APSIG Newsletter July 2005

Feature articles

Queen's birthday honours for prominent librarians

Jan Fullerton, Director-General of the National Library of Australia, was admitted as an Officer of the Order of Australia in last month's Queens Birthday honours in recognition of her contribution to the development of wider community access to the national library's collections. The citation also paid credit to her role in the preservation of cultural heritage in digital forms and her collaborative efforts with other collecting agencies here and overseas.

Dr Alan Bundy was also recognised in the honours list. Alan became a Member (AM) in the General Division in recognition of his service to university, school and public libraries, professional development, promoting the role of libarians in educating use of information resources.

Dragons, lion dancing and Waltzing Matilda

The Chinese Studies Association of Australia (CSAA) held its highly successful 9th Biennial Conference at the famous Golden Dragon Museum in the old gold-mining town of Bendigo, central Victoria from 30 June to 3 July. It was a joint conference with the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas (ISSCO) and so not surprisingly there was a strong emphasis on the history of the Chinese in Australia and the Chinese diaspora in general, from South Africa to South America; from the Philippines to Tasmania. Some 130 papers were presented on a wide range of topics.

The East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia (EALRGA) library forum 'Electronic resources in Chinese studies' was chaired by Wan Wong of the national library and addressed by several scholars and librarians. It was well attended and well received.

Other sessions highlighted new and surprising information. Anna Hayes of the University of Southern Queensland analysed the cover up of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Henan Province by Chinese authorities, who in 1995 claimed there was no HIV/AIDS in Henan Province. However, by 2000 it became evident that around 500 000 to 700 000 people living in Henan Province had contracted HIV/AIDS. It is now estimated that around 2 million people have AIDS in Henan province alone. And Xinjiang province is not far behind as the province with the second highest number of HIV infected people.

Dean Chen of the School of Visual Arts, Edith Cowan University, Perth, presented a paper on 'A cultural analysis of computer games in China' centered on the current proliferation of massive multiplayer online computer games. Non-players in the audience were surprised by the fact that computer game companies sell virtual objects (such as digital swords) in the real world and make large profits on the business. Not to mention that theft of these same virtual objects could lead a person to murder another, which actually happened.

In spite of these alarming accounts, it was a lively and enjoyable conference. At the opening in the Golden Dragon Museum, there were speeches and lion dancing. During the conference dinner at the beautifully restored Bendigo Town Hall all tables were asked to provide entertainment. The librarians performed a spirited version of Waltzing Matilda with humorous new lines about the conference.

Andrew Gosling and Ching Sun

EALRGA (East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia) goes online

The EALRGA newsletter aims at promoting awareness of various issues in East Asian library resources and librarianship in Australia, and enhancing interaction among library professionals and anyone interested in East Asian studies. No. 47, the latest issue of the newsletter, has just been published. From this issue on, the newsletter will be published online only on the freely accessible EALRGA web site.

The EALRGA Committee is grateful to the Australian National University for hosting the web site.

Any feedback is most welcome. The contact details of the current committee members is available.

If you would like to receive the newsletter in hardcopy, please contact the treasurer of EALRGA, Ms Mayumi Shinozaki.

Wan Wong, editor, EALRGA newsletter

Harold S. Williams Project

The National Library of Australia has begun an exciting new project to strengthen its already extensive western language holdings about Asia. It is being funded by a trust established by Harold S. Williams (1898-1987), distinguished Australian businessman, writer and collector who lived most of his adult life in Japan. Williams donated his large library of books, manuscripts, photographs and other items about Japan and the West to the national library. He set up the trust for the maintenance and further development of this collection.

The HSW project began in September 2004. It is being undertaken by Andrew Gosling, former chief librarian, Asian collections in collaboration with staff in Asian collections and technical services. To date, some 430 titles published between the mid-nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries have been selected.

Selections have been broadly based on the priorities of the HSW Collection. These include the role of foreigners in Japan; the history of interaction between Japan and the West; and writings by Western authors on Japanese topics.

Recent printed and online catalogues of leading Asian specialist booksellers in Australia, Japan, the UK and the USA have been checked against the library's catalogue for suitable titles. Professor Peter Kornicki's online bibliography of Japanese history up to 1912 has also been a useful source for selections. Some titles listed by booksellers were found to have been sold already, but in many cases it has been possible to acquire a copy through online services such as Abebooks or Amazon.

Andrew Gosling

NLA and Canberra booksellers join forces in Books for Aceh Project

The national library's Aceh book donation programme began in May, with the first consignment of Indonesian books donated to the public library in Banda Aceh.

