An Anonymous Patron writes “In this hour of calamity the National Library and Documentation Services Board (NLDSB) of Sri Lanka seeks assistance from the international community and especially from the IFLA members to reconstruct/repair the damaged libraries and the restoration of the damaged books and other library material. According to the preliminary estimates the damage to the buildings and to the other infrastructure facilities is huge and the donations in the form of either library material or financial assistance are sought from the international library community.
Monetary donations can be sent to the NLDSB account no. 00251620073963 at the Peoples Bank, Park Street Branch, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Further details please contact:
Upali Amarasiri
Director General
NLDSB, 14
Independence Avenue, Colombo 7
Sri Lanka
natlib.lk
lankapage.com
[email protected]
Tel. 94 11 2687581
Facsimile 94 11 2685201
Many thanks in advance for your support.
W.A.Abeysinghe,
Chairman
National Library and Documentation Services Board, Sri Lanka
Upali Amarasiri
Director General
National Library and Documentation Centre and
National library and Documentation Services Board, Sri Lanka”
Not to be a stinker….
but….I would hope that this source was checked out . I imagine that one of the many sad stories to come out of this disaster is scammers and predators.
Re:Not to be a stinker….
hmmm… I didn’t check it. I’m not even sure where to begin to check it.
Seems likely to be legit
The same contact information is offered in an IFLA Press Release. Hopefully IFLA would know what the legitimate library org in Sri Lanka would be.
If I had access to it, perhaps the print World of Learning or an international library directory could confirm the Sri Lanken info.
Re:Seems likely to be legit
The phone # checks out, but the wording sounds a bit like so many email scams, and it seems weird that they ask folks to deposit money directly into a specific bank account.
Nonetheless…this is a good exercise in “donor beware.”
Re:Seems likely to be legit
Maybe that’s the fastest way to get individual donations to where they can be used. Even checks these days get converted to electronic funds transfers.
Re:Seems likely to be legit
It appears to be authentic. Check http://www.natlib.lk/web-1.htm