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Minutes of the 10th CDNLAO Meeting on the 21st of April 2002, at 2.30pm, Board Room, National Library Board, Singapore

Present

Mr Oliver Mann
 
Regional Officer Asia
National Library of Australia
Haji Abu Bakar Haji Zainal
 
Chief Librarian
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei
Mr. Ros Sarou
 
Representative of Director
National Library of Cambodia
Mr. Chen Li
 
Deputy Director
National Library of China
Mr. Dady P Rachmanata
 
Director
National Library of Indonesia
Mr. Masaaki Chiyo
 
Director-General
Acquisitions Department,
National Diet Library, Japan
Mrs. Kongdeuane Nettavongs
 
Director
National Library of Lao
Puan Zawiyah Bte Baba
 
Director-General
National Library of Malaysia
Mr U Kyaw Oo
 
Director
National Library of Myanmar
Ms Margaret Calder
 
Chief Librarian
Alexander Turnbull Library
National Library of New Zealand
Ms. Prudenciana C. Cruz
 
Director
National Library of Philippines
Mr. R Ramachandran
 
Director
National Library, Singapore
Mrs Siriporn Chiruppapa
 
Director
National Library of Thailand
Mr Pham The Khang
 
Director
National Library of Vietnam
Ms Nguyen Thi Huyen Dan
 
Head of International Relation Section
National Library of Vietnam

Absent with Apologies
Dr C T Dorji, Director, National Library of Bhutan
Mr Hee-Chang Yoon, Director, National Library of Korea
Mr Tokintekai Uereti, Librarian, National Archives and Library of Kiribati
Mr Shri Bandyopadhyay, Director, National Library of India
Mr Daniel Paraide, National Librarian, National Library Services, Papua New Guinea
Mr Walter Huberts-Rhein, National Library Services, Solomon Islands
Mr M S Upali Amarasiri, Director-General, National Library of Sri Lanka
Mr A Zaheer, Director-General, National Library of Pakistan
Mr Mila T Nakala, National Archives and Library of Tuvalu
Mrs Habeeba Habeeb Hussein, Director-General, National Library of Maldives
Mr Mamadou Konoba Keita, Bibliotheque Nationale du Mali
Prof Dr Sharif Uddin Ahmed, Director, Directorate of Archives and Libraries, Bangladesh
Ms Justina Nicholas, Chief Librarian, Cook Islands

Present as Scribe
Lena Kua, Assistant Director, Strategic Initiatives & Research (SIR)

AGENDA of the 10th CDNLAO Meeting
Welcome
Address
Adoption of Agenda
Minutes of 9th CDNLAO Meeting, 2001
Matters Arising
Country Reports
Issues for Discussion
Presentation of National Library @ Singapore
CDNLAO 9 Resolutions
Any Other Matters (AOM)

MINUTES OF MEETING

ITEM ACTIONS BY
Welcome
Mr R Ramachandran warmly welcomed members of the Conference of Directors of National Library of Asia and Oceania to the 10th CDNLAO meeting in Singapore. He noted that some members were unable to attend due to funding issue.

Adoption of Agenda
An additional item for a presentation by Mr Cameron Esslemont, Director of Global Library Services Network, on "Deployment of Digital Libraries to Remote Communities was included in the Agenda. The amended Agenda for CDNLAO 2002 was adopted by the Meeting.
 
Adoption of Minutes of 9th CDNLAO Meeting
The minutes of the 9th Meeting was adopted with no amendments. It was proposed by Mrs Kongdeuane Nettvongs of the National Library of Lao and seconded by Encik Haji Abu Bakar Haji Zainal of the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei.
 
Matters Arising

Item 3: Mr Masaaki Chiyo, Director-General, Acquisitions Department, National Diet Library, Japan, informed the Meeting that the National Diet Library would stop producing printed copies of the Newsletter by the end of this year. The Newsletter will only be produced in electronic format. However, countries requiring a print version can request for one and it would be printed off the web and forwarded to them.

Item 6: The Chairman observed that CDNLAO 2001 could not be in Boston in conjunction with IFLA as was originally proposed.

Item 7: Mr Chen Li Informed the Meeting that Mr Zhang Yanbo had confirmed China's hosting of the CDNLAO 2003 Meeting. He also proposed that a 3-year schedule be established so that countries could have sufficient time to make adequate preparations for hosting the event.

The Meeting noted that Brunei would be hosting the next CONSAL in 2003 and Philippines the following one in 2005.

