The Center for Khmer Studies library in Siem Reap, Cambodia
On April 1, 2019, the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS) library team in Siem Reap signed an inter-library loan Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Hun Sen Library of the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), the oldest and largest university in Cambodia.
The agreement aims to enable library users to access the high-quality and abundant resources available in both libraries. Following a previous agreement between CKS and the Cambodia Development Resource Institute, the RUPP MoA is part of CKS’ continuing efforts to expand student and researcher access to library resources across the country.
Founded in 1999, the mission of CKS is to support research and public service in the social sciences, arts, and humanities as they relate to Cambodia and Southeast Asia.
Now the largest public academic library in Cambodia outside Phnom Penh, the CKS library opened in 2001 in Wat Damnak, a living Buddhist monastery in the heart of Siem Reap. Located in a renovated building originally built in 1941, the library aims to foster a community reading culture by providing a quiet haven within the dusty surroundings of the town.
The blog Library Planet featured the CKS library in a recent post, noting its serene setting “in a Buddhist oasis.”
Faced with the growth of users and the collection, a more spacious library building, specializing in academic research on Cambodia and Southeast Asian history, culture, and social sciences, opened to the public in 2010 in the same compound.
After 18 years of operations, the collections of the two libraries have grown from a few hundred to over 20,000 titles, and are accessed each month by over one thousand users, comprised of local students and scholars, national and international researchers, and the general public.
The CKS Library is a member of the Committee on Research Material on Southeast Asia (CORMOSEA), and was the first center in Southeast Asia elected to membership of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
Learn more about the CKS library here.