The library of the main Buddhist monastery of the country, Gangdan Tekchen Ling, holds a vast collection of books that, during the religious persecution of the communist era Ñfrom 1937 until only recentlyÑwere not properly cared for. We estimate that it will take many decades simply to put all the loose woodblock pages of the works back into order and catalog them properly. The efforts by local Mongolian monk scholars to restore the Library are admirable, although they have a serious lack of material and financial support needed to complete their task.

ACIP has organized a team of about five input operators and managers to assist in this work, and they are expected to arrive in Mongolia late this year, with computers donated by various parties in the US. We would like to thank the abbot of Gangdan, Khamba Lama D. Choi-Jamts, for his gracious help during our visits, and his serious interest in the cataloging project. ACIP has also received a great deal of assistance from the Foreign Officer of Gangdan, Mr. Baatar Bazar.

The collection at the Mongolian National Library is in much better condition; it generally contains woodblock prints and manuscripts that the former communist authorities determined had monetary value, and was better cared for. Here ACIP staff also received gracious welcomes and assistance from the Library Director, Mr. Jampaldorj Serjee, as well as from the head of the Tibetan section, and Mr. Ganjavin Gansukh.

We would finally like to express our thanks to several parties in Mongolia who greatly facilitated our trips there. One was the Ven. Lama Guru Deva, whose efforts to save Tibetan literature over many decades have been equaled by few. The Ven. Bakula Rinpoche, Ambassador of the Government of India to Mongolia, is a truly great scholar and thinker who has taken sincere interest in the cataloging work and pledged his assistance. His assistant, Mr. Sonam Wangchuk, was especially helpful to Project staff during our visits.