National Library of Australia - Gateways>

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 47| October 2000


International activities in the Asia-Pacific area through the Regional Cooperation Program

BISA  graduation ceremony

Pictured from left: Mr Walter Huberts-Rhein, Mrs Khin Lay Soe, and Mr Viliami Fotofili with their certificates at the BISA graduation ceremony

Web access for the National Library of Cambodia, training in library management for the National Library of Solomon Islands and a new printer for the National Museum of Belau—these are some of the projects funded in 1999–2000 under the National Library of Australia’s Regional Cooperation Program (RCP).

The program has been running for 20 years now and is one of the National Library’s ongoing strategies to cooperate with and assist its regional neighbours. Over 17 national libraries or their equivalents from the Asia- Pacific region are invited to submit applications for library development projects or new books each year.

Funding highlights for 1999–2000
The National Library of Cambodia completed an Internet access project, including funding for materials, English training, Internet training, and Internet Service Provider assistance, with help from Margaret Bywater at the Asia Foundation. Once connected to the Internet, the staff of the National Library of Cambodia checked out the National Library of Australia’s web site as one of their first activities and had a look at all the titles we hold relating to Cambodia. Welcome to the global village!

Lenore Kennedy from the Resource Sharing Division at the National Library spent a week in Fiji in November 1999 providing training in the use of Kinetica modules to the staff from the University of the South Pacific Library in Suva. Her entertaining report on the trip was featured in Gateways, issue no. 43, February 2000 (www.nla.gov.au/ntwkpubs/gw/43/index.html).

The National Library of Laos began work drafting a National Plan for the Development of Library Services, which should be completed in the 2000–01 RCP cycle. The Library is working with Mr Bob Anderson, Director of a local non-government organisation, Partnerships for Development, to survey the current status of libraries in Laos and to create a national plan for future integrated infrastructure development.

Mr Viliami Fotofili, Assistant Librarian from the Ministry of Education Library in Tonga, and Mrs Khin Lay Soe, Assistant Librarian from the Universities Historical Research Centre, Yangon University in Myanmar (Burma) both undertook a six-week course in computer-based cataloguing at the University of New South Wales in January this year. The University of New South Wales offers a number of short-term courses targeted to the library sector and to the specific needs of Asia-Pacific librarians, through the BISA (Bibliographic and Information Services in Asia and the Pacific) program. After completing the training, Mrs Soe undertook a three-week work attachment at the National Library of Australia and a report on her visit can be found in Gateways, issue no. 44, April 2000 (www.nla.gov.au/ntwkpubs/gw/44/index.html).

Mr Walter Huberts-Rhein, Director of the National Library of the Solomon Islands was also funded to undertake BISA training at the University of New South Wales, this time in Library Management. Mr Huberts-Rhein found the focus on management specific to the library sector and the chance to explore developments in library technology to be very valuable.

The Belau National Museum in Palau purchased a new printer for use with computers the National Library of Australia funded in an earlier program cycle to allow the development of an online national bibliographic database. With the addition of the printer, the museum was able to begin providing bibliographic lists from the database for its clients. The museum also received new books which they chose under the Book Program, as did the National Library of Vanuatu.

Finally, the Nelson Memorial Public Library in Samoa purchased a new computer for the Pacific Room Collection catalogue at the Salafai Public Library—a branch of the main library with funds allocated from RCP. This allows users of both libraries to have access to the online catalogue.
—Danielle Freeman

| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |

Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: gateways@nla.gov.au

Gateways logo