CDNLAO Newsletter
No. 71, July 2011
Introduction
The National Library of Malaysia (NLM) is a MS ISO certified government library since 1999 and was recertified as a MS ISO 9001: 2008 library effective 9 April 2010 till 8 April 2013. The library's scope of ISO implementation comprises of tracing, acquisition, registration, documentation, maintenance and preservation as well as the readiness of materials received under the Deposit of Library Material Act 1986 (Act 331) for user reference based on MS ISO 9001:2008 requirements and management of procurement of library materials, gift and exchange and customer service. Thus, with its multifarious functions and services, supported by high-tech facilities and well-qualified staff committed to excellence, NLM is poised to lead the nation in its pursuit to achieve its vision that is "To be a world class leader in library development, services and leadership".
National Library of Malaysia – Front View
Reference Services at the National Library of Malaysia (NLM)
The National Library Act 1972 (Act 80) was passed on 1 September 1972. One of the functions of NLM as stipulated in the Act is to provide reference, information and referral services. Thus, the Reference Division was opened to the public in 1972 to serve its multi-faceted roles through reference counters manned by professional librarians to serve and fulfill users information needs by responding to enquiries over the counter, online reference enquiries, e-mail, letters and telephone.
Among the reference services provided are as follows:
(a) Ubiquitous Library (u-Pustaka) Pilot Project
The most significant new development for the Library over the past year has been the launching of the Ubiquitous Library or u-Pustaka Pilot Project. The objective of this project is to provide physical and digital access to knowledge resources at anytime, from anywhere to anyone and "putting a library in every home" with the tagline "Think Knowledge, Think u-Pustaka".
The u-Pustaka Portal (www.u-pustaka.gov.my) was developed to make borderless library service a reality. Under this project lending facilities is extended including services where books will be delivered to their respective house/ office by the national courier service. "Book Drops" are also provided at all the u-Pustaka consortium members' library. Besides that, users are also able to access born digital or digitized local content in the portal. The u-Pustaka fosters an engaging lifelong learning experience for the people through the provision of web publishing, collaboration, content management and inter lending services components.
The u-Pustaka pilot project will be a "touch point" for the government to develop a knowledge society towards realizing 'Vision 2020'. This service is also in line with the 1Malaysia government aspiration "People First, Performance Now" where everyone in Malaysia is able to use library services such as borrowing of books, reference services, participate in programmes and activities, network with others, share knowledge and experience "anytime, anywhere and by anyone".
Book-Drop
Self-Checkout machine
(b) Malaysiana Collection
The pride of the National Library's collection is the Malaysiana collection. It comprises of library materials that were published in the country and overseas whose whole or larger part of the content is related to the publication date or the language used. The Malaysiana Collection includes publications such as books, magazines, newspapers, annual reports, journals, statistics, government reports, seminar papers and conference papers. These materials are available for reference and can be borrowed through Inter-Library Loan.
(c) Malay Manuscript Collection
Another reference service provided by NLM is the Malay Manuscripts. NLM is the National Centre for Malay manuscripts and has the largest collection of Malay Manuscripts in the world. There are 4,331 copies of Manuscripts and cover various subjects such as literature, history, religious texts, medicine, law, constitution and amulets, and tips The Hikayat Hang Tuah, one of the oldest Malay manuscript is listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register 2001. Malay Manuscripts are available for research in the microfilm and original format upon request through its reference counter.
Malay Manuscripts
(d) Rare Collection
This collection comprises publications from within and outside Malaysia published before the year 1900 and is either out of print or no longer available in the market. It includes books, reports and maps. It is a closed collection and usage of these materials is restricted to researchers by special request at the reference desk.
Rare Books
Rare Collection
(e) Personal Collection
This consists of personal collection of known individuals. This collection is obtained by NLM for the purpose of preservation and research. It is a closed collection and usage of these materials is restricted to researchers by special request. Since 1994, NLM has acquired 22 personal collection making the total cumulative collection to 38,877 copies.
Personal Collection
(f) Newspaper Collection
Consists of two forms that is original and microfilm. NLM's earliest newspaper collection is the Malay Mail dated back as early as 1883. To date, the National Library of Malaysia subscribes 54 titles of newspaper and has a total of 12,000 rolls of microfilms of newspaper available for reference and research. Photocopy services are available to print newspaper articles from the microfilms and original papers at a minimal charge.
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| Newspaper Reference Section | Newspaper Microfilm Readers |
(g) E-Resources
Another inroad made by NLM in this challenging world of ICT is the increase usage of e-resources by the users. NLM provides public domain as well as subscribed and purchased e-resources to the users. For this year, 4,893,289 hits were accounted for in all the e-resources provided to the users. Among the e-resources available are e- books, e-newspaper, e-magazines, e-catalogues, and online databases. Besides that, WIFI services is also provided to the users to enable them to access Internet at anywhere and anytime in NLM.
(h) Cyber Zone
The Cyber Zone was set up to provide secretarial services, access to online databases, internet, online social networking platforms and other online resources.
Cyber Zone
Director-General:
Dato' Raslin Bin Abu Bakar
E-mail : raslin@pnm.my
NLM's Library Service Opening Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday: 10.00 am to 7.00 pm
Sunday: 10.00 am to 6.00 pm
Monday and Public Holidays: Closed
Address:
National Library of Malaysia
232, Jalan Tun Razak
Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
Tel: 603 - 26871700
Fax: 603- 26942490
E-Mail: Webmaster@pnm.my
URL: http://www.pnm.gov.my
Copyright (C) 2011 National Library of Malaysia
