About Sarawakiana Gallery

Pustaka Negeri Sarawak under the Sarawak Library Ordinance 1999, has the legal responsibility for acquiring, developing, maintaining, preserving and making accessible a comprehensive collection of documentary materials relating to Sarawak in order to create a centre of excellence on Intellectual Heritage of Sarawak. These collections comprising both current and retrospective materials, serve as a rich and coherent resource that can help to foster research on Sarawak’s history, governance, culture and scientific heritage.

The Sarawakiana Collection at Pustaka Negeri Sarawak comprises of about 90,000 volumes of resources unique to Sarawak. It includes books, serials, pamphlets, maps, picture, coins, textiles, stamps, lithographs, visual arts, artefacts, personal collection (bequeaths or gifts) and materials in other formats. A special area of the collection includes the precious collections of historian, John Bastin which forms a dynamic collection of records on Sarawak’s heritage. Other collections include local government documents and Sarawak related articles, acquired from the British Records Office or personal collectors. These materials are available in the Special Collections Room, on the first floor. Although, access to most of these collections is restricted, all initial requests or consultation can be made at the Special Collections Room counter in Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Kuching.

Due to the restricted nature to these materials, some collections have been digitized. Such collections are Sarawak Gazette, k@Borneo, and Sarawakiana Art Collection Online. One can also search the OPAC for direct links to electronic materials.

Objectives

• To enrich the Sarawakiana collection towards developing a comprehensive collections on Sarawak.
• To contribute towards the preservation of Sarawak’s history and heritage.
• To serve as a rich and coherent resource that can help to foster research about history, governance, culture and documentary heritage of Sarawak.