We attended the 13th Congress of Southeast Asian Libraries (CONSAL) held in Manila, March 25-30, 2006. The theme of the conference was CONSAL at the Crossroads: Challenges for Greater Regional Cooperation. This common platform brought together librarians from around the region to exchange ideas, to share experiences, to enhance existing inter-library cooperation and to formulate action plans in areas such as collection preservation and information literacy.
Library facilities for the less fortunate
We visited the National Library of the Philippines in Manila as part of the CONSAL programme. A very interesting part of the Library was its collection for the visually handicapped. There was a large selection of Braille books covering various academic subjects. These were printed wholly on white paper, catalogued as normal books and complete with classification numbers. The Braille collection was managed by a visually handicapped librarian. Furthermore, there was a machine designed to magnify the print of normal book so that partially visually handicapped users could read them more easily. The provision of such special facilities for the less fortunate members of society was an eye-opener. It highlighted the need to have an inclusive society.
Collection preservation
Another interesting part of the National Library of the Philippines collection was their archives and records. The National Library had many private and official papers of the past Presidents of the Philippines, all available for research and study. There were even books dating back to the Spanish era, the oldest of which was written in the 1400s. The great age of the books was impressive as it underlined the long history of the library. However the need for preservation of an old collection was also noted. This reminded us of the recent efforts by the National Library Board of Singapore to preserve its collection of rare documents by microfilming them.
The importance of collection preservation was highlighted during the Conference itself. An appeal was made for book donations to help rebuild the libraries of Sumatra which had much of their collections destroyed by the tsunami. This demonstrated the importance of digitising and preserving the collection against accidents and disasters.
Importance of digital resources
A theme continually and extensively explored at the Conference was the implementation of digital resources, such as electronic journal databases. Many of the libraries in neighbouring countries were greatly interested in obtaining these resources for their users, but the main obstacle was the high cost of subscribing to such digital publications. This also emphasized the value and importance of our own electronic resources collection and the need to publicise such resources further to our users and the general public. There were also discussions on implementing new technologies, such as weblogs to better reach out to users. This underlined the constant effort which must be made to engage and to meet the changing needs and profiles of library users.
Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center
We enjoyed touring the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center, a unique Chinese Museum cum Library in Intramuros, Manila, which showcased the precious heritage on the early history of the Tsinoys and Mestizos (Chinese-Filipino). The artifacts, antiquities and gallery displays of the rare prints and photographs of national leaders of Chinese descent gave us insights into the influences of the Chinese immigrants on various aspects of Filipino culture, such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, book printing, religion and the economy.
The most striking exhibit was the magnificent map illustrating the migration route of tribes from Southern China to the Philippines during the Ice Age via a land bridge. The early immigrants traded along the coast of the Philippines and eventually settled down and emerged as the Chinese community. It also depicted the historical account of the Sultan of Sulu Paduka Batara who traveled to the Chinese Imperial Court in Beijing to pay tribute to the Ming Emperor Yong Le in 1417. He later fell sick and died in Dezhou in Shandong province in China, leaving behind some direct descendents who settled in China.
The Chinese Library, an integral part of the Museum, housed 7,000 books, documents, magazines, dissertations and other articles and manuscripts of Chinese Filipinos and overseas Chinese. The Library boasted a comprehensive collection of research done on the Filipino Chinese community, by both local and foreign scholars. It was very interesting to note that the librarians themselves were heavily involved in the research on the Filipino-Chinese community.
The Center plays a pivotal role in preserving the Chinese culture and most importantly, integrating the Mestizos and Tsinoys into the local population. This meaningful trip left us with indelible impressions of the Chinese in Philippines and the significant role of the Library in preserving the culture of the Tsinoy community.
CONSAL has promoted the professional image of librarians, bridging the gap to encourage communication among regional librarians and information professionals among the Southeast Asian Libraries. Through peer-to-peer idea exchanges on issues related to library management and development, we learnt about the great need for library cooperation in terms of knowledge preservation around the region, the importance of resource sharing, along with an increased awareness of the need to keep abreast with novel developments like library weblogs.
We were also enriched by the numerous vendor exhibitions and talks in terms of product knowledge and the cutting-edge technology in the library marketplace. The visits to the libraries in Philippines were also very useful as we deepened our understanding of the services they offered and the additional role played by senior librarians as researcher. In all, it was an enriching and valuable experience for us.
Contributed by Annelissa Tan-Chin Mien Chiew & Tan Han Yong