Souvenir picture taken after Opening Ceremony

Table of Contents

• The Background
• The purposes of the Workshop
• Participants of the Workshop
• Outline of the Workshop
• Impressions of the Workshop 
• Acknowledgement

The Background

From June 5 to 8, 2002, I was invited to participate in the "Regional Training Workshop on the Preservation of and Access to Documentary Heritage in Asia and the Pacific" held in Cheongju and Seoul, Republic of Korea. The workshop was hosted by the Korean National Commission for UNESCO and Cheongju Municipal Government.

This workshop was designed as a follow-up of the 5th "International Advisory Committee on Memory of the World", held a year ago in Cheongju, attended by Ms. Varlamoff, Director of IFLA/PAC International Centre. The background is the Memory of the World (MOW) Program launched by the UNESCO in 1992 with the recognition that a great deal of documentary heritage around the world is now in danger of disappearing and some countermeasures urgently need to be taken. The MOW Program is conceived to promote the protection and preservation of documentary heritage and the meetings in Cheongju were organized to boost the UNESCO member countries' motivation towards the MOW Program and to encourage the establishment of national committees to promote the program. Forty-five nations in the world have now established their own national committees for the MOW Program, but only seven countries, namely Australia, China, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand have them in the Asia-Pacific region.
 

The purposes of the Workshop were as follows and emphasis was put on paper documents. 
(1) To increase the public awareness of the MOW Program and its goals in the countries which have not yet established national committees of the MOW 
(2) To deepen the understanding of the nature of paper materials, the necessity of preserving them, and appropriate management method for paper documents
(3) To provide practical knowledge of preservation, restoration and digitization of paper documents

Participants of the Workshop

The invited countries were Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Representatives of libraries were from five national libraries (six if the National Library of Korea is included) and one university library. From UNESCO Mr. Abdelaziz Abid of the Information Society Division attended. Dr. Guy Petherbridge from Australia's Network for Cultural Heritage Services chaired the Workshop. Dr. Suh Kyung-ho from Seoul University and other specialists in conservation and preservation from Korean institutions participated in the Workshop. 

Outline of the Workshop

The workshop consisted of the Opening Ceremony and Session1 on June 5, Session2 on 6, Study Tours of related institutions on 7 and the Closing Ceremony on 8.

(1) Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony started at 10:00 a.m. on June 5. Following the addresses of Mr. Kim Yersu, Secretary-General of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, Mr. Kim Dong-kee, Vice Mayor of the City of Cheongju and Mr. Abid from UNESCO, the contributors to the MOW registration of the second volume of "Jikji", the oldest metal type printed book, were given honorable recognition.

(2) Sessions

The Session started with a general description of the MOW Program by Mr. Abid from UNESCO. He also explained about the MOW Register and its selection criteria. The second speaker was Dr. Petherbridge, who gave us a commentary on the status of preservation of the paper-based documentary heritage in the Asia- Pacific region. Afterwards, the invited countries presented their country reports. The country reports contained descriptions of the legal systems concerning preservation of documentary heritage, overviews of the roles and activities of the related institutions, introductions of techniques for preserving and utilizing paper-based documents, specific examples of preservation conditions and activities, and advice and recommendations to promote the MOW Program in Asia-Pacific region (for country report of Japan, please see here(PDF file 66kb).
 

Mr. Murayama presenting the country report of Japan

I reported on the general situation of preservation of documentary heritages in Japan, referring to the laws and the statistics of the related organizations and also to the results of the MOW survey conducted in 1995. I also mentioned the preservation efforts at the NDL and our activities as the IFLA/PAC Asia Regional Centre. 

(3) Lectures

The following three lectures were given.
 

(4) Study Tours

We had the following study tours:
 

(5) Closing Ceremony 

In the last session, the UNESCO suggested the draft recommendation including promotion of establishment of MOW national committees in the Asia-Pacific Region and we discussed this matter. On national committees, the difficulty of establishment because of domestic affairs or the geographic situation of island countries was expressed. To solve the difficulty, establishment of expert committees or regional committees was suggested. I said that I, as the director of IFLA/PAC Regional Centre, agreed with the recommendation, but needed to hear opinions of related institutions in Japan. As for the recommendation, we agreed that opinions could be arrived at after returning to each country. The recommendation also included the proposition that a second Workshop will be held in Cheongju in 2004.

In addition, a questionnaire survey on the Workshop was conducted. I wrote that it was more important to enhance the MOW Program itself than to establish national committees. 

Impressions of the Workshop

I am glad to have been able to attend the workshop, though I had to go through a rush caused by the short preparation period and my lack of knowledge in the background that led to the workshop.
 

Exhibition of deteriorated materials brought by participants. A palm leaf book can be seen at the extreme left.

The Workshop was well organized.  Impressive tours and indispensable information were given, which will greatly help the preservation activities of our library and the IFLA/PAC Regional Centre for Asia (National Diet Library).  Needless to say, I recognized anew what a vast area Asia-Pacific covers.  Preservation should be carried out by the method that fits the local climate.  The region, which includes China, birthplace of paper, has handed down documentary heritage on various traditional "papers."  Most of them are facing crises now.  One of the participants told me that she expected much of the Microfilming Training Project, which is planned by the IFLA/PAC Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (National Library of Australia).  The IFLA/PAC Asia Regional Centre would also like to help the project to get on the right track. 

I am thankful for the opportunity to communicate with young staff members of Korean institutions related to preservation, such as libraries, archives and museums.  They were really full of fresh confidence and pride, expressing opinions actively in the workshop.  They stimulated and inspired me a lot.

Lastly, let me add one more personal comment about the workshop venue, the Chongju Early Printing Museum.  The museum was built in the site of the Heungdeoksa Temple, where the second volume of Jikji, which is the oldest document printed by movable metal type in the world, was printed.  The second volume of Jikji was printed in 1377, which precedes Gutenberg's invention of a printing method by about 70 years.  I had been wanting to visit there.  Strolling through the restored main hall of the Heungdeoksa Temple, I pondered where the print culture came from and where it is going.

Acknowledgement

I am most grateful to the Korean National Commission for UNESCO and Cheongju Municipal Government for their efforts to organize the workshop.  Special thanks and respect are extended to Mr. HUH Kwon (Korean National Commission for UNESCO) and Mr. KIM Jong Byuk (Director, Chongju Early Printing Museum), who always acted with the participants and showed their leadership for the success of the workshop, and all the staff who supported them.