Notes from the 15th AUNILO Meeting

AUNILO, Libraries of ASEAN University Network (AUN), meets annually in a continuous effort to enhance information networking among member universities. Each country takes turns to host the annual meeting which usually includes presentations of country reports, a business meeting and a networking visit to experience the culture. More details on activities of AUNILO  can be found at https://aunilo.net/about/

The 15^th AUNILO meeting (http://lib.ugm.ac.id/aunilo/) and the strategic planning workshop were held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on 5-8 August 2019 and hosted by the Universitas Gadjah Mada.

The meeting and planning workshop was coordinated by the AUNILO Secretariat,  managed by the member libraries of the Philippines (University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University), and the ASEAN University Network (AUN). Singapore was represented by librarians from NUS, NTU and SMU.

The theme for the meeting was “Enhancing Roles of AUN Libraries in Supporting Education 4.0: Opportunities and Challenges”.

The meeting started with the opening address by the Rector of the Universitas Gadjah Mada. He highlighted that the fourth industrial revolution has significantly disrupted all sectors including higher education institutions and created the need to innovate and formulate new strategies in developing learning methods and systems through the best possible utilization of the emerging new technologies. Libraries need to facilitate staff to gain skills and new insights in developing and managing digital resources to provide relevant and easily accessible learning resources.

The keynote speech on the topic “Strategies of Education 4.0 for Millennial And Post Millennial Generation” was delivered by Dr Hatma Suryatmaja, S.Hut., M.Si., the Director of the Center of Academic Innovation and Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

The speaker highlighted the following points as key drivers for Education 4.0.

• Industrial Revolution & Digital Transformation across the world
• Over 90% literacy and 63% Internet usage in South East Asia
• Increasing demand for highly skilled human capital – the curriculum should be fluid
• Technology-enabled personalised learning (TEPL) and high demand for blended/virtual/distance learning
• Learners profile – Gen Z, Visual Learners, Digital Natives
• Teachers and books in the library are not the main learning resources anymore

Participating institutions from each AUN member country presented a consolidated country report that covers their initiatives, plans, experiences, innovations, opportunities and challenges encountered in developing programs and services for the millennial and post-millennial generation, bearing in mind the changing learning and teaching methods and educational system practised and developed by their parent institutions.

Following are the key trends and challenges noted from the country report presentations:

• A major shift towards to blended/outcome-based learning
• Promote and Curate Open Educational Resources (OER) to support teaching & learning
• Rebranding of libraries as learning & co-working spaces
• Insufficient funding
• Staff development & lack of talent with new skills
• Create OER in the local language (Indonesia)
• Makerspaces in the Library (Indonesia)
• Training on multimedia production (Thailand)
• Digital & Tech Initiatives (Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia)
• Insufficient ICT infrastructure (Cambodia)

On day 2, after the business meeting (AGM), Dr Choltis Dhirathiti, Executive Director of ASEAN University Network briefed members on the proposed establishment of AUN thematic network on technology-enhanced personalised learning (AUN-TEPL) and a video presentation on the success of the JULAC, consortia among the eight UGC-funded University Libraries in Hong Kong.

On day 3, as part of the strategic planning workshop, members were divided into groups and using scenario planning to look into various internal and external factors that shape libraries in the future. Each group developed scenarios using the scenario matrix and presented their views. A summary of what we gathered from the presentations is given below:

• Internal factors
  • Reducing Budget
  • Lack of skilled library personnel
  • The value proposition of libraries to stakeholders/decision-makers
• External factors
  • Disruptive Technology, Rise of Open Data, OER
  • Gen Z, Changing learning behaviour, New pedagogies
  • Complex e-resources licensing model/policies, Consortia
  • Changing demands and perception of library services
  • Uncertain future of Universities and Jobs
• Challenges
  • Tackle funding and capability issues
  • Libraries to promote Open Science Initiatives (Open Data, OER, Open Access)
  • Explore new active roles in Education 4.0, more than provision information/knowledge/co-learning space, especially when learning becomes personalised/adaptive to every learner

Also on Day 3, in conjunction with the meeting, The AUNILO Workshop with the topic “Library Portal Content Enrichment through Open Educational Resources (OER)” was held on the 7^th August 2019, to facilitate participants to learn and demonstrate knowledge on open educational resources that could be utilized by academic libraries to enrich their library portal contents. The workshop was also aimed at narrowing the gap among AUNILO member libraries in terms of knowledge and expertise through sharing best practices, particularly in the utilization of OER to support education for the millennial generation. The resource persons of the workshop were individuals/staff from AUNILO member libraries with the particular knowledge, expertise/competency on OER and their utilization to enrich library contents. The key learning objectives were –

• Participants will be able to demonstrate knowledge on OER and copyright issues related to OER
• Participants will learn best practice of OER utilization program initiative and development (from sample academic library of an AUNILO member library)
• Participants will be able to identify and search for OER relevant to their library user needs
• Participants will be able to develop a proposal for a library portal content enrichment project

A total of 37 participants from the member institutions attended the workshop. The workshop was facilitated by the Dr. Taufiq Abdul Gani, from Syiah Kuala University, Indonesia and Ms. Melody Chin, Singapore Management University, Singapore. The workshop was very well received by the registered participants.

On Day 4, a cultural visit to Borobudur Temple, Magelang, Central Java was arranged and followed by a networking lunch. It was interesting to know the history and the architecture of the temple and how it was discovered & restored to be listed as a monument in UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  The visit provided the opportunity for us to interact with archivists, understand the preservation process and look through the archives as well.

It was an informative meeting that has enabled members to learn from one another and to prepare for challenging times ahead.  We need to understand and know what our users need to ensure the services we provide are relevant and where possible, personal.

Contributed by:

1. Lee Cheng Ean, University Librarian, National University of Singapore
2. Kamaludeen Mohamed Rafi, Divisional Head (Technologies & Resources), Nanyang Technological University
3. Shameem Nilofar, Head, Information Access and Resources, Singapore Management University