National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 66 | December 2003


12th Meeting of the Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians

(Left to right) Janine Schmidt, Kerrie Smith, Nellie Sunny, (at back) R. Ramachandran
(Left to right) Janine Schmidt, Kerrie Smith, Nellie Sunny, (at back) R. Ramachandran

The Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL) was founded in Singapore in 1970 by the library associations of Singapore and Malaysia, in response to a growing need to foster the exchange of information and to support the development of libraries in the Southeast Asian region. CONSAL has 10 member countries represented by the library associations of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

CONSAL meets every three years to promote cooperation amongst members and to share information about key library developments. The theme of the 12th meeting, held in Bandar Seri Begawan from 20–23 October was ‘Information Resources Empowerment: Enhancing Knowledge Heritage’. This was the first time that a CONSAL meeting had been hosted in Brunei and there was considerable excitement amongst members of the Brunei Library Association and its long time President, Nellie Sunny (Puan Nellie bte Dato Paduka Haji Sunny). Around 500 delegates were treated to four days of interesting papers and discussions, interspersed by very generous Bruneian hospitality. Many of the CONSAL member countries are embracing digital services and share issues in common with Australian libraries. There was also some vigorous debate over the future of CONSAL and frank discussion about the role of and opportunities for women in libraries in CONSAL member countries. The full CONSAL program can be viewed at <http://www.consal.org.sg>.

On the final day of the meeting, Kerrie Smith, Head of Media and Information, Curtin University and Janine Schmidt, University Librarian, University of Queensland, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CONSAL on behalf of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). The MOU establishes closer ties and cooperation with the library associations represented by CONSAL.

The next meeting of CONSAL will be hosted by the Library Association of the Philippines in 2006.
—Jasmine Cameron, Executive Branch

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