Kekal Abadi 21 (1) 2002

World Library Summit ( 24 - 26 April 2002 : Singapore)

Introduction

The National Library Board of Singapore togetherwith the Ministry of Information, Communicationand Arts, Singapore hosted the first World LibrarySummit from 24 to 26 April 2002 at Suntec City.There were two concurrent pre-conferenceseminars> (i) Seminar on new milleniumlibrarianship and information security whichcovered map collection management, designlibraries, art databases, visual gateways to art,biometrics, information ethics, and networkmonitoring activities; and (ii) Seminar onacademic libraries which dealt with the changingrole of academic libraries, multilibrary catalogues,electronic database searching, and mobileservices with several product presentations, suchas Metalib, and lSI's Web of Knowledge.

The conference proper was attended by about1000 information and knowledge relatedprofessionals from 19 countries. Forty papers werepresented on the theme "Global knowledgerenaissance". In line with this theme, the paperspresented focused on three main concepts -knowledge augmentation, people connectivity &cultural entrepreneurship; and knowledgegovernance and collaboration

Overview of papers

The first keynote address was by Dr Douglas CarlEnglebart, the director of Bootstrap Institute andBootstrap Alliance and a well-known Americaninventor who pioneered several innovations incomputers systems, such as the mouse,teleconferencing and hypermedia. Speaking onknowledge augmentation for the 21 sl century, hespoke on how the rate of technological innovation"has augmented basic human abilities, openedpossibilities but has also threatened to tear [apart]our social fabric." In his paper "Improving our abilityto improve", he proposed "investment in animprovement infrastructure that can result insustained, radical innovation capable of changingcomputing and expanding the kinds of problemsthat we can address through computing".

The second keynote address was by Dr CharlesF. Goldfarb, the 'father of markup languages',having invented the SGML language in 1974. Inhis presentation "Markup languages andknowledge retention", Dr. Goldfarb spoke on how,due to markup languages such as XML, we are

able to "computerise the capture of documents inrendered form, using a word processor thatpromises that what you see on the computerscreen is exactly what you'll get on the printedpage and we can automate card catalogues, butstill can do little to intercor.mect the objects theydescribe. Even the World Wide Web's hyperlinkingis of limited utility because it, too, is based onrendered objects - web pages - rather than on theideas they contain."

Papers for the first plenary session on "Newknowledge societies", were by the following:

Dr. Lynne Brindley, chief executive of theBritish Library, who in a paper entitled "Theapplication of knowledge and the evolution ofsociety : the emerging role of the library inthe knowledge society", first outlined thecharacteristics of the knowledge society andthen detailed the United Kingdom's positionon Internet connectivity and access. She thenoutlined the British Library's activities inrepositioning the Library's role in support ofresearch, education and lifelong learning, theknowledge economy, communitydevelopment, development of informationskills, citizenship and literacy and preservingcultural and intellectual heritage.

Dr. Regan Moore from the San DiegoSupercomputer Centre who examined "thelevels of abstraction that are needed to createinfrastructure independent representations fordata, information, and knowledge," andoutlined "a prototype of a persistent digitalarchive."

Mr. Robert Cullen, president and chiefexecutive officer of Thomson LearningInternational spoke on the position of librariesin the electronic world.

In the second plenary session on "ConstructingNational Knowledge Agendas", the speakers werethe following:

Dagmar Schmid maier, State Librarian & ChiefExecutive, State Library of New South Walesoutlined knowledge management (KM)initiatitves at the State Library of New SouthWales, Australia, such as the launch of a

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quality improvement program in 1998 aimedat "extending their reach to new clients, toidentify the best way to do things and toensure resources were allocated to priorityareas; and the 10-year plan, Project 2001-2010 to highlight the value and contributionof the State Library in order to obtain support.To the speaker, knowledge managementshould be "part of a leadership agenda" andher paper explored this "through the conceptsof vision, influence and passion".

