APSIG newsletter no. 59: November 2005

National Library Asia Research Forum: session report

The National Library of Australia held an Asia Research Forum on 24 October 2005. With 100 attendees, the one-day forum brought together librarians and academics studying Asia to discuss current trends in Asia-related research and how libraries can better meet the needs of the current and future generations of Asia scholars.

A full report of the forum is in preparation at the time of going to print. Here is a report of one of the academic panels discussing trends in research on Asia.

Professor Vera Mackie, ARC professorial fellow, department of history, University of Melbourne. From Orientalism to globalism: a brief history.

Professor Mackie described two historical paradigms in Australian research on Asia: the Orientalist view and the area studies view. The former dominated until the mid twentieth century, and focused on the 'deep history' of Asia, i.e. a study of its culture, literature, language, philosophy, recognizing the long history of civilization. The orientalist view was linked to the colonialist period, when Asia was something to be ruled and controlled - as expressed, for example, in the writings of Edwards Said.

The area studies view underpinned the post-colonial era of capitalism, communism and cold war politics. This was a time of the (illusory) 'helping hand' of American foreign policy, and research focused on the division between the East and the West, as developing and developed countries. It tended to focus on particular historical periods of the country e.g. modernisation issues. It was often financially supported by organisations like the Ford Foundation (although there were no such organisations in Australia).

Now, said Professor Mackie, new paradigms are emerging.

• 'Subaltern' studies: a general term drawn from Indian studies, researchers look at how people actually lived day-to-day on the grassroots level, not just as colonised peoples.
• Post-colonial theory.
• Critical Asian studies (as carried out in University of Washington).
• Anti-area studies: transcends the nation states and look at how people and societies are connected.
• 'Connected' studies: looks at how people are connected, e.g. why Japanese divers were employed in Australia.
• Globalisation studies.

Professor Mackie saw many new challenges in the newly emerging areas of research. Students are increasingly pursuing topics such as social movements, popular culture, sexuality, gender, internet, etc. However students without language skills are unable to use important vernacular materials in their research and undertake deep analysis of their topics. This is a problem: language skills need a long time and some effort to nurture.

Against this picture of the development of Asian studies in Australia, Dr Louise Edwards, convenor, Asia-Pacific futures research networks project, Australian National University took up the theme of the 'new' Asian studies in her paper From disciplines and methods to issues and problems.

Dr Edwards noted that over 1400 academics in Australia have identified themselves as primarily Asianists or Pacific scholars. The Asia-Pacific futures research network has a register of close to 300 PhD students, pointing to considerable strength in Asian studies.

She described a generational change in Asian studies in Australia, with a large cadre of talented post graduates are emerging. In her view the field had changed dramatically and for the better, benefiting from the solid foundation laid by earlier generations of scholars.

Interestingly Louise saw fewer issues with language skills, pointing to the number of native-speaking Asian scholars who can speak the language and know the culture first hand. She spoke of her postdoctoral students who had very good language skills, some starting from primary school level.

Dr Edwards agreed with Professor Mackie that research topics are no longer bound by a particular discipline, such as history or politics. Issues and problems drive the research instead, such as gender or HIV-AIDS. Interdisciplinary studies, she felt, was distinctly Australian, as opposed to the US where discipline studies were still strong. For Australia though it would be the direction to the future.

She nominated sub-national studies, minority studies (especially in China), provincial studies and inter-country studies (e.g. migration between China and India; management of bird flu in Asia) as especially prominent now. Comparative studies were now often between countries of Asia, not between East and the West. She felt that because of Australia's proximity to the region Australian scholars were more ready than US or UK scholars to respond to Asia in this way.

Finally, Dr Edwards noted that as research topics changed, so did the texts of those topics. Examples were:

• Resources for the study of popular material culture: match boxes, food, clothing, art, jewellery, gardens, etc.
• Public spaces (libraries, museums, etc.) as an object of study. Heritage issues regarding public memories such as Long March tourism are interesting topics for research.
• Electronic culture: study of online communities, e.g. women's organisations online. Also online computer games involving multiple players and virtual weapons that have real legal ramifications.

Dr Edwards urged libraries to consider their role as collectors of the new texts: to develop a role as virtual storehouses and to transform their traditional roles to match these new and exciting developments.

Wan Wong, Amelia McKenzie

Further reports from the Asia Research Forum will be published in the next issue of the APSIG newsletter.

Education project in Aceh

Canberra APSIG members heard a very informative and lively report on Aceh at our spring dinner on 28 September. Ably organised at an Asian restaurant by George Miller, we were privileged to hear from Dr David Sloper of Canberra who has just returned from his second period in Aceh this year.

Part of a team of educators assembled by Hassall and Associates of Canberra and Indonesia to provide training in planning for those now grappling with the horrific situation left by the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, David provided a very positive but light-hearted and amusing story after our dinner.

Using several Kijang four wheel drive vehicles as a traveling office and resource centre, the team, funded through the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development's $1 billion dollar fund, put on eight courses in various locations in Aceh Province to develop the capacity and ability of 220 local government planning officers, so they can undertake this gigantic rebuilding. David reported that the coming of peace to Aceh through the signing of the Oslo peace accords is providing the best opportunity in thirty years for the area.

Australia to fund PNG library upgrade

Papua New Guinea's National Library is set to receive a face-lift, with the Australian government funding a A$3 million package to restore and improve the facility. The gift marks PNG's 30th anniversary of independence, which is being celebrated this year.

The Vanuatu Library Association

The Vanuatu Library Association was established in the early 1990's to unite all persons interested in libraries and librarianship, and to provide support and leadership for the development and improvement of library services. Development of libraries in Vanuatu faces unique challenges. These include low levels of literacy amongst the general population, difficult climatic conditions, inadequate funding and a general lack of awareness amongst key government stakeholders of the value of libraries and the importance of information in both education and the public sector.

Membership is made up of librarians from the Vanuatu National Library, public libraries, academic libraries, and special libraries from government departments and NGO's. The VLA meets regularly each month at a different library and most meetings attract approximately 25 members. The VLA co-ordinates continuing education workshops for its members and provides a scholarship for library education. In 2005 the VLA also re-activated the publication of a regular newsletter. The newsletter is available online from the Vanuatu Library Association website.

Funding of the VLA is via member subscriptions and regular fundraising activities.

2005 President of the Vanuatu Library Association is Peter Murgatroyd (please remove '.nospam' from address), Emalus Campus Librarian at the University of the South Pacific.

Peter Murgatroyd

The theosophical movement connecting Asia and Australia

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the theosophical movement influenced and connected Asia and Australia in ways now largely forgotten. An article about some of these influences will appear in the January 2006 National Library of Australia news and its online version.

The article is based on the national library's extensive holdings about theosophy, which were greatly strengthened in 2003 by the donation of the Dr John Cooper theosophy collection. Cooper was a leading historian and collector of books, periodicals, pamphlets, papers and photographs about theosophy in Australia and internationally.

The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Madame Blavatsky and others, but drawing on much older Eastern and Western teachings about direct knowledge of God, teaches that all religions and philosophies are reflections of a greater and secret truth. Theosophy has placed a strong emphasis on Asian beliefs, in particular Buddhism and Hinduism. Theosophy appealed to many leaders of national movements in our region, from Alfred Deakin in Australia to India's Mahatma Gandhi and Indonesia's President Sukarno. There were strong links between theosophists in Australia and the Theosophical Society's international headquarters in India as well as with members in other Asian states such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The article describes these connections as seen in the national library's rich resources, including the Dr John Cooper theosophy collection.

Andrew Gosling

East Timor study tour

Patti Manolis, manager of library services for the Maribyrnong City Council, was awarded a scholarship from the State Library of Victoria for the purpose of undertaking a study tour of libraries and community building activity in East Timor over May and June 2004. Her very extensive report is called Biblioteka ba ne'ebe? Libraries where you going? [842kb pdf]. It has many illustrations.

She reported on public, special, school and university and college libraries. The inCite December 2005 issue will contain an article by Patti on her trip. She is inspired by the great people she met.

Pacific parliamentary librarians gather in Fiji

James Di Giambattista and George Dixon, the Library of Congress' agents for the Pacific Islands Region, undertook an acquisitions visit to Fiji in August. When they arrived, they were pleased to find that the Fiji Parliamentary Library was sponsoring a regional seminar for Pacific parliamentary librarians sponsored by UNDP.

Jim felt honored to speak before this group of old and new friends about the direction of information services in parliamentary libraries. 'That the Fiji Parliamentary Library welcomed both our visit and the conference in the same week was a real tribute to Fijian hospitality and the dedication of the parliamentary staff' Jim commented from Honolulu.

Congratulations to U Thaw Kaung

Well known to many Australian librarians through his visits, the noted Burmese librarian, U Thaw Kaung, formerly chief librarian of the universities' central library, Yangon, Myanmar, has been honoured by the award of a Fukuoka City Asian Culture Prize. They are given for contributions to the preservation and creation of Asian culture.

RMIT projects in Vietnam

RMIT International University Vietnam, a subsidiary of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, has been engaged for the past four and a half years in the project management of a number of learning resource centre development projects in collaboration with Vietnamese universities.

Each learning resource centre project entails the design, construction and development of a large-scale library facility based on contemporary models and standards of information services, together with the provision of information technology infrastructure, high quality teaching and learning facilities and a range of current print and electronic information resources and services.

The development of these facilities and resources is supported by capacity building programs in the areas of management and staff training, financial sustainability, and operational and service development.

It is an ambitious and high-profile development program, aiming to improve the level of resources and facilities available to students in Vietnamese universities, act as a model for library development elsewhere in the country, and to initiate reform to teaching and learning processes through the encouragement of independent resource-based learning.

RMIT Vietnam is currently collaborating on four projects, located at the universities of Hue and Danang (central provinces), Cantho (Mekong Delta) and Thai Nguyen (northern mountainous area). The Hue and Danang Learning Resource Centres have been opened in June 2004 and July 2005 respectively, while the Cantho LRC is due to open early in 2006 and the Thai Nguyen LRC in 2007.

In addition to the learning resource centre projects, RMIT Vietnam has also been active in assisting the development of infrastructure for the practice of librarianship at a national level in Vietnam.

A number of workshops have been organised to encourage the adoption of major international bibliographic standards, and to explore ways in which libraries can work together co-operatively to share resources, improve professional practices and work towards the development of a Vietnamese national library association.

From these initiatives has emerged a collaborative project between RMIT Vietnam and the National Library of Vietnam for the authorised translation of the DDC 14th abridged edition. The translation of MARC 21 has already been completed by NACESTI, the Vietnamese National Centre for Scientific and Technical Information, and a third project to undertake the translation of AACR2 is proposed for the near future.

Michael Robinson, manager

Asia Bookroom moves house

The Asia Bookroom has reopened at a new address:
Asia Bookroom
Unit 2, 1 - 3 Lawry Place
Macquarie, ACT 2617

Ph 61 02 62515191
Fx 61 02 62515536

It is located in the block opposite the Jamison Centre. E-mail (please remove '.nospam' from address), phone, fax and web details remain the same as before.

The new premises are much larger and features improved Asian language, fiction, young people's and travel guide sections, a dedicated antiquarian area and more space for browsing and events. As well, there is a small selection of antique Chinese furniture from Humble House (a Canberra Chinese antique furniture dealer). Member of the Australia & New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers and the Australian Booksellers Association.

Sally Burdon was recently interviewed in Asian currents October 2005 issue.

New director for ANU RSPAS

A South Asian political and society specialist has been appointed director of the research school of Pacific and Asian studies (RSPAS) at ANU.

Professor Robin Jeffrey, immediate past president of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, will take-up the position in February, ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb said.

'Professor Jeffrey is a highly-respected scholar in his field and has the appropriate qualities to lead what is Australia's premier research centre for Asia and the Pacific,' Professor Chubb said.

'The appointment is an excellent one and our university will benefit from his expertise, experience and enthusiasm in the field.'

Professor Jeffrey is currently professor of politics at La Trobe University. He has written and taught widely on politics and media, and government, economy and representation in Asia, especially South Asia.

Professor Jeffrey said he was pleased to accept to the position of Director of RSPAS.

'The Research School of Pacific and Asian studies is a great Australian asset. It's known worldwide for the quality of its research and for the outstanding scholars it has trained. Its alumni are just one of its treasures.'

NLA acquisitions news

Showa no Yomiuri Shinbun [electronic resource] 1926-1946.
Publisher: Yomiuri Shinbun, 2002.
Searchable full text of the Yomiuri Shinbun, one of Japan's three major daily newspapers, for the period 1926 to 1946. A major primary resource for scholars of modern Japan, this is the first full text online Japanese newspaper to have been made available to foreign countries. Cost of A$16 900.

Shanghai dao qi [Land title deeds issued to foreigners in Shanghai during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries] 30 vols.
Shanghai : Shanghai gu ji chu ban she, 2005. A$10 600
A 30 volume limited edition, reproducing in facsimile the title deeds to land in Shanghai granted to foreign governments from 1847 to 1930. After the signing of the Treaty of Nanking between China and Great Britain in 1842, foreign governments were permitted to lease land in the main Chinese trading ports, including Shanghai. The Shanghai dao qi documents are a unique and complete record of this period, containing letters, reports, maps and certificates in both Chinese and English. Extremely valuable to the study of the social and economic history of Shanghai in its most turbulent period.

ALIA Canberra meeting

In preparation for the ALIA National Advisory Congress in late November, a series of informal regional meetings were held across Australia. Christina Flynn, APSIG committee member, attended the ACT Regional Meeting held at ALIA House on 5 October 2005. The meeting was chaired by Roxanne Missingham.

The purpose of the regional meetings 'provided an opportunity for members to participate in discussion on policy, planning and any topical issues relevant to the association.' The meeting ran for two hours and included an information session on a specific ALIA services and discussion of the issues on the NAC program.

Georgina Dale from ALIA gave a presentation on ALIA's Professional Development (PD) program. It is a worthwhile program but not very well known among members. There is a need to further promote the service to encourage participation.

Three events were selected as examples for ALIA's theme, Celebrating success. All events were very well attended, focused on professional development and identified national issues. They included:

• Australian Government Libraries Information Network (AGLIN) information sharing forums;
• ALIA/NLA Interlending Workshop; and
• Digital Amnesia conference.

Nominations were received for the ALIA Stars Program, which aims to highlight and promote success stories of members within and beyond the sector.

• Roxanne Missingham for her appointment as parliamentary librarian.
• The Australian Bureau of Statistics, particularly Dale Chatwin and Karen Vitullo for the work that led to ABS publications being made freely available on the internet.
• ACT Public Library for the redevelopment and refurbishment of the Kippax Library.

A new model has been proposed for the election of directors which allows for all members, both personal and institutional, to vote. Discussion of this item confirmed that those present did not find the existing model appropriate. A number of issues and ideas, relating to the governance of ALIA, were raised.

The final issue discussed was workforce planning and education. In particular there was much debate about mandatory qualifications for library jobs and the issue of attracting graduates to the profession. No consensus was reached on how ALIA should be addressing this issue. ALIA's role in promoting return on investment for libraries was considered. As was the need for further targeted research in the profession and the role that the Australian library journal should play in professional development.

It was a lively and fruitful meeting and well worth attending. Further information about the ALIA National Advisory Congress and regional meetings can be found on the ALIA website.

Christina Flynn, Menzies Library, ANU

Harold White Fellows announced

Four scholars have been selected for the National Library of Australia's Harold White Fellowships for 2006. Each of the scholars, who are expected to take up their fellowships at the beginning of the year, will spend three or four months carrying out research using the library's collections.

The fellows are:

Pamela Gutman, an honorary associate in the department of art history and theory at Sydney University, who will be writing a biography of Gordon Hannington Luce. Luce, a friend of E.M. Forster and John Maynard Keynes, went to Burma in 1912 as a professor of English and remained there for the greater part of his life, becoming a leading authority on the country. The library acquired a large collection of his books, manuscripts and personal papers after he died in 1979.

Bernadette Hince, who recently completed her doctoral thesis at the Australian National University on the sub-Antarctic islands. She proposes to study and edit the 1953-54 Heard Island diaries of John Béchervaise. Poet, essayist, teacher and mountaineer, Béchervaise led three Australian expeditions to the Antarctic between 1953 and 1960. He kept detailed records, letters and photographs documenting the beauty of the Antarctic, the extreme climate, the geology and fauna, and the relationships between men living in utter isolation.

Jemma Purdey, writer-in-residence at Monash University's centre of Southeast Asian studies, who has embarked on a biography of Herb Feith (1930-2001). Feith did early volunteer work in Indonesia and later kept in close contact with intellectual and political leaders in Indonesia. He wrote and lectured extensively on Indonesian politics and history during his time at the department of politics at Monash (1963-1990) and was active in the peace movement. Dr Purdey will explore Feith's large personal archive which the library acquired after his death.

Carolyn Strange, a Canadian scholar, has been based at the centre for cross-cultural research at the Australian National University. She will study Thomas Griffith Taylor (1880-1963), an Australian geologist, meteorologist and geographer. Taylor, a member of Scott's 1910-13 Antarctic expedition, founded the department of geography at Sydney University. He was a prolific writer, investigating climate change, environment, race, nationalism and migration. He also wrote an unpublished autobiography, kept diaries and scrapbooks and wrote a huge number of letters. Most of these papers are held in the library.

Further details of all of the national library's grants and awards include the Harold White Fellowships.

APSIG forthcoming events

Tuesday, 13 December 2005, 12:00am for 12:15am
APSIG Christmas lunch
Griffith Vietnamese Restaurant, 6(B) Barker Street, Griffith (i.e. Griffith shops) Cost $20 : entrees, main courses and Chinese tea. (BYO : corkage $1 per person). (Vegetarians can be catered for in main course). Bookings essential by Saturday 10 December, George Miller (please remove '.nospam' from address), ph 62951439.

Tuesday, 21 February 2006 at 4:30 pm
Visit to the National Islamic Centre and Library, Canberra (meet in the foyer).
221 Clive Steele Avenue, Monash (Cnr Isabella Drive and Clive Steele Avenue)
Refreshments provided. No bookings required. Enquiries: Deveni Temu (please remove '.nospam' from address).

Forthcoming conferences

Asian Studies Association of Australia 2006 Conference. Wollongong, 26-29 June 2006.
Theme, Asia Reconstructed. Convenor: Professor Adrian Vickers.

Asia Pacific Week - Pacific Islands Workshop 2006, 29 January - 2 February 2006, Australian National University.

Asia Pacific Week is a five day program of activities designed to bring together honours, postgraduate and recent postdoctoral students from the region.