Sitagu Buddhist Vihara Library

The Dhammaceti ibrary is housed in a dedicated building on the Sitagu Buddhist Vihara campus that was build concurrently with our pagoda and Dhamma hall. It serves primary through its foci on Buddhism, most specifically but not exclusively Theravada Buddhism, and also on Burmese culture and Pali language. The library also has holdings in other areas such as fiction, current affairs, travel and English as a Second Language. The holdings are primarily in English and Burmese with a number of texts in Pali (using both Burmese and Roman script). The Dhamma Ceti Library is open to the public. We are a lending library and the monastery also supports residential study and class instruction, alongside meditation and other forms of Buddhist practice.

In addition to books the library has media such as CDs and videos for checkout, free pamphlets and books and computer access to Dhamma talks and eBooks and other media available for download. We also support computer research, providing on-line access and free downloads onto your flash drive.

How to become a member of the Library.

Fill out the membership form available in the library or HERE. Give it to the librarian or leave it in the checkout box near the entrance to the library. Your registration will enable the librarian to contact you concerning an overdue book or a book that has been ordered or recalled.

Library hours.

For the present these are not firm but there is almost always someone available to provide access to the library when needed. Start by looking for the librarian, Ven. Cintita ("the American monk"), who dwells right across from the library in cabin S-7.

How to find a book.

There are three ways to find the book you need to read:

Ask the librarian. However he may not be available.
Look it up in the Catalog. A hardcopy of the Author Catalog should be available in the library. An Excel file of our current holdings can be downloaded HERE. Find the Library of Congress number for the book to locate the book on the shelf.
Browse the library by subject following the Library of Congress numbers. Hardcopies of The Browser's Guide should be available in the library; it can also be found as a pdf HERE.

Our collection is divided in to two sections according to language: Burmese and English. Books in other languages that use Roman script may be found in the English section. Books in Pali may be found in the English section or in the Burmese section according to script. Burmese books, found on the north side of the library, are unfortunately not indexed, and will not be until we find a volunteer who reads Burmese and is willing to catalog our Burmese collection.

Books are arranged by subject according to the Library of Congress (LoC) system. LoC numbers are found on the lower spine of the respective book. Numbers starting with "BQ" are about Buddhism. Some of the subcategories are marked on library shelves. Otherwise consult the Browser's Guide to find the subject area you are looking for.

If we do not own what you are looking it you may request that we add it to our wish list.

PLEASE DO NOT RESHELVE BOOKS. Each book has its own location in the library and might not be found if it is improperly selved. Leave your browseables on a table or counter and an expert will reshelve it for you.

How to check books out.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE REGISTERED AS A MEMBER OF THE LIBRARY BEFORE CHECKING OUT A BOOK. See the instructions above.

We use an archaic checkout system which will be familiar to older members of the library.

Remove checkout card from pocket near front of book.
Fill in your name and the due date (one month from current date).
Place card in checkout box near entrance to the library.
Take book home if you like, but try to return it by the due date so that it will be available for other users. We will notify you if the book is overdue.

How to give the gift of Dhamma.

You don't even have to be a monk to give the gift of Dhamma! We are intent on expanding and enhancing our collection, eventually to build a world-class library useful for Buddhist scholarship along with providing for the educational needs of our general membership, children and adult alike.

Earmarking a financial contribution to the library is one means of donating. A more personalized donation can be made by selecting titles from our Wish List, which we continually update and post in the library and to our BLOG. You might also contribute books independently of our wish list that you feel might be of value to the library. Please check our CATALOG to see if we already own such books. (Generally we try not to acquire more than two copies of given title, except for very popular books.) Some particularly significant publishers for general Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism are:

Wisdom Publications, a nonprofit distributor of a wide spectrum of well-edited Buddhist books.
Pariyatti, a nonprofit distributor for the Buddhist Publication Society and the Pali Text Society and others.

We also encourage supporters to donate indirectly by contributing to any of the many publishers of free Dhamma books. Some of the meritorious publishers that have provided books at no cost to our library are:

Volunteering in the Library.

Join the library staff! Meritorious volunteer opportunities exist in reshelving, cataloging, purchasing and repairing books, in writing book reviews and overviews for our BLOG, or simply in dusting and straightening books to keep our library tidy. Kids often enjoy many of these tasks. See the librarian, Ven. Cintita, for instruction. Cataloging can be a bit challenging, but Ven. Cintita offers training. We particularly need volunteers to catalog our Burmese collection.

Secret Library Staff Page