During the last days of the rana regime, Kaiser Shum sher was the lord saheb in-charge of the nepalese army. Right from his very young age of 15 or 16 Kaiser Shumsher was interested in buying and collecting different types of books and newspapers. In that very young age he also got a chance to visit England with his father Maharaja Chandra. He was very much impressed by the ruling system of England, as well as by the library system and the proper management of books there. Book collection was his hobby and his visit to Britain & British libraries led to increase the number of his books and change in the structure of his own library. From England, he bought & brought with him many books to Kathmandu. Even though the books in his library grew in number they were his personal property and ordinary people didn’t get chance to read them or to have an access to his library. the library was limited to the members of his family, special people of the nation and special visitors from abroad. it remained personal for many years even after the revolution of 2007 b.s. (1950 a.d.) which introduced democracy in Nepal. before his death in 2021 b.s. (1964 a.d.) he wished to hand over his library to the government, thereby making it a national property so that everybody could get the benefit out of it. according to her higness krishna chandra devi rana was taken over by the government of nepal, and since the year 2026 b.s. (1969 a.d.) it is running under the name of kaiser library.

Location
The Kaiser library is situated in the Kaiser mahal a central city of kathmandu valley, and right in front of the western gate of the narayan hiti royal palace . kaiser mahal was the residence of late field marshal kaiser shamsher jung bahadur rana son of the late prime minister chandra shamsher jung bahadur rana.the kaiser library itself is unique in terms of art, architecture, cultural heritage, photographs, and paintings mingled at one place.

Opening hours
summer : 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. (except on public holidays)
winter : 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. (except on public holidays)
friday : 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.