicle of Sri Lanka, the Buddhist texts and their commentaries were committed to writing by the clergy during the first century B.C. This is considered as an important step toward the establishment of libraries in Sri Lanlka. These early temple libraries were a type of reference libraries, which is quite different from modern functional or public libraries in the sense that listeners congregate in a preaching hall where the appointed readers read out to the public from the books.
Printing was not a known technique in early Sri Lanka and all the literary works were done on processed Talipot Palm (Corypha Umbraculifers) and Palmyra (Borassus Flabellifer) leaves.
It is not possible to answer the questions of whether they had any type of classification or cataloguing or any method of book selection. But he suggests that these ancient people had a type of broad classification for their books, especially for the religious works - the three main groups : Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidamma with supplementary and commentarial works on them. Classification of Sinhala, Pali and Sanskrit texts were done on form and then by subject. He further says that these libraries had a simple type of catalogue where the titles were used as main entries. The commentaries, lexicons, glossaries,etc. produced in Sri Lanka are sufficient evidence to show that ancient libraries had developed a fairly efficient and useful reference service.
The oldest library of the modern period was the United Services Library founded in 1813. (British Council 1987 p.1) The Government Oriental Library which was established in 1870 was an important event in the Sri Lankan library history. The Colombo Museum Library was opened in 1887 and the manuscripts of the Government Oriental Library and the valuable collection of Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch) were transferred to the Museum Library. With the establishment of subscription libraries founded in 1813 (Colombo Library) and 1829 (Pettah Library), the public library movement was started.
First academic library in Sri Lanka was the Ceylon University College library established in 1921. The University of Ceylon was established in 1942 and when in 1974 all universities were given their own autonomy this became the University of Peradeniya. University of Colombo was established in 1967 and its library began with the collection of the Colombo branch library and the Medical Faculty library of the University of Ceylon. In 1959 two more university libraries were added with the granting of university status to Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara Pririvenas. In 1972 University of Moratuwa library was established. Jaffna University library in 1979, Ruhunu University library in 1978 and Open University library in 1980 were established.
(Courtesy - Pradeepa Wijetunga – Director, NILiS)
