On 15-17 November 2024, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the 30^th Annual General Conference of Directors of National Libraries in Asia and Oceania (CDNLAO) 2024 and the Workshop entitled “Libraries and Sustainability” was held at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library with the participation of the Secretary General of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), representative of the IFLA Regional Office in Asia and Oceania and 33 delegates representing 16 national libraries in the region. The National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) delegation led by Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Deputy Director attended the Conference. Speaking at the opening session, IFLA Secretary General Sharon Memis informed delegates about IFLA's typical programs, projects and initiatives in recent times, especially emphasizing the position, role and contribution of national libraries of member countries in participating in action programs to implement the United Nations Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

At the invitation of the National Library for Children and Young Adults (NLCY) of the Republic of Korea, with the approval of the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Viet Nam, on October 27-30, 2024, in Seoul, Korea, representatives of the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) attended the 3rd General Meeting of the ASEAN-Korea Children’s Reading Culture Development Committee (AKRCC) as an official member. With the support of the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund(AKCF), the 2022-2024 AKRCC was established, and jointly developed a general agreement on the “ASEAN-Korea Children’s Reading Culture Development Project” emphasizing progresses in developing and improving reading culture and information literarcy skills for ASEAN-Korea children. The project’s content includes: (1) Improving the infrastructure of the reading culture environment for children by well organizing reading activities for children; (2) Strengthening cooperation and diversifying propaganda methods to spread the importance of children’s reading culture; (3) Organizing training and workshops for librarians serving children to improve their expertise, creating sustainable reading culture development for young readers.

The IFLA Information Futures Summit 2024 was officially held from September 30 to October 4, 2024 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Center, Brisbane, Australia with the theme "Stronger together". The congress gathered more than 700 delegates attending in person, representing the library and information sector from more than 65 countries around the world. 36 main sessions with more than 60 lively discussions shared focused content about application of technology in the library sector, together strongly finding solutions to the information challenges that the library industry is facing today and in the future... In addition to the sessions taking place at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Center, the Organizing Committee also live-streamed the main sessions to promptly convey information to thousands of interested people around the world. The Vietnamese delegation led by Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung, Director of the National Library of Viet Nam, actively participated in the programs and activities of the IFLA Summit 2024, especially the key sessions chaired by IFLA Governing Board and key professional committees:

The Conference - Workshop "Application of Dewey Decimal Classification – Edition 23 (DDC 23) in the professional activities of Vietnamese libraries (2014 - 2023)" was held with the aim of summarizing and evaluating the achievements and limitations of 10 years applying DDC 23 - Vietnamese Edition in classification of materials; grasping the actual situation of applying DDC 23 nationwide; creating a forum for libraries to share and exchange practical experiences and effective methods to improve the quality of professional activities, and at the same time agreeing on solutions to remove existing difficulties and challenges. The Conference - Workshop program opened with a summary report in the form of a documentary film that truly and fully reflected the situation of applying DDC in different library systems in Viet Nam. Since the introduction of the DDC Classification Scheme, especially after the application of DDC 23, the work of classifying library materials in Vietnamese libraries has had positive changes, contributing to supporting the process of organizing the library collections, enabling users to locate materials easily, quickly and accurately, facilitating the exchange, sharing and exploitation of information between libraries, saving operation expenses. Up to now, the Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme has been widely disseminated nationwide, and is the first choice for library institutions to apply and develop application plans when conditions for conversion are available.

From August 7-10, 2024, in Yangon City (Myanmar), the Department of Historical Research and National Library, under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture of Myanmar, hosted the Seminar on Conservation Management of Library Collections for ASEAN with the theme: "New Challenges and Different Methods for the Conservation of ASEAN Literary Heritage: Current Perspectives and the Best Findings". Speaking at the opening of the seminar, Ms. Daw Nu Mra Zan - Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs and Culture of Myanmar stated that conservation management of literary collections is the most critical factor for libraries because libraries are the places where they distribute knowledge to people. Each ASEAN member country processes precious literary heritages, sharing library-related experiences among ASEAN countries is therefore the best way to advance library development.

On July 18, 2024, the National Library of Viet Nam, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Samsung Electronics Viet Nam officially launched the "New S.hub Sharing Space" to better meet the individual learning needs, and at the same time provide an open, modern space for exchanging and sharing knowledge for the youth. Attending the event were Ms. Trinh Thi Thuy - Member of the Party Personnel Committee, Deputy Minister of the MoCST; Mr. Choi Joo Ho - General Director of Samsung Viet Nam Complex, and the leaders representing the Departments, Divisions, Office and agencies under the MoCST; leaders of Samsung Viet Nam Complex; unions, and representatives of libraries, library-information centers, museums; publishing agencies, high schools and readers, central and Ha Noi news agencies, newspapers and television. Nearly 8 years ago, in 2016, the National Library of Viet Nam and Samsung Vina Electronics Company officially opened the S.hub Sharing Space to meet the increasing demand of the capital's youth for a modern space for learning and sharing knowledge. In 2024, in order to better meet the individual learning needs and at the same time provide a more modern space for exchanging and sharing knowledge for young people, the National Library of Viet Nam and Samsung Electronics Viet Nam have cooperated to upgrade and innovate the S.hub Sharing Space.

The 2^nd Executive Board meeting of the 19^th Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL XIX) hosted by the Librarians Association of Malaysia and the National Library of Malaysia was held online on July 15, 2024. There were 35 delegates from 10 CONSAL member countries including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam attending the meeting. At the meeting, delegates discussed and agreed to approve the minutes of the first CONSAL XIX Executive Board meeting held online on November 29, 2023. The contents discussed in depth at the second meeting include: Promote the process of registering CONSAL's legal status in ASEAN to enhance the organization’s position and promote participation of CONSAL in ASEAN’s activities as well as search for ASEAN sponsored programs and projects for the library sector in the region; Promote the implementation of CONSAL projects that have been implemented and proposed, including the CONSAL Document Repository project; the project to update Profile of Library Education in ASEAN, and the ASEAN Digital Library project. It was recommended that member countries should continue to contribute documents to these projects and update resources on the ASEAN Digital Library portal...

On the morning of July 15, 2024, the National Library of Viet Nam (NVL) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) of Viet Nam, in collaboration with the National Hangeul Museum of Korea under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, and the Korean Cultural Center in Viet Nam, organized a series of diverse events to convey Korean cultural values ​​in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. The Opening Ceremony opened impressively with an artwork drawn by artist Byeol Ha - President of the Korean Calligraphy Design Association. The elaborate and beautiful calligraphy painting with the image of Lotus and Mugung flowers represents the wonderful diplomatic relationship between Viet Nam and Korea. The diverse series of events to convey Korean cultural values ​​in Hanoi, Viet Nam includes: Exhibition Hangeul Experiment Project the Institute of Modern Hangeul Studies” held at the National Library of Viet Nam; Signing Ceremony of Memorandum of Understanding between the National Library