ALIA Asia Pacific Special Interest Group

APSIG Newsletter Nº 49 - March 2002

Forum | News and views | News from from the National Library of Australia | Web things | What's on

Forum

Greetings and welcome to issue 49 of the APSIG Newsletter.

As you can see there have been a few changes since the last issue and hopefully with your input they will not be the last.

This being my first issue as editor, I would like to send a great big thank you on everyone's behalf to Dorothea Polonyi for all her hard work in keeping this newsletter going.

To break the monotony of just being 'another' newsletter, I thought we should begin the new era by asking you to decide what you want to read about in this newsletter?

To also make sure that we have everyone's details correct there is an order form for this newsletter at the end of this issue. Please circulate this newsletter to anyone whom you think would be interested in receiving it, especially colleagues who you know do not have access to e-mail.

To start the ball rolling, I have designed this newsletter into sections which I have called Forum, News and Views, Web things and What's On.

Briefly:

Forum is an open-letter area, where you can write letters to the editor, tell interesting news, pass on tips etc.

News and Views is for papers, local reports, maybe a story about your collection or colleagues, items seen in other journals that you think may be of interest to all of us.

Web things is exactly what it is - websites that you have found that you find useful and would like to share.

What's on are you having a meeting, conference? List here for everyone to see.

So give me some feedback - Let me know what you would like to read about. Also get in touch with each other on the APSIG e-list.

All submissions for the next issue (July 2002) are due at close of business 14 June. Please either e-mail to me on sapimm@nat.redcross.org.au or you can fax me on 03 93482513.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Sharon Pimm
Editor, APSIG newsletter

News and views

Field trip to Dili
by NLA regional officer, Asia
Oliver Mann

The purpose of my field trip to Dili was to improve the Library's range of current East Timor publications, meet with the Australian Mission in East Timor which is sending material from Dili to the Library in the diplomatic bag, and establish other acquisitions and professional contacts.

The Library of Congress Office in Jakarta, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor [UNTAET] offices in Jakarta and Dili, USAID in Dili, the Australian Mission in East Timor, and the Library's briefing notes assisted in the planning and success of this field trip.

As my journey transited through Darwin and Denpasar I took advantage of the opportunity to meet with IAP participant Northern Territory University Library in Darwin, and to seek Balinese publications in Denpasar.

The Library receives the two Dili daily newspapers, Timor Post and Suara Timor Lorosae through the Australian Mission in Dili, and this arrangement will continue. The Mission is also willing to be the conduit for five additional East Timorese subscriptions, which I arranged during the course of my field trip. Bearing in mind the small population base and the fragile nature of a nation and economy in recovery I think there is likely to be a general contraction in publishing after the UN presence starts to downsize later this year.

The principal source of material was the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor [UNTAET]. It's Office of Communication and Public Information has published a comprehensive record of developments in East Timor since 1999. Over several days I managed to acquire copies of all their publications, and arranged for future issues to be sent to the Library through the Australian Mission. I also obtained a complete set of the elusive Official Gazette of East Timor from UNTAET's Legal Affairs Department.

Both the United States Agency for International Development [USAID] and The Asia Foundation staff in Dili were helpful in suggesting NGOs worth visiting for publications, and assisted with locating their offices. In addition, the East Timorese Cultural Centre holds promise as a useful future contact for the library.

I visited the two main libraries in Dili: the Xanana Gusmao Reading Room, which functions as a small public library, and the National University of Timor Lorosa'e [UNTIL] Library. Both libraries have had contact with the Library's Regional Co-operation Program. The University Library is developing apace the rest of the University, which has 6-7 000 students. It currently receives a large number of book donations, which unfortunately are mostly not in the preferred language, Indonesian [ironically the official language is Portuguese].

As is the case with most field trips in the region, continuity of supply will remain a challenge. However, the groundwork has been laid and the Library is fortunate to have the support of the Australian Mission in Dili.

Trip to Thailand - January 2002
by Lek McFadden

During a trip to Thailand between 6-30 January 2002 I attended the 8th International Conference on Thai Studies at Nakhon Phanom Province in northeastern Thailand, from 9-13 January 2002. The Conference was held at the Nakhon Phannom Lakeview Hotel, which is located on the banks of the Mekong River. The venue is large and accommodated the more than 500 participants.

There were 20 sessions and 6 panel discussions, covering various aspects of the social sciences and humanities such as culture, politics, government, economics, languages, history and so on. There were many scholars from other parts of the world, including North America, Europe, Southeast, East and South Asia as well as Australia. They were interested not only in Thai Studies but also in Thai relations with neighboring countries.

After the Conference, I went to visit Vientiane and Luang Prabang in Laos. I met the Australian Ambassador to Laos, Mr Jonathan Thwaites and Eve Thwaites.

I went to the National Library of Laos, where I was met by Madame Kongduane Nettavong, the director of the National Library of Laos. We had a brief discussion on various matters including the National Library of Australia's Lao acquisition program. The program is functioning well, with all the materials, which the National Library of Laos obtains being sent to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok quite regularly.

I also went to visit the Buddhist Text on Palm-leaf Project, which is funded by the German Government. They collect texts from all over Laos and carry out microfilming.

After Laos, I visited the National Library of Thailand, and met the new director, Mrs Siraporn Chirupapa, and also saw the new local network system, Horizon. I asked her about the exchange of data for cataloguing. She is happy to co-operate with us.

I also visited the National Assembly Library and was impressed with their hospitality. I met the director, Mrs Boonruksa Chomchuen. They would like to send librarians here for training. The Library is quite small, but their system for searching news clippings from various newspapers is interesting. I presented National Library titles to the director. She also presented many books to us, which are being sent here through the Thai Acquisition Program (TAP).

At Chulalongkorn University Library, I was met by the head of technical services, who showed me around. I had discussions with her about the exchange of Thai data, also she advised me on some small details relating to Thai entries on INNOPAC. I presented National Library books for the director, Dr Kammales Santiwetchakun.

News from from the National Library of Australia

By Andrew Gosling (chief librarian, Asian Collections).

Harold White Fellows
The well-known Canberra author, Margaret Barbalet, has completed her Harold White Fellowship, during which she carried out research on Buddhist Iconography and Buddhism in Southeast Asia. This was for her new novel Paradise Road set mainly in northern Thailand.

Dr Penny Edwards of the Australian National University is currently undertaking a three month Fellowship about cultural policy and national identity in colonial Burma and contemporary Myanmar, drawing on the G H Luce Collection and other resources at the National Library.

Later in the year Dr Keiko Tamura also of the ANU will be carrying out research based on the Library's Harold S. Williams Collection concerning Westerners in Japan.

Asian Collections refurbishment
From early April to late May while the National Library's Asian Collections Reading Room is closed for refurbishment its reader services are operating from an area of the Main Reading Room on the Ground Floor. The refurbished Asian Collections Reading Room will include a number of improvements including a long-stay readers room, a high-technology room and increased reference materials.

Visitors to the National Library
Dina Isyanti of the National Library of Indonesia completed a highly successful three-week work experience in the National Library in February-March. She was based in Asian Collections and also visited other areas including Technical Services, Corporate Services and various management areas. Also in March we were visited by librarians from the Rajabhat Institute in Bangkok led by their director Dr Naowarath Yaemsaengsan.

Other distinguished recent visitors include Dr Chen Li, deputy director, National Library of China; Mr Dady Rachmananta, director, National Library of Indonesia; Mr Paul Permadi, deputy director, National Library of Indonesia; HE Mr Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, Ambassador of Indonesia; Mr Ovidio de Jesus Amaral, Minister of Transport and Communication, East Timor Public Administration; and Dr In-ho Lee, president of the Korea Foundation.

Web things

[This section will list items from the web or websites that you have found and think they maybe of use to others. I would like to ask that you attach a small (six line) review of the site and its uses to help us all].

Librarians index to the internet http://lii.org/
The Librarians' Index to the Internet (LII) is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 9000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. LII is used by both librarians and the general public as a reliable and efficient guide to internet resources

Managing volunteers http://www.serviceleader.org/manage/manage.html
Resources For Volunteer Managers

Reliefweb http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf
Reliefweb is one of those sites that has a lot of information. Although directed at the Humanitarian organisations, this site has maps, reports from organisations, disaster information not located on any other website. Run by the United Nations it is updated daily.

Free management library http://www.mapnp.org/library/topics.htm
This is a good site for new managers or even old ones. This library is a free community resource to be shared and contributed to by users and readers across the world. The overall goal of the library is to provide leaders and managers (especially those with very limited resources) basic and practical information about business, management and organisations.

What's on

July 2002
Title: Asian Studies Association of Australia 14th Biennial Conference
Theme: "After Sovereignty: Nation and Place"
Date: 1-3 July
Venue: Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart Tasmania, Australia
Website: http://www.cdesign.com.au/asaa2002/

October 2002
Title: 28th annual IAMSLIC conference
Theme: "Bridging the digital divide"
Date: 6-11 October, 2002
Venue: Mazatlan
Description: The main theme for the conference is the digital divide and its effect on aquatic library services in developing countries.
Call for papers: Papers and posters that present examples of "bridging the divide", within developing countries and across the north-south divide, will be especially welcome.
E-mail: denis.abbott@csiro.au
Website: http://www.nefsclibrary.nmfs.gov/2002iamslic/2002home.html

November 2002
Title: The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) Conference 2002
Theme:"Winds of Change: Libraries in the 21st Century - Ka purea e nga hau a Tawhirimatea"
Date: 17-20 November
Venue: Wellington Conference Centre, 111 Wakefield Street, Wellington
website: http://www.confer.co.nz/lianza2002/
Call for papers: http://www.confer.co.nz/lianza2002/papers.html