During the month of June, six independent Canberra booksellers raised funds to donate to the library for the Aceh books project. The booksellers ran a campaign through their bookshops which stimulated great interest from members of the public, many of whom made donations to the booksellers and directly to the national library. Altogether over $8000 was raised, and was handed over to the Library's Director-General, Jan Fullerton, on 8 July. The funds will be sent to the library's Jakarta office to purchase more books over the next three to six months.

The NLA's regional officer, Mr Ralph Sanderson, visited Banda Aceh in May and sent back the following report:

'The delivery of the first shipment of over 900 books from the NLA regional office in Jakarta coincided with my visit to Banda Aceh where I attended the official reopening of the provincial library on 7 May 2005. On the day of the opening a display of books was held.These included books donated by the NLA and by several Indonesian publishers...

'I also joined the visit of one of the new mobile library vans (donated by the National Library of Indonesia) to Semik Barracks, one of many locations established to accommodate local residents displaced by the earthquake and tsunami. During the visit I spoke to some of the children and took the impromptu opportunity to read a couple of stories to a group of boys who had gathered around. Although they did seem more interested in me and wanted to know whether I was a Muslim, to see the photo I had in my wallet of my family and to look at the St Christopher medallion I was wearing! The visit by the library van was very popular and those who attended were mostly children and mums. Many were keen to know whether they could borrow books on that day'.

Ralph notes that he was warmly welcomed by staff of the provincial library, included Mr Kamaruddin, the new head, and Mr Mirwansyah, one of the librarians, who acted as Ralph's guide. The NLA's assistance to the provincial library will continue over the next six to twelve months. It is planned to commence donations of English language books for the library's reference collection once the library has been refurbished and services have been re-established.

Amelia McKenzie

University of Goroka Library

Sir Paulias Matane, Governor General of Papua New Guinea officially opened the new three-storey library complex at the University of Goroka, Eastern Highland Province, in May 2005. The project cost the PNG government thirteen million Kina. The building was designed by a retired library professor and constructed by Downer PNG over a two year period. The reading tables and chairs are all made of tropical hard wood such as kwila and rosewood.

The University of Goroka Library is believed to be the second largest in Papua New Guinea. It has a stock of over 100 000 monographic volumes, 400 periodical titles, 1000 video tapes and several thousand audio-visual materials.

University of Goroka started as a teacher training college in 1962 to train primary school teachers. The college was transferred to the University of Papua New Guinea from the Teacher Education Division of the Ministry of Education in 1975 to offer teacher training courses for secondary education. In 1997, the University of Goroka Act 1997, formally established the campus as the University of Goroka. There are about 1350 students, 71 faculty staff and three faculties: Education, Humanities and Science.

Deveni Temu

Endangered archives program grants in the Pacific

Yap State Archives, Federated States of Micronesia, has received a grant of £21 000 for a major project from the new Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) which is supported by The Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund and administered by the British Library. The grant will enable the migration of 179 audio tapes to CD, their storage within a dedicated server as well as the translation and transcription of the tapes. The tapes were created during the First Yap State Constitutional Convention in 1982 and contain discussion as well as public hearings on such matters as civil liberties and traditions, plenary session, government structure and functions and general provisions. The Yap State archivist, Cheryl Stanborough, and her staff will undertake the project. The grant will enable the purchase of equipment, such as a dedicated server to store the converted tapes, computer and tape recorder, provide salary for the estimated two years of the project for translation and transcription, and the purchase of all necessary consumables.

National Archives of Tuvalu has received a grant of £5150 also from the Endangered Archives Programme for a pilot project on the digital preservation of some of its archival records. The award will enable a feasibility study on the digital preservation of Tuvalu's earlier vital records, and will include a survey to identify records, some digital and microfilm copying, followed by a report with recommendations for possible additional work. Tuvalu National Archives staff, with assistance from Richard Overy and Ewan Maidment, will undertake the project. Support is being provided by the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, which initiated the project and will act as host institution and project administrator.

Details of the awards made under the Endangered Archives Programme have now been posted on the EAP website.

East Timor living memory archive

East Timor's 'living memory' project is seeking an archivist/curator to work in Timor on a six-month program, beginning October 2005.

The project managed by the Australian, Jill Jolliffe, who has been active in Timor for many years, will create a video archive from testimony of former political prisoners. It is partly financed by the recently established Southeast Asia Digital Library, run by a group of U.S. university libraries led by the University of Northern Illinois through a grant from the United States Department of Education.

