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No. 75, November 2012

The 20th Meeting of Conference of Directors of National Libraries in Asia Oceania (CDNLAO) was held in Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia on 28 May 2012. CDNL-AO has been held to discuss current issues for strengthening networks and promoting cooperation among national libraries within Asia and Oceania since 1979. This meeting was attended by 23 representatives from 18 attending member countries which were Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.

CDNLAO 2012 participants

The official opening of the conference was marked at 2:00 PM by a welcoming speech from Sri Sularsih, Director of National Library of Indonesia. This was followed by the introduction of the participants, approval of minutes from the 19th conference, and presentation of country reports about key library activities.

The members discussed about the library developments in each national library especially the development which related to the library services. During the meeting, the members also discussed about proposed and ongoing projects. There were seven presentations of projects made at the meeting. The first presentation was made by the delegate from National Library of Australia (NLA), Ms. Anne-Marie Schwirtlich. In her presentation, she gave a report on the Future of Library Asia Pacific (LAP) Directory project. She outlined that the project was successful although it may be stopped because it was not much used online anymore unless there are other countries that are willing to continue the project.

The second presentation was delivered by the delegate from the National Library of Indonesia, Ms. Lilik Soelistyowati. She gave a report on the digitization of Indonesian newspaper which was followed by several discussions on the project. She outlined that it is important to digitize the collections in order to save the information and to invite other countries and institutions to join the project.

Mrs. Ngian Lek Choh of the National Library Board of Singapore gave her presentations on three projects which were Digital Bibliography of the 10 top treasurers in each country's national library or libraries in ASEAN Countries, establishing a Framework for Excellence in Library Management and National Libraries Global (NLG). In general, she invited all the members to join the projects and give their supports.

Next presentation was made by Mr. Hidetoshi Kanebako of the National Diet Library of Japan. In his presentation, he outlined the library reconstruction activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake. He noted that there are several activities undertaken such as salvaging damaged materials, support for the restoration of libraries and reading environments in stricken areas, support of stricken areas through library services and internet portal sites for supporting affected libraries.

China delegates represented by Mr. Wang Zhigeng delivered a report on last year's relocation project of National Library of China. He reported that the National Library of China's building is under renovation due to the low equipment and lack of maintenance.

The meeting proceeded with the presentations of country reports from each country. Afterwards, Australia offered to host the 22nd CDNLAO meeting in 2014 which then agreed by all members. Meanwhile the 21st CDNLAO meeting will be held next year in Malaysia as decided during the 19th meeting in South Korea. The meeting was then officially closed by Mrs. Sri Sularsih.

After the meeting was closed, there was a renewal signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Library of Indonesia and the National Library Board of Singapore and at the same time there was another signing of the MoU between the National Library of Indonesia and the National Library of Korea. Both the MoUs are implemented to set up and improve cooperation in the fields of library management and other related matters.