Renate Gornpel, Head, Office for LibraryStandards, Die Deutsche Bibllothek,Germany spoke of the various activities todevelop Germany as a knowledge nation.These were undertaken by the FederalMinistry for Education and Research, suchas the BundOnline 2005 , Europe's largeste-government program and Die DeutscheBibliothek (DDB), which, in its efforts topromote international cooperation, recentlylaunched a project to link the name authorityfiles of DDB and the Library of Congress

Professor Ron Summers, Head of theDepartment of Information Science,Loughborough University, in his paper"Knowledge architecture developments in UK",spoke on the role of classification, thesauri,metadata and ontologies in recentdevelopments in knowledge architecture andthe use of XML as a core technology used byinformation professionals to add value and"thereby increase their worth in the knowledgecreation supply chain."

The second sub-theme "People connectivity andcultural entrepreneurship" was delved into on thesecond day. Mr. Benson Puah, the chief executiveofficer ot The Esplanade (Singapore's latestperforming arts complex and library andinformation center), gave the keynote address on"People connectivity and cultural entrepreneurshipin an era of convergence".

Following this keynote address, presentations forthe plenary session on "Knowledge convergences"were made by the following:

Mr. Lim Siam Kim, the chief executive officerof the National Heritage Board, Singapore, inhis paper "Convergence of libraries, museum,archives and the arts" spoke of "Singapore'sexperience in transforming its public librariesfrom a traditional book lending facility into aworld-class learning environment."

Dr. Christopher Chia, Chief Executive,National Library Board, Singapore, spoke onthe need for governments and libraries tocollaborate in order to get its citizenry involvedin knowledge exchange and creation. Heshared Singapore's evolution of e-governmentand its role in the national knowledge agenda.

Mr. Mark Garlinghouse, Director of AsianSales, i31 Thomson Scientific, reviewed theexplosion of research publication in the lifesciences and the importance of access tothis information in the research infrastructure.

Dr. Dinesh K. Gupta, Associate Professor &Head, Department of Library & InformationScience, Kota Open University was of theview that "the convergence between educationand libraries as supported by technologiescan impact significantly on the need foraccess and equity, cost-effectiveness andefficient systems of delivery of information andservices".

There were parallel sessions in the afternoon ontwo broad fronts - social and intellectual agenda;and the learning agenda. Under the social andintellectual agenda, "the role of national librariesas preservers and promoters- and wherenecessary as rebuilders - of the norms whichsupport universal human civilization" was exploredby Mr. Christopher Nailer, Director, AdvisoryServices & Regional Economist, The Economist.Mr. R. Ramachandran, Deputy Chief Executive,National Library Board, Singapore, in his paper"Library as a Social and Intellectual Capital in theKnowledge Society", opined that based on KMCIKnowledge Life-Cycle (Knowledge ManagementConsortium International) methodology, librariesare "initiators and triggers of social and intellectualinnovation, thereby creating market value beyondits social and education benefit". He also proposedthe possible role libraries could play in developingthe society's learning environment and knowledgeinfrastructure. USing examples from social audits,Professor Bob Usherwood, Professor ofLibrarianship, Department of Information Studies,University of Sheffield, described how qualitatitveresearch data could be used to demonstrate thevalue and impact that libraries, museums andother repositories of public knowledge have onsociety in "terms of personal development; socialcohesion; community empowerment; local cultureand identity; imagination and creativity; health andwell being." Ms. Doreen Liu, ManagingDirector,World Scientific Publishing, noted thatin the past 5 years the increase in the publishing

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of academic journals in electronic format and theformation of library consortium world-wide hadresulted in improved access to academicliterature.

The learning agenda sessions dealt on humancapital development, information professionaleducation and copyright issues. Mr. Sam Lam,Senior; Consultant, Towers Perrin, discussedvarious aspects of the work environment thatwould affect the performance of knowledgeworkers, such as leadership (a key component),organizational climate, culture & style,involvement, diversity and work/life balance issue.Lucy A. Tedd, Lecturer, Department of Informationand Library Studies, University of WalesAberystwyth, spoke on the" What? and How? ofeducation and training courses for informationprofessionals, including the developments ofdistance learning/ citing case studies based onher experience in education and trainingprogrammes in Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region. Quantum2, a professionaldevelopment programme for the informationprofessionat was introduced by Liz Blankson-Hermans, Manager of Information ProfessionalDevelopment Programs in Europe, DialogCorporation. Ms. Ann Shumelda Okerson,Associate University Librarian CollectionsManagement & Development and TechnicalServices,Yale University Library suggested thatthoughtful application of copyright principles tolicensing practices by librarians would bring aboutmutual benefits to information creators andinformation users. An ASEAN perspective ofcopyright issues was provided by Ken Chia andAndy Leck from Baker & McKenzie. Wong &Leow who recenty reported to CONSAL on keylegal issues for libraries in ASEAN. They notedthat because of differences in intellectual propertyrights laws, libraries in the ASEAN region wouldhave to adopt different solutions to similar copyrightprobems when providing services to their users.

The keynote address for the final day was byRinalia Abdul Rahim, Executive Director,Global Knowledge Partnership Secretariat, whospoke of knowledge sharing, instead of knowledgemanagement, as being the core of the GlobalKnowledge Partnership (GKP) activities. "Theemphasis in GKP is on networking and learningthrough facilitated global dialogue and sharing ofinformation among its diverse trisectoraldevelopment stakeholders on the use ofinformation and communication technologies (ICT)for development."

Plenary sessions on the last day covered issuesfrom organizational perspectives. Corporateintelligence and how one could use clues fromnon-customers to reposition one's business wasthe theme of a paper by Dr. Edna Reid, AssociateProfessor, Nanyang Business School (NBS),Nanyang Technological University. Dr. Neo BoonSeng, Dean of NBS spoke on how innovation,information and communication strategies werecritical in transforming Singapore's public librarysystem under the National Library Board. Oracle'sexperience in globalizing its IT infrastructure andimplementing a global content managementsolution, was shared by Mr. Peter Thomas,Director of Oracle9i Marketing, Asia Pacific.Technical and collection management issuesrelating to the Integration of heterogeneousresources, especially digital materials, wastouched on by Mr. Cameron Esslemont, Director,Global Library Services Network. He also spokeon user related issues, such as the necessity ofinbuilt translators in search engines and the roleof portals. Two scientists from Knowledge BasedSystems Inc., described structured methods forknowledge management.

Following this was a plenary session on evolvingcontent exchange and retrieval standards, withspeakers focusing on the Dublin Core (by MaritOlander of Helsinki University Library), DigitalObject Identifiers (by Edward Ju, ENPIA, Korea)and SFX Context Sensitive Reference Linking (byMarc Daubauch, Coporate Vice PresidentInternational Sales, Ex Libris).

The last concurrent sessions were on the followingregional and national projects:

The hybrid library at Glasgow University, byMr. Chris Rusbridge, Director, InformationServices, University of Glasgow.

PERDANA: the Malaysian National DigitalLibrary System, a cooperative project bylibraries in Malaysia in partnership with theMultimedia Development Corporation andTelecom Malaysia, by Mrs. Zawiyah Baba,Director General, National Library ofMalaysia.

ArtPostAsia, a subject gateway whichprovides enhanced access and enrichedcontextualization for the art communities inSoutheast Asia.

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Intercity Digital Library Initiative, wherebyseveral libraries from the Asia-Pacificcollaborate to share online catalogs, hold,seminars and staff training programs, andacquire software and hardware for digitallibrary service.

The International Islamic Digital Library whichis an international network of Islamic digitalrespositories, developed by the Malaysia'sMultimedia Development Corporation.

Nordic Digital Library initiative undertaken byDenmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway andSweden.

Library visits

Delegates had the opportunity to visit severallibraries in Singapore which participated in theSingapore Library Festival. Two library "trails wereorganized for delegate - one of which took theparticipants to Raffles Museum of BiodiversityResearch at the National University of Singaporewith an interesting collection of more than half amillion animal and plant specimens and booksfrom Southeast Asia; Institute of Southeast AsianStudies Library (ISEAS) which has an extensivecollection of over 490,000 multi-lingual and multi-format items on Southeast Asian applied socialsciences; and the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Librarywhich features, other than the usual academiccollection, an impressive lifestyle library which hassuccessfully drawn more students to use thelibrary.

Conclusion

The papers were presented by a wide range ofspeakers, many of whom were not from thetraditional library professional but from theknowledge, information technology and businessfields, thus providing a much needed globalperspective to librarians. This is important in orderfor librarians to be equipped with a sense ofpurpose at Id sensitivity to changes therebyremaining relevant in a profession that has beenchanged tremendously by info-communicationtechnology.

Molly ChuahHead, Database Development DivisionUniversity of Malaya Library

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