It was therefore proposed that CDNLAO 2003 be held in Brunei, CDNLAO 2004 in China, and CDNLAO 2005 in the Philippines.There was general agreement for the proposal. Mr Chen Li said that he would confirm China's position and revert on China's position.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Brunei
Philippines
 
 
 
China
 
 
 
Country Reports
The following countries submitted their country reports:
1. Australia
2. Brunei
3. Cambodia
4. China (In Chinese)
5. Indonesia
6. Japan
7. Laos
8. Malaysia
9. Myanmar
10. New Zealand
11. Philippines
12. Singapore
13. Thailand
14. Vietnam
 

Highlights of the Country Reports

 
Australia
  • Mr Oliver Mann highlighted the increasing demand for electronic Reference services. At the same time, demand for face-to-face reference service is declining. Over the past year the Library has purchased substantial electronic resources. Web site usage has also increased significantly.
  • Major digital library services projects taking place at the National Library include include PANDORA, DOMS, and DOSS. The National Library is also involved in national and international digitisation projects and initiatives.
  • Over the last 12 months Australia has also embarked on a major digitisation programme and has developed a digitisation policy statement. The PictureAustralia project is a web service hosted by the National Library on behalf of a range of Australian cultural institutions including galleries, museums, libraries, archives, and historical societies.
  • Other country highlights include: amendments to the Australian Copyright legislation to acknowledge digitisation; and the very successful Treasures from the World's Great Libraries exhibition at the National Library which had participation from 38 countries including many from the region.
 
Brunei
  • Encik Haji Abu bakar Hi Zainal, Chief Librarian, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, highlighted several developments in Brunei. Brunei plans to build 3 new branches at an estimated cost of $1 million per branch in the coming years.
  • It had set in place a human resources development programme. From an initial modest staff strength of 25, the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka now has a staff strength of 152 staff, 15 of whom have professional qualifications / Masters in Library and Information Science. Brunei is interested in sending more staff for training in the UK and Malaysia.
  • Brunei has also submitted a proposal for a nation-wide Library System for the provision of reference and lending services for its citizens.
 
Cambodia
  • Mrs Ros Sarou, Deputy Director, National Library of Cambodia, highlighted that developing the Library's collection was dependent entirely on donations. She informed the Meeting that at the start of this year, the National Library of Cambodia has a new Director, Madame Khlot Vibolla. She also mentioned that with the help of Isobel Mosley of New Zealand, the new Director had been seeking funding support for the Library from Embassies and other organisations.
  • She listed a number of high priority projects that Cambodia is working on. These include the updating of the national bibliography, establishing a legal deposit legislation, staff training, establishing an ISBN Office, and collection security.
  • Mrs Ros Sarou pointed out that development of school and public libraries in Cambodia are still at very basic stage but that lots of development has been taking place. She also highlighted their urgent need for training and collection development.
 
China
  • Mr Chen Li, Deputy Director, National Library of China, gave a statistical update for the National Library of China (NLC). He pointed out that development at NLC is very fast, particularly with respect to digitization.
  • China had set in place an expansion programme which would transform the current 70,000 sq m NLC to 240,000 sq m and upgraded it to be the largest in Asia and the 4th largest in the world in terms of physical space and materials collections. Mr Chen Li also mentioned that approval had been given for the establishment of a National Digital Library.
  • He also highlighted two new pieces of legislations that China is currently working on. The NLC is drafting the Library Act and revising the Copyright Act.
  • Other highlights include 2 major conferences held - one on "China Metadata" and another on "Restoration of Chinese Rare Materials and the Development of the National Union Catalogue".
  • China's country report as originally submitted was in the Chinese language, and thus was not circulated at the Meeting. Mr Chen Li promised to provide an English version of the Report for circulation to members.
 
Indonesia
  • Mr Dady P. Rachmananta reported increase in visitorship and membership at the National Library of Indonesia (NLI). He attributed this to the economic crisis which affected buying power as well as the increase in number of books available at the National Library.
  • He also highlighted the problems faced by NLI in providing interlibrary loan services, especially where they relate to rare books.
  • NLI also owed much of the development of its collection to assistance from the National Libraries of Australia, the National Library of Netherlands and the Library of Congress.§ Indonesia is building a national information technology framework to provide a nationwide information infrastructure and database network based on an open system interface. This would be connected to the global network using a dedicated satellite line via INDOSAT.
  • A new initiative which Indonesia is working is the drfting of the Library Act.
 
