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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. |
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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. |
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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
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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 |
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Highlights of the Country Reports |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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CDNLAO 9 Resolutions As it was agreed at
the 9th CDNLAO Meeting that no resolutions would be taken, this item was
skipped. |
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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. |
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| The meeting ended at 5.45 pm. |
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Reported By: Ms Lena Kua, Assistant Director,
Strategic Initiatives & Research Approved By: Mr R
Ramachandran, Director, National Library, Singapore |
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