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ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 40 | August 1999


NLA and the library community

NLA funds training at the National Library of Laos

Training at the National Library of Laos

Instructor and participants after the closing ceremony

The Regional Cooperation Program is a National Library of Australia initiative that provides support to national libraries in the Asia–Pacific region.

One of the projects funded under the 1998–99 program, was a workshop entitled ‘Training in Library Automation’, organised by the National Library of Laos, from 24 May to 1 June 1999. This project was initiated by Mrs Kongdeuane Nettavongs, the Director of the National Library of Laos, as part of work to establish a national bibliography. An American non-government organisation, Partnerships for Development (PfD), also provided funding for the workshop, which was a resounding success.

The workshop was attended by librarians from the National Library of Laos, public libraries, the national university and various special libraries around Vientiane and Luang Prabang Province. The initial intention was to limit the workshop attendance to 20 but after the first day and word-of- mouth reports, the workshop organisers were besieged with additional requests. Most had to be turned down, but the organisers managed to include another six participants.

The instructor for the workshop was Mr Choon Teintinakrit from the Academic Resource Centre, Mahasarakham University in Thailand. As both a librarian and a programmer, Mr Teintinakrit was an ideal choice as instructor; the Partnerships for Development report on the workshop said ‘his interest in the content was infectious, his presentation of the material was well organised and very clear, his rapport with participants total’.

The topics covered in the workshop were: MARC and AACR II
Introduction to WINISIS
Creating a Database and Database Definition
Formatting Language
Indexing; Inverting Files
Output Formatting
Data Entry
Retrieval
Reports and Printing
Management; Backup and Restore
Adapting CDS/ISIS to Local Requirements

The aim of the workshop was to give a broad introduction for those librarians encountering computer use in library management for the first time. The further aim was to create a uniform foundation for the development of appropriate Lao language cataloguing and data management approaches for an automated environment.

The workshop closed with a formal ceremony at which certificates from the Ministry of Information and Culture were presented to participants. Speakers included a representative of the participants, the Director of Libraries and Publishing from the Ministry of Information and Culture and Mr Jeff Roach, the Second Secretary at the Australian Embassy in Vientiane.

There was unanimous endorsement from participants of the value of all aspects of the workshop and informal feedback was very positive.

For information about the Regional Cooperation Program, please see the Library’s website at http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/internat/rcp.html

Link updated 13 June 2000
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Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: lkirwan@nla.gov.au

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