Japan
  • Mr Masaaki Chiyo highlighted that construction of the Kansai-kan Library (a branch of the National Diet Library) and the remodelling of the International Library of Children's Literature (a branch of the National Diet Library) were completed in March 2002. The International Library of Children's Literature would be opened in May 2002 while the Kansai-kan Library would be opened in October 2002. These two branches would serve as the public arm of the National Diet Library.
  • The National Diet Library currently has a total of 920 staff members, more than 100 of these moved to the Kansai-kan in April 2002.§ The building of the Kansai-kan Libarary has resulted in the growth in floor area by about 60,000 sq m.
  • Japan's legal deposit system already covers the acquisition of offline electronic publications since October 2000. The NDL is now working to establish a selective collection system for online electronic publications. As the national library of Japan, the NDL is aiming at a systematic acquisition of online publications which have a short life span on the net. The official preparation started when the Librarian consulted the Legal Deposit System Council in March 2002. The NDL plans to make all the preparations and revise the Legal Deposit Law in two years.
 
Laos
  • Highlights for the National Library of Lao, according to its Director, Mrs Kongdeuane Nettavong, included the opening of the new section of the Archives on Traditional Music in Laos, and microfilm of the rare manuscripts at the office of Lao Manuscript Preservation Programme.
  • The government also planned to set up learning resource centres in different provinces and densely populated areas in the countryside.
  • A Mobile Team of 10 persons provided training courses and seminars on reading to primary and secondary school teachers as part of the National Rural Development Programme.
  • New public libraries are being built in 3 regions: Savannakhet, Luangprabang and Vientiane.
  • She also highlighted that the National Library of Lao's plans for the future included upgrading of staff training. In this respect, she requested the support of the National Library Board of Singapore in terms of funding, scholarships, and training attachments.
 
Malaysia
  • Puan Zawiyah bte Baba, Director-General, National Library of Malaysia, highlighted several programmes initiated by the National Library of Malaysia (NLM). These included Reading Promotion, Digitization, National Digital Library System (PERDANA), and development of the organisational structure of the NLM.
  • Under the Reading Promotion program, a "National Reading Month" was instituted with the theme "Reading Liberates the Mind".
  • Digitization is an ongoing programme for the conversion of print and audiovisual materials into digital format at the NLM. Malay manuscripts, annual reports, in-house publications, microfilm of newspapers and newspaper articles on NLM had been digitised.§ PERDANA, the National Digital Library System is supported by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) and Telekom Malaysia Berhad. A pilot website MyLib was developed as a gateway to web resources.
  • The NLM submitted 6 project proposals for funding under DAGS (Demonstrator Application Grant Scheme) for digital content development. Of the six, two for the development of portals have been approved for funding. They are Raja Kita (Our King) and MyKedah.com (Kedah State Library).
  • A new Organisation Structure for the NLM has been approved by the Malaysian government. Under this restructuring, an additional 182 posts have been approved, including upgrading of existing posts. A new division for "Digital Content" has also been created.
  • Puan Zawiyah also pointed out that while the number of enquiries received by the library had increased, visitorship had declined. She attributed the decline in visitorship to the fact that the Library was closed on two Saturdays of each month from the beginning of 2002.
 
Myanmar
  • Mr U Kyaw Oo, Director, National Library of Myanmar, highlighted that the Myanmar government would be providing a new National Library building. The new 7-storey building is now under construction. It would have a floor space of 234,252 sq ft. and would be more than 10 times the size of the old building which had only a floor space of 24,900 sq ft. Most of the collection would be moved into the new building by the end of this year. All staff would move to the new building by end of 2003.
  • Digitization started early this year and is expected to be completed by end 2002. The project included digitisation of rare books.
  • Myanmar started work on its new Copyright Act in 2000 and its first National Bibliography was completed in 1999.
 
New Zealand
  • Ms Margaret Calder, Chief Librarian, Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ), highlighted some of New Zealand's digital library initiatives. Among these was the effort to transform itself into a hybrid library and developing policies to meet the challenges of preserving digitally published New Zealand information and digitising documents for access.
  • The NLNZ is currently engaged in discussions with other institutions concerned with access to information and preservation of cultural heritage, in preparation for a National Digital Forum in May 2002.
  • Two significant developments are: "Papers Past" - a digital collection of New Zealand's heritage online and "Discover: Te Kohinga Taonga" - (the curriculum Online Resource project), the National Library's School Services, designed to support the New Zealand curriculum.
  • Ms Calder also highlighted NLNZ's partnership initiatives. The NLNZ is currently working with native groups - the indigenous Maori population on an exhibition of 19th Century portrait photographs, as part of a programme to raise awareness of the Maori materials in the Library's collection.
  • Also highlighted by Ms Calder was the revision of NLNZ's strategic plan to take the Library through to the end of 2003. This included developments such as e-government, the hybrid library, impact of the digital environment on legal deposit, copyright, preservation and access.
 
Philippines
  • Ms Prudenciana C. Cruz, Director, National Library of Philippines (NLP), gave an update of the status of the Philippines libraries. She highlighted that the NLP performs dual functions - that of a national library as well as of a public library. There are a total of 900 public libraries under the supervision of the National Library. In addition, there are 14 bookmobile libraries. Plans are underway to link the public libraries to the National Library.
  • Apart from the Philippine Librarians Association, Inc, the Philippines has other Library Associations for special groups such as the academic and research libraries.
  • She also pointed out that the NLP had implemented part IV of the Law of Copyright of the Republic, Act 8293, the Intellectual Property Code. One of the most important development was the setting up of a copyright/IPR watchdog - the Presidential Inter-Agency Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (PIAC-IPR) which is actively looking into the problem of piracy.
  • Ms Cruz also highlighted that Librarianship as a profession is governed by the Philippine Librarianship Act (September 19. 1990),which regulates the practice of librarianship and prescribes the qualifications of librarians. To date, the Philippines has more than 3,000 licensed librarians, over 70 library schools, about 30 of which offer Masters Degree in librarianship.
  • The NLP currently maintains 5 national databases under the framework of its Philippine Library Information Network (PHILIN).
  • The NLP also provides Reading Promotion / Information Literacy programs targeted at young people.
 
Singapore
  • As time was short, the Chairman said that he would skip report on Singapore's library development. He kindly requested members to read the report that was submitted.
 
Thailand
  • The Director, National Library of Thailand (NLT), Mrs Siriporn Chiruppapa, introduced the new Library Organization Structure (National Map). There are 17 library branches under the supervision of the NLT.
  • A number of building projects are underway. A new 6-storey building (will be named as National Depository Library) that would house the original copy of Books, Thesis and Newspapers collections is targeted for completion in September 2003.
  • The central building of the National Library would also be upgraded to provide disability facilities and services such as pavements and lavatories.
  • The NLT will be starting a digitization project of the S.E.A. Write Awards in Thailand at the end of 2002. S.E.A. Write Awards are given to writers, novelists, poets or literary works creators from Southeast Asian countries every year. For the digitization project the NLT received funding from the government to upgrade its computer system and to acquire the necessary equipment.
  • The Library's Dynix system was upgraded to Horizon library system in September 2001 with provision for searching the library's catalogue through web access.
 
Vietnam
  • Ms Nguyen Thi Huyen Dan, Head of International Relation Section, National Library of Vietnam, provided a brief update on developments of the National Library of Vietnam (NLV).
  • The legal deposit collection has grown from 8,500 titles in 1998 to 11,162 titles in 2001. Number of newspapers and journal titles collected annually is 540, while number of doctoral dissertations totalled 500.
  • The NLV has its own bibliographic database of 170,000 records. It also maintains special databases of personalities, thesis, local names, and Vietnamese books in English.
  • The NLV is also embarking on a new building project which would have a total floor space of 15,000 sq m.
 
Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998
Mr Jeremy Teo, Legal Officer, National Library Board, Singapore, gave an overview of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. His presentation focused on anti-circumvention laws, giving the who, why, and what. He also gave a glimpse of the potential effects as well as possible exceptions undertaken by different countries implementing the anti-circumvention laws. He summed up by pointing out that the crucial difference lay in how each country implements the anti-circumvention laws.

A brief discussion followed the presentation. The Chairman, CDNLAO 2002, Mr Ramachandran, explained that the presentation was to seed thoughts for future discussion.
 
NL @ Singapore
Mr Teo Thiam Chye, Senior Deputy Director, Properties, National Library Board, Singapore, gave a presentation of the New National Library Building scheduled for completion in 2004. The presentation included a brief video-clip of the new National Library @ Singapore.
 
Delivering Digital Information to Remote Libraries
Mr Cameron Esslemont, Director, Global Library Services Network gave a brief presentation and demonstration of how digital library services can be deployed to remote communities.
 
CDNLAO 9 Resolutions
As it was agreed at the 9th CDNLAO Meeting that no resolutions would be taken, this item was skipped.
 
Any Other Matters
Chairman, CDNLAO 2002, Mr Ramachandran, informed the meeting the National Library of Singapore has embarked on a project to obtain meaningful and comprehensive statistics for the region. He said that although there were statistics from UNESCO and Intamel, it was difficult to make comparison using these statistics. He distributed questionnaires to all members and requested their co-operation in completing the questions and returning them to the National Library Board, Singapore for compilation and analysis.

Puan Zawiyah, Director, National Library of Malaysia (NLM), said that NLM has compiled a Directory for the National Library of Malaysia.

On behalf of the members of the CDNLAO 2002, Puan Zawiyah also recorded her thanks to Singapore for hosting the CDNLAO and for the hospitality shown to participants.
 
The meeting ended at 5.45 pm.  
   
Reported By: Ms Lena Kua, Assistant Director, Strategic Initiatives & Research
Approved By: Mr R Ramachandran, Director, National Library, Singapore
 

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