Archivist/curator needed

'Living memory' is seeking an experienced librarian in the audio-visual field to work in Dili. Tasks involve designing a system of storage in tropical conditions for master tapes, establishing a computerised catalogue, and training an East Timorese counterpart for long-term conservation of the material and the mounting of related exhibitions. Given Dili's status as a hardship posting, we are looking for a dedicated person, preferably with some ability in either the Tetum, Indonesian or Portuguese languages. Employment would be for five months, at a rate of $2000USD per month, plus accommodation and airfares.

Sponsor for the position also needed

The draft project budget described this job as financed 'in-kind', in the belief that an aid organization or library might be prepared to finance it, but to date no partner has stepped forward. One solution would be for a willing library to second a staff member to us on salary for the five months and, ideally, contribute the return air fare.

The 'living memory' team drawn from international and Timorese staff will work with the Association of Former Political Prisoners (ASEPPOL in the Portuguese acronym). The archive will remain in Timor as part of its national heritage. The budget includes provision for casual employment for ex-prisoners as well as full-time Timorese staff. The international digital version will be available in various formats to media and educational institutions for historical research, to advance respect for human rights and to contribute to the international campaign to abolish torture.

'For ex-prisoners and torture victims the recovery and safeguarding of memory is imperative to their well-being. The story of ex-prisoners...is a vital part of East Timor's recent history which is currently ignored and in danger of being lost to the younger generation. The recovery of that collective memory by the living memory project is...part of the healing process' from project outline.

Jill Jolliffe can be contacted via e-mail. Her postal address is P.O. Box 3952, Darwin, N.T. 0801

News from the Asian Studies Association of Australia

Asian Currents
Asian Currents, the ASAA's electronic newsletter is available for free subscription. Asian Currents has a subscriber list of over 850, from business, government and the media, as well as academia. It is a vehicle for telling the wider world about current research activities.

Subscribe from the webpage.

ASAA 2006 Conference
The next ASAA conference will be in Wollongong, 26-29 June 2006. The website will be up soon. The convenor is Adrian Vickers.

SEALG list

Keeping up with Southeast Asian library news in the UK? You may be interested in SEALG's new newslist.

APSIG e-mail list

Christina Flynn has taken over from Deveni Temu as the administrator of the aliaAPSIG forum, which is a moderated e-mail discussion list aimed at facilitating regular communication between APSIG members.

To subscribe to this e-list fill out the form available at: http://lists.alia.org.au/mailman/listinfo/aliaapsig

Anyone can post to this e-list - send e-mails to: aliaapsig@lists.alia.org.au.nospam.

APSIG forthcoming events

APSIG spring dinner, Wednesday 28 September, at a Canberra restaurant. More details from George Miller ph 02 6295 1439.

APSIG lunchtime talk, Travellers' tales. Two interesting speakers are planned for later this year. More details in inCite and via the APSIG e-discussion list.

Library visit in Canberra, late 2005. More details later.

Christmas lunch, early December. More details later.

Books received

Economic reforms and food security: the impact of trade and technology in South Asia. Eds. Surech Candra Babu, Ashok Gulati. New York : Haworth Press, 2005. 482 p. ISBN1560222573 (soft)

Selected proceedings of the South Asia Regional Conference held in New Delhi, April 2002.

Fiji Library Association Biennial Conference

On the weekend of 1 - 2 July 2005, over sixty librarians and information specialists attended the two day sixteenth Fiji Library Association Biennial Convention held at the Forum Secretariat Convention Centre, Suva. They came from all over Fiji, including the Fiji Museum, national archives, University of the South Pacific, Fiji Institute of Technology , regional and international organisations such as the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, South Pacific Geoscience Commission, UNICEF and representatives of various governments departments, non government organisations and schools.

The evening reception included a presentation from Mr Jim Bentley of the Fiji Media Council and Chair of the Fiji National Commission for Unesco. Verenaisi Bavdra, a Fiji Library Association Convention committee member was quoted as saying: '... the convention focussed on developing strategies to support members' and looked at effective ways of promoting libraries and archives, especially the need to 'providing free and fair access to information' to all citizens of Fiji.

The Fiji Library Association was formed in 1972 to encourage and foster the development of libraries, librarianship and associated activities in Fiji and the South Pacific region.

A key outcome was the development of a strategic plan for the FLA. The FLA hopes to finalise the plan for endorsement at its AGM in December 2005. The working title is Fiji Library Association - Empowering People Through Information - Strategic Plan 2006-2010. Its implementation will need support, encouragement and funding from Fiji and the wider library and donor community in the Asia Pacific region.

