National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 58| August 2002


International Activities in the Asia-Pacific through the Regional Cooperation Program

Ms Dina Isyanti, National Library of Indonesia
Ms Dina Isyanti, National Library
of Indonesia

The Regional Cooperation Program funded by the National Library of Australia has had a very successful year.  Each year 17 national libraries or their equivalents from the Asia-Pacific region are invited to submit applications for library development projects or new books.  In 2001–2002 five library development projects were funded, and books or interlibrary loan vouchers were provided to another five libraries in the region.

Funding highlights for 2001–02
The National Library and Archives of the Cook Islands had a two-week visit from Wendy and Michael Smith who provided training in library and archives preservation.  Around 12 participants from the National Library and Archives and a range of local government departments attended the training.  The participants found that they gained a much broader understanding of preservation issues and techniques which could be applied directly to their local collections. 

Ms Dina Isyanti from the National Library of Indonesia spent three weeks at the National Library of Australia studying management issues in a number of areas.  There was a strong focus on library automation and web site management.

Ms Annsely Keju from the Alele Museum and Public Library, Marshall Islands, was sponsored to undertake a three-week computer-based cataloguing training course through the BISA program at the University of New South Wales. 

A laptop computer and printer were purchased for the National Library Service of Papua New Guinea for use in library workshops, seminars and conference presentations. 

Training in the DB/TextWorks software system was provided by Ms Maureen Henninger onsite at the Nelson Memorial Public Library in Samoa.  Ms Henninger was able to assist library staff to set up an OPAC for use by local library patrons who were very excited about being able to search the catalogue electronically!

More information about the Regional Cooperation Program can be found at: www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/internat/rcp.html.
—Kristen Ritchie

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