The National Library of Australia maintains a collection of Vietnamese language materials consisting of publications from Vietnam and Australian publications in the Vietnamese language. It has over 4 000 volumes of monographs, and 200 serial titles, including 10 currently received newspaper titles.
In addition, the National Library has a large collection of English language works relating to Vietnam and the Vietnamese people. Microfilm and microfiche collections, many of them dealing with Vietnam's recent history add to the depth of the Library's resources on Vietnam and Indochina.
The collection grows through new titles purchased from Vietnam and Vietnamese language publications from Australia that are received by the Library through legal deposit.
The National Library's Vietnamese Collection is focused on contemporary material with particular emphasis on the areas of government and politics, modern history, the social sciences, statistics and law. A variety of materials on Vietnamese culture is also acquired. Publications are predominantly in Vietnamese, English, and French.
The Library has some materials from the period of the French administration providing resources for historical studies. There are some 500 monographs on French Indochina, and the Library has a complete run of the publications of the Ecole Francaise de l'Extreme Orient. The Library's Coedes Collection is also rich in French publications on the former territories of Indochina. This collection, and its owner, are described by Ann Nugent in the article Asia's French Connection, which appeared in National Library of Australia News, January 1996.
During the period 1954-1975 when Vietnam was divided, the National Library received publications from both North and South Vietnam. Up until 1975 when supply ceased, the National Library obtained novels, poetry and drama published principally in Saigon. For some time after 1975, little was received from the southern part of Vietnam, but in recent years supply has been re-established and materials are received regularly from all the main publishing centres in Vietnam.
Notable microform resources relating to Vietnam include Communist Vietnamese publications: selected from the Vietnamese collection of the Library of Congress (mfm 1329); Miscellaneous Vietnam pamphlets in South Asia Section, Orientalia Division of the Library of Congress (mfm 1328); the History of the Vietnam War/Indochina Archives (mc 1790); Transcripts and files of the Paris peace talks on Vietnam, 1968-1973 (mfm 1637) and Vietnam: National Security Council histories (mfm 1636).
Vietnamese Newspapers
Vietnamese language newspapers and microform are available for use in the Newspapers and Family History zone in the Main Reading Room, located on the ground floor of the Library.
The National Library subscribes to the following newspapers from Vietnam:
- Dai Doan Ket (Hanoi) X 1091
- Lao Dong (Hanoi) X 62
- Nguoi Cong Giao Viet Nam (Hanoi) X 1440
- Nhan Dan (Hanoi) X 940
- Quan Doi Nhan Dan (Hanoi) X 90, mfm X 371
- Saigon Giai Phong (Ho Chi Minh City) X 1635
- Tien Phong (Hanoi) X 113
- Van Hoa (Hanoi) X 1682
- Van Nghe (Hanoi) X 916
- Vietnam News [including Sundau Vietnam News](Hanoi) X 1576
The following titles of interest are available online:
