ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 61 | February 2003
The National Library of Australia and the National Library Board of Singapore to Benefit from Increased Collaboration
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Ms Jan Fullerton, Director General, National Library of Australia and Dr Christopher Chia, Chief Executive of the National Library Board of Singapore, sign the Memorandum of Understanding, in the presence of His Excellency Mr Joseph Koh, High Commissioner to Australia for the Republic of Singapore
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On 5 December 2002 the Director General of the National Library of Australia, Jan Fullerton, and the Chief Executive of the National Library Board of Singapore, Dr Christopher Chia, signed a Memorandum of Understanding which reflects the close ties and collaboration between the two national libraries. The signing took place at the National Library of Australia and was attended by His Excellency Mr Joseph Koh, High Commissioner, High Commission for the Republic of Singapore, Mr Alvin Tan, Second Secretary, High Commission for the Republic of Singapore and senior staff of the National Library of Australia.
The Memorandum of Understanding strengthens cooperation between the two libraries in three key areas: the exchange of information about strategic directions and performance management; information sharing about new programs, systems and services and cooperation in resource sharing across all areas of library operations.
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| Ms Jan Fullerton and Dr Christopher Chia exchange copies of the Memorandum of understanding, watched by Mr Koh and National Library staff |
Discussions have already commenced between the two libraries on a range of activities that will allow both libraries to improve the delivery of services directly to users. A gateway between the National Library of Australias Kinetica service and the equivalent SILAS service operated by the National Library Board of Singapore will be explored. The systems used by the National Library of Australia for digital archiving and collection management and by the National Library Board of Singapore for book collection delivery and management will also be evaluated by the respective libraries to see if opportunities exist for improved services to their users.
Both libraries will continue to visit each other to learn about new
developments first hand. Staff from the National Library Board of Singapore
visited the National Library of Australia in January 2003 to discuss the AskNow
digital reference service, a Council of Australian State Libraries
initiative.
Jasmine Cameron
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