Libby Cass

Co-operating with Timor-Leste: ideas for good development practice: conference report

Anya Dettman

I attended the conference 'Co-operating with Timor-Leste : ideas for good development practice' on 17-18 June in Melbourne. The conference was opened by the Prime Minister of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri. This conference was more focused on practical aid projects than on academic issues, and was extremely popular, in fact oversubscribed (about 300 people registered, but many more just turned up, including many from overseas and from East Timor itself, and the organisers simply didn't have the heart to turn anyone away). The single copy of the NLA East Timor bibliography which I took to the conference was of great interest, with many people leafing through it and jotting down bibliographical details. The Australia-East Timor Association, which had a bookstall there, even expressed an interest in publishing it.

I was previously involved, along with Marie Sexton, with the Canberra branch of the Friends of the Library of the East Timor National University (UNTL), and I was particularly interested in attending the session on the library sector in East Timor. Lyle French gave a presentation on the UNTL Library as a case study of the reconstruction of a library service after almost complete destruction. Patti Manolis gave a fascinating overview of the Timorese library sector based on her observations from a study tour funded by the State Library of Victoria (her report should soon be on their website). One of her highlights included the story of a small community on Atauro Island (off Timor's north coast) who set up their own library and ran a mobile book service with donkeys and canoes. Undeterred by the lack of books in Tetum, the library staff promptly wrote and printed their own. Unfortunately they have been evicted from the premises they were using, but undaunted they have begun fundraising to build their own library building. Alarico de Sena, an Australian Timorese library technician, described the training he provided to East Timorese library staff in 2003/2004. Although an East Timorese Library Association has recently been established, along with an elementary library technicians training course, the library sector has to cope with very low levels of IT literacy and basic library skills. There is no established course for librarians and few have any knowledge of library management, including budgeting and planning. There is as yet no national library, no legal deposit scheme (so much of the printed material currently being produced in East Timor may be lost forever), no national bibliographical database or sharing of catalogue records, and only a rudimentary public library service.

During the subsequent discussion amongst the librarians present, I raised the issue of the lack of national co-ordination in Australia of assistance to Timor's libraries. There are numerous but fragmented interest groups involved with supporting Timorese libraries, but usually only focusing on particular libraries, with the result that some (such as the UNTL Library and the Xanana Gusmao Reading Room) receive a great deal of funding and training while others such as the one on Atauro receive none, and more difficult issues such as the need to establish a national library seem to be avoided. A national register of those willing to provide training and support (and the types of support and any special skills able to be provided) should be created and matched to a comprehensive list of Timorese libraries or communities who need libraries, as well as the 'broader picture' of what needs to be done throughout the whole library sector.

I also acquired from the Australia-East Timor Association a list of publications about East Timor which they sell and identified an excellent history of East Timor, Timor Loro Sae : 500 years by Australian author Geoff Gunn, which the NLA does not appear to have yet, possibly because it was published in Macau in 1999.

Anya's report on the East Timour Studies Symposium, held in Melbourne on 16 June, will appear in a later issue.

Travellers' tales from Indonesia and Vanuatu

Another in APSIG's popular series of travellers tales in which colleagues report on work and travel in our region was held on 19 April at the national library.

We had two great speakers. 'A Jakarta tale: eight years, five presidents and three bombs', a fascinating talk on how our nearest Asian neighbour is changing. Oliver Mann, now manager, Picture Australia, was the national library's regional officer in Jakarta from 1996 to 2004, responsible for the acquisition of Indonesian books, journals and newspapers from Jakarta and the provinces. Now back in Canberra, Oliver reflected on his experiences during a turbulent period in Indonesia.

'Swimming with the fishes... volunteering as a librarian in Vanuatu' was a completely different talk by Kylie Moloney, acting Kinetica customer service manager.

During 2004 Kylie worked as a volunteer librarian in Vanuatu on the Australian Youth Ambassador for Development program (AusAID). She worked at the Vanuatu Institute of Technology (VIT) as well as on more remote islands of Vanuatu. We heard about Kylie's experience of setting up new libraries, training people in librarianship and promoting the possibilities, opportunities and benefits of libraries; as well as how she learned to weave traditional baskets, slept on the library tables at lunchtime and swam with the fishes every day in the beautiful Pacific oceans surrounding Vanuatu!

Brisbane Asian arts news

Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT)

'APT 2006: Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art', the fifth in this series, will open in late 2006 as the opening exhibition at the new Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. The gallery of modern art is the Queensland Art Gallery's second site located just 200 metres from the existing building.

APT 2006 will include work of around 35 artists from Asia, Australia and the Pacific. As well as visual art, APT will present a performance program and, for the first time, a curated cinema program along with its popular children's program, Kid's APT. Artists announced so far include Anish Kapoor, Ozawa Tsuyoshi, Stephen Page, Michael Parekowhai, John Pule, Kumar Shahani, Talvin Singh, Ai Weiwei, Yang Fudong and Yang Zhenzhong.

For more information about the artists and APT 2006, see the website.

Archiving the contemporary: documenting Asian art today, yesterday and tomorrow, April 2005, Hong Kong

The Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, organised a three-day international workshop, 'Archiving the contemporary: documenting Asian art today, yesterday and tomorrow' from 18 to 20 April 2005 in Hong Kong. The workshop brought together artists, archivists, curators and arts professionals from Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia, including Judy Gunning of the Queensland Art Gallery to discuss issues of archiving, documenting, preserving, managing and sharing information on contemporary Asian art.

Perspectives: Asia series

Perspectives: Asia is a series of public seminars developed and presented by the Australian Centre of Asia-Pacific Art, Queensland Art Gallery and Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University. See the Griffith Asia Institute website for more information about the series.

Sparse shadows, flying pearls: a Japanese screen revealed, 27 August - 27 November 2005

This Queensland Art Gallery exhibition will focus on a pair of seventh-century Japanese screens by Unkoku T_eki (1591-1644) gifted to the gallery by Mr James O. Fairfax, AO. It explores the iconographic meaning of the screens and examines the wider implications of their theme within the social and political context of the times. An exhibition catalogue will be available from the gallery store.

Judy Gunning

NLA and Canberra booksellers join forces in Books for Aceh Project

The national library's Aceh book donation programme began in May, with the first consignment of Indonesian books donated to the public library in Banda Aceh.

During the month of June, six independent Canberra booksellers raised funds to donate to the library for the Aceh books project. The booksellers ran a campaign through their bookshops which stimulated great interest from members of the public, many of whom made donations to the booksellers and directly to the national library. Altogether over $8000 was raised, and was handed over to the Library's Director-General, Jan Fullerton, on 8 July. The funds will be sent to the library's Jakarta office to purchase more books over the next three to six months.

The NLA's regional officer, Mr Ralph Sanderson, visited Banda Aceh in May and sent back the following report:

'The delivery of the first shipment of over 900 books from the NLA regional office in Jakarta coincided with my visit to Banda Aceh where I attended the official reopening of the provincial library on 7 May 2005. On the day of the opening a display of books was held.These included books donated by the NLA and by several Indonesian publishers...

'I also joined the visit of one of the new mobile library vans (donated by the National Library of Indonesia) to Semik Barracks, one of many locations established to accommodate local residents displaced by the earthquake and tsunami. During the visit I spoke to some of the children and took the impromptu opportunity to read a couple of stories to a group of boys who had gathered around. Although they did seem more interested in me and wanted to know whether I was a Muslim, to see the photo I had in my wallet of my family and to look at the St Christopher medallion I was wearing! The visit by the library van was very popular and those who attended were mostly children and mums. Many were keen to know whether they could borrow books on that day'.

Ralph notes that he was warmly welcomed by staff of the provincial library, included Mr Kamaruddin, the new head, and Mr Mirwansyah, one of the librarians, who acted as Ralph's guide. The NLA's assistance to the provincial library will continue over the next six to twelve months. It is planned to commence donations of English language books for the library's reference collection once the library has been refurbished and services have been re-established.

Amelia McKenzie

NLA acquisitions news

The national library recently acquired a rare Buddhist world map, Nansenbushu Bankoko Shoka No Zu, produced in Kyoto, ca. 1710. The title translated means: 'Visualised map of all the countries in Jambudvipa.' It is a wallmap of the world in Chinese by Zuda Rokashi, one of the important Japanese Buddhist priests and founder of the Kegonje Temple in Kyoto. The map is a fusion of Buddhist and European cartography based on two untitled manuscript maps of Jambudvipa attributed to Sokaku which appeared in 1698 and 1709 with added texts and embellishments. In the centre of the map is depicted 'Jambu-Dvipa' with the sacred Lake of Anavatapta and the four rivers Ganges, Oxus, Indus and Tarim flowing out.

The National Library is also pleased to announce its new Korean acquisitions list.

The list contains all new Korean books and serials acquired during the month, arranged in classified order and displaying both script and romanised titles.

Amelia McKenzie