In implementation of the Decision numbered 3724/QD-BVHTTDL dated 28.10.2013 of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) has sent 03 officers to the Federal Republic of Germany to work with the German National Library based in the city of Frankfurt am Main (NLG) and the Bavarian State Library (BSL) in Munich to discuss cooperation in the fields of materials exchange, digitization, preservation, staff training from December 7 -14, 2013.
In Frankfurt am Main, the delegation has had several meetings with Director and ten managers of departments of the NLG. The working focused on introduction of the NLV and NLG as well as sharing knowledge and experiences of the two libraries in the fields of library organization, materials exchange, preservation and digitization, human resources developments.
The delegation has also had the chance to hear about typical digital collections and digitization projects of the NLG based Frankfurt:
+ The German National Digital Library portal (a biggest digitization project in Germany gathering 90 libraries and institutions and 13 partners in Germany to participate in with the NLG as the coordinator of the project).
+ The Europeana project - the European Digital Library portal with the NLG and Bavarian State Libraries as active members.
+ Right management policy for digital collections access at the NLG.
+ Interaction between conservation of holdings and digitization activities; digital preservation and long term archiving at the NLG.
+ Organization of library space and users services. The NLG is constructed with open space design which helps create an user-friendly environment and energy saving.
At the Bavarian State Library in Munich, the delegation has received warm welcome of the Directorial Board and managers of departments. The delegation have observed and learnt useful experiences, such as:
+ Visiting to the rare collections of Bavarian State Library which is one of the four libraries in the world that owns the most important manuscript collections. The BST has 140,000 rare and precious materials since XVI century, 96,000 manuscripts of Europe, Asia and Middle East, 20,000 incunabula from early print period.
+ In particular, the delegation had the chance to approach some precious materials of Viet Nam, such as the bronze book that carves a composition by King Minh Menh talking about writing the royal Nguyen pedigree (Hoàng triều ngọc phả) and the Dictionary of Alexandro De Rhodes published in Rome in 1651 entitled “Dictionarivm Annamiticvm Lvsitanvm, et Latinvm Ope”. The group has extended a request and received the agreement from the BSL to send a high resolution 2D digital copy of these two materials for reproduction them in Viet Nam.
Mrs. Phan Thi Kim Dung – Director of the NLV was examining the bronze book that carves a composition by King Minh Menh and is currently kept at the Bavarian State Library in the Federal Republic of Germany
Besides, the BSL is willing to exchange materials with the NLV in printed format (new materials) and digital format (on request by the NLV), as well as materials of and about Viet Nam being kept at the BSL.
+ Visiting the Munich Digital Center (MDZ) where digitization activities has been handled quite early (since 1997) and received strong investment of the Government with the most modern equipments and technology in Germany. The MDZ currently owns 26 modern scanners, including 2D, 3D digital scanners, 4 Treventus robot scanners. By 2013, the BSL has had a digital collection of over 996,000 titles (equivalent to 1,151,618,000 files and storage capacity up to 508TB (Terabyte). The MDZ is the biggest digital data provider of Germany to Europeana and the National Digital Library of Germany. It handles digitization of the BSL and cultural institutions in Bavaria.
+ Visiting the Institute for Preservation of books and manuscripts, a department of the BSL and an Europe famous center for preservation and restoration of materials. The center has been well invested and rather active in handling preservation and conservation of materials and works of art. In addition, the Institute has cooperated with Munich University of Technology to offer Master and Doctor degree of Preservation & Conservation.
+ Also during the time in Munich, the delegation has visited Munich City Library. The library is arranged in a common space of the Munich Cultural Center and owns quite a large area. The library open to all people, from the early ages to the olds. Beside offering reading services, the library also organizes multimedia reading zone, seminar corners for exchange activities between library users and artists, poets and writers, etc.
+ At the Goethe Institute in Munich, the delegation has been welcomed by director of the Institute and head of the library. The delegation has had discussions about library development in Germany and Viet Nam as well as new trends of the library profession in the context of the knowledge based society.
In the digital era, libraries in Germany have implemented the technology of self lending - returning books, a smart system that helps save manpower, time; enhance the ability to access materials, and is highly appreciated.
Besides acquisition of knowledge and experiences from German colleagues, the NLV delegation has actively introduced about Vietnamese Library system and professional activities being implemented at the NLV. German colleagues appreciate the achievements and rapid growth of the NLV and comment that the digitization and preservation activities of the NLV have been done professionally and in accordance with international standards. They were also quite interested in getting experiences sharing of the NLV delegation on professional activities as well as library organization and are ready to build bilateral cooperation with the NLV.
Beside the tight working schedule, the delegation has spent time to visit Museums in Frankfurt am Main and Munich to learn more about the culture, country and people of Germany.
Photos of the same event:
Front cover of the bronze book
Mrs. Phan Thi Kim Dung visits the storage of the NLG 
Taking photos with officials of the NLG
A Reading room at the Bavarian State Library
A Reading room at the Bavarian State Library
A Reading room at the Bavarian State Library
A Reading room at the Bavarian State Library
Visiting the Institute for Preservation and Conservation at the BSL
Visiting the Institute for Preservation and Conservation at the BSL
A leaflet of Munich City Library in Vietnamese language
Visiting the reading room of tape – disk and books at Munich City Library
A reading room for children at Munich City Library
A reading room for children at Munich City Library 
Working with Goethe Institute in Munich
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News: Bui ThiThuy; Photos: Le Đuc Thang