National Library of Laos, National library in Vientiane, Laos.

The National Library of Laos occupies a two-storey building in Vientiane whose cream facade shows patches of exposed underlayer. A central arched entrance with grey-brown glazed double doors is flanked by shuttered windows, and two stone pedestals holding carved urns with ferns stand on either side. Gold capital letters above the arch read "THE LIVING LIBRARY"; the upper floor has three tall louvered-shutter windows and a decorative band with an unreadable inscription below the middle one.

The institution opened in 1956 and for several decades shared its space with a museum and an anthropology department. In 1988 it moved into its own building, becoming a fully independent institution.

Since 1989 the library has run the Lao Ancient Manuscript Preservation Project, documenting texts in Lao and Sanskrit. From October 2007 it worked with the University of Passau and the Berlin State Library on the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts, and the Lao government allowed the collection to be consulted online. The facade carries gold lettering reading "THE LIVING LIBRARY".

The building stands on a clear corner in central Vientiane and is easy to reach on foot from most of the older part of the city. It is worth checking in advance which services are open to general visitors, as some areas may be reserved for researchers.

Since October 2007 the library has worked with the University of Passau and the Berlin State Library on the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts, and the Lao government allowed the collection to be put online. The digitised texts are therefore held in Germany as well as in Vientiane.