Sithu Thaw Kaung is a Burmese university librarian, historian and leading authority in Asian library studies.
11 Facts About Thaw Kaung
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Thaw Kaung specializes in the preservation and archival of traditional documents, including palm leaf manuscripts.
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Thaw Kaung's parents were of Hokkien descent, with ancestors from Quanzhou, Fujian.
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Thaw Kaung's father was a Director of Education from 1951 to 1957.
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In 1947, Thaw Kaung followed his father to England to oversee the Burmese scholars studying there.
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Thaw Kaung attended Methodist English High School from 1952 to 1954, passing the Matriculation examinations in the First Division with distinctions in English and Geography.
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Thaw Kaung majored in English and Literature at Rangoon University, graduating with First Class Honours in 1959.
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Thaw Kaung was selected in 1960 as a Burma State Scholar to obtain a Postgraduate Diploma in Librarianship, specializing in Oriental Bibliography, from the University of London's University College London in 1962.
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Thaw Kaung was appointed as Deputy University Librarian in 1959 and promoted as the Chief Librarian of the Universities' Central Library in 1969.
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Thaw Kaung was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Library Association UK in 1984, becoming the first Southeast Asian librarian to the awarded this prestigious honour.
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Thaw Kaung was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Western Sydney in 1999.