National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 63 | June 2003


Regional Cooperation Program
Projects Conducted This Year

Onsite computer-cataloguing training at the National Library of Cambodia, and funding for computing equipment for the national libraries of Tuvalu and Kiribati, are just some of the projects funded this year under the National Library of Australia’s Regional Cooperation Program.

The Program, which started in 1980, aims to strengthen cooperation with national and major libraries in the Asia–Pacific region. Eighteen libraries were invited to participate in the Program this year, and funding was provided for equipment, training and books.

In early January, Nereida Cross (of the City of Sydney Library, and formerly the University of New South Wales School of Information Systems Technology and Management) conducted a two-week onsite training course in WINISIS:CDS/ISIS for Windows, for staff at the National Library of Cambodia. The course was very successful and has enabled the National Library of Cambodia to establish a new team of cataloguers to continue inputting data to the Cambodian National Bibliography.

The Program also arranged the supply and purchase of microfilming equipment and consumables for the Universities Central Library (‘UCL’) in Yangon, Myanmar (previously Burma). This equipment will enable the UCL to continue its long-term project to microfilm its large collection of rare palm-leaf manuscripts. The National Library also sponsors IFLA membership for the Myanmar Library Association, enabling its librarians to participate in IFLA’s international network.

Additionally, computing equipment has been purchased for the Kiribati National Library and Archives, and the National Library and Archives of Tuvalu, to enable both institutions to upgrade their cataloguing processes, gain access to the Internet, and perform desktop publishing.

Funding has also been allocated to support training for staff from the National and University Library of East Timor. The Northern Territory University Library will conduct the training program.

Also this year, donations of new books were sent to the Vanuatu Cultural Centre Library, the National Library of Vietnam, the National Library of the Cook Islands, and the University of the South Pacific.

The Libraries of Asia Pacific Directory, at <www.nla.gov.au/lap/> , has also been redeveloped to enable all entry holders to update their own entry online.
—Elizabeth Watt

Ms Moa Tach, Head of Conservation at the National Library of Cambodia, and Mr He Hin, Head of Public Information at the Cambodian Development Resource Centre during the RCP-sponsored cataloguing course in Phnom Penh. (He Hin is a former Director of the National Library of Cambodia, and acted as course translator) Ms Moa Tach, Head of Conservation at the National Library of Cambodia, and Mr He Hin, Head of Public Information at the Cambodian Development Resource Centre during the RCP-sponsored cataloguing course in Phnom Penh. (He Hin is a former Director of the National Library of Cambodia, and acted as course translator)

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