The principal public library of Hồ Chí Minh City, Hồ Chí Minh City General Science Library comprises a collection whose origins may be traced back to the French colonial government of Cochinchina. This collection was later incorporated into the National Library of South Việt Nam which was founded in 1968 and opened in 1972 in the present building, one of the most architecturally significant structures of the period. Following reunification in 1975 it was renamed National Library II. In 1978 it was transferred to the management of the Hồ Chí Minh City People’s Committee and renamed the Hồ Chí Minh City General Science Library. The Library contains some 500,000 documents, including books, periodicals, microfilms, microfiches, videos and CD-ROMs, plus theses and dissertations. Special collections include books and other documents from the French and American periods. Thanks to financial support from the Asia Foundation the Library now also incorporates a dedicated English book reading room. With funding from various foreign NGOs including the Netherlands Force Foundation, the Library also incorporates the city's first reading room for the blind; in 2003 services for the city's estimated 60,000 visually impaired citizens were further enhanced with the setting up of a recording studio for the creation of talking books and braille materials. The Netherlands Force Foundation has also funded the establishment of a state-of-the-art centre for the restoration and conservation of books and old documents and the training of skilled staff to carry out the restoration, disinfection, fumigation and de-acidification of old and deteriorating books and other documents. The General Science Library co-operates with many different libraries overseas in Russia, France, the UK, Australia, the USA and several countries of Asia. It oversees the activities of Hồ Chí Minh City’s network of 17 urban district and three rural district libraries.