APRIL 2001 - APRIL 2002
Mr R Ramachandran - Secretary-General of CONSAL Deputy Chief Executive, National Library Board of Singapore
Introduction
CONSAL was formed in 1970 in response to a growing sense of regional identity, fostered particularly by the formation of ASEAN. CONSAL promotes libraries and librarians as part of ASEAN task in the development of education and culture.
CONSAL is a loose and flexible organization which provides a forum for professional contact and exchange. It holds a general conference once in every three years in each member country by turn and promotes cooperation in librarianship, bibliography, documentation and related activities in the region. Its members comprise the National Libraries and Library Associations of the ASEAN countries.
CONSAL Secretariat
The CONSAL Secretariat was established in April 2000 and is hosted by the National Library Board (NLB) of Singapore. Mr. R Ramachandran was appointed as the Secretary General. The functions of the Secretariat are to plan and execute programmes and activities in accordance with the objectives of CONSAL.
At the 2nd Meeting of the CONSAL XII in April 2001, the Board Members agreed on the inclusion of the appointment of the Secretary General as a member of the CONSAL Executive Board in the revised CONSAL Constitution.
CONSAL Projects
The CONSAL Executive Board has approved 5 collaborative projects with Singapore, Thailand and Philippines as coordinators. Projects were chosen based on their relevance to the current state of development in the region and also what members felt are important areas of concern in the respective countries.
The CONSAL Executive Board approved the following projects:
Resource Sharing and Legal Depository
Copyright
Preservation and Conservation
Translation of Materials
Training
CONSAL Web
The CONSAL Web is an information site for professional librarians residing in Southeast Asia. It has a monthly hit of 4 million. Professional services include discussion groups and forums for communication and sharing of information in the region, etc. The site also offers an information exchange platform for the CONSAL Management Committee represented by librarians from each member country.
In its effort to promote the CONSAL Web, the Secretariat conducted three CONSAL Web Online Conferences. The first online conference was conducted in July 2002 with staff of National Library Board (NLB) of Singapore. The second one was conducted in September 2001 for a group of 24 librarians from the Philippines Library Association who were in Singapore as part of their study visit to NLB. The third online conference was conducted in April 2002 for 13 delegates from the Singapore Cooperation Programme. The feedback received from the participants of the Online Conference was that they would like to see more of such online conferences to be held in the future.
CONSAL Outstanding Librarian Award
This first CONSAL Outstanding Librarian Award was presented in Singapore on 24 April 2002 at a Gala Dinner of the World Library Summit. The award will be given annually to the librarian who has made significant contributions to the library profession, or to improving the relations among libraries of CONSAL member countries. Mr Antonio M Santos, Chief Law Librarian, University of the Philippines College of Law Library was voted as the winner of the first award. The prize of the award included sponsorship and participation at World Library Summit which was held in Singapore from 24-26 April 2002. This sponsorship also included airfare, accommodation and registration fees to attend the World Library Summit. In addition, he received a commemorative plaque and cash prize of S$1000. The first award was sponsored by Blackwell Book Services.
Other CONSAL Projects
Copyright Guide
As one of the projects endorsed by the CONSAL Executive Board, a guidebook entitled "Guide to Regional Intellectual Laws of Librarians" was published and launched during the World Library Summit Gala Dinner on 24 April 2002 in Singapore.
CONSAL Council of Chief Academic Librarians (CAL) Meeting
The CONSAL Secretariat initiated the inaugural CONSAL Academic Librarians Meeting on 14 April 2002 in Singapore. All except Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos sent a country representative to attend this meeting. Among the agenda of the meeting were: Terms of Reference for CONSAL Council of Chief Academic Librarians and Cooperation in Resource Sharing.
Regional Events
Singapore
The National Library Board organised the 2nd Asian Children's Festival (ACF) from 1-11 Nov 2001. The festival comprised programmes such as the Asian Congress of Storytellers, Asian Congress of Children's Librarians, Asian Storytelling Carnival, Asian Children's Film Festival, Children's Drama Fiesta and Asian Children's Expo.
The CONSAL Secretariat was involved in organising the first World Library Summit (WLS) which will be held in Singapore from 21-27 April 2002 The theme of this conference is "Global Knowledge Renaissance". It will be organised by the National Library Board of Singapore and supported by the CONSAL Secretariat. The Summit will be an event for professionals in the library information and related fields to meet and exchange ideas. It will focus on knowledge governance and people connectivity as key foundations of new knowledge societies. 28 delegates from the CONSAL member countries were sponsored by the Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attend the World Library Summit 2002 under its Singapore Cooperation Programme
As part of a pre-conference seminar of the World Library Summit, a two-day Academic Librarians Seminar will be held from 22-23 April 2002. The theme of the seminar is Forging Ahead for Academic Librarians. Dialog has agreed to sponsor 9 Senior Academic Librarians from the region (excluding Singapore) to attend ALS and WLS. These academic librarians will be representing their country in the inaugural CONSAL Council of Academic Librarians Meeting to be held on 22 April 2002. Letters were sent in November to President of Library Associations and Director of National Libraries to nominate a senior academic librarian to attend the seminar and meeting. There was no response from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
The Library Association of Singapore organised a one-day seminar on "Towards Digital Libraries: Current Practices and Projects in Singapore Libraries" on 25 Jan 2002.
Brunei
The University of Brunei Darussalam, with the support of CONSAL, organised a three-day "Quality Assurance Workshop" from 6 to 8 Feb 2002. The theme of the workshop was "Towards achieving excellence in the electronic information era".
Indonesia
The Indonesian Library Association organised a National Workshop and Seminar from 5-7 November 2001 in Jakarta. CONSAL Secretariat presented a paper on "CONSAL Website: A Communication Forum among Librarians" at this seminar.
Conferences in the Region 2002 - 2003
Singapore
The Nanyang Technological University's School of Communication and Information, will be organising the 5th International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries (ICADL 2002) from 11-14 Dec 2002. The theme of the conference is "Digital Libraries: People, Knowledge and Technology"
The National Library Board will be organising the 3rd Asian Children Festival (ACF 2002) from 8-16 Nov 2002. Some of the major programmes for this festival include Asian Children's Music Festival, Asian Storytelling Festival, Asian Congress of Storytellers and Asian Children's Expo.
Brunei
The University of Brunei Darussalam will be organising a four-day "Conference on New Information Technologies" from 24-27 Sep 2002. The theme of the conference is "Information: An Agenda for Change".
Brunei Darussalam will be hosting the CONSAL XII from 4-8 May 2003. The theme of the conference is "Information Resources Empowerment: Enhancing Knowledge Heritage". CONSAL XII is organised by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Brunei Darussalam with the cooperation of the Brunei Darussalam Library Association and supported by the CONSAL Secretariat.
Malaysia
The Librarians Association of Malaysia and Asia Library News with the support of CONSAL will be organising the "Asian Library Conference on Collection Development" (ALCCD 2002) from 1-3 July 2002 at Penang, Malaysia. The main objective of this conference is to focus on various issues related to collection development of libraries particularly academic and special libraries in the Asia Pacific region.
The National Library of Malaysia together with the Librarians Association of Malaysian and other partners will be organising the 31st annual conference of International Association of School Librarianship (IASL Malaysia 2002 Conference) from 5-9 Aug 2002, to be held in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
R Ramachandran
Secretary-General CONSAL
June 2002
Tel: (65) 6332 3600
Fax: (65) 6332
3616
Email: rama@nlb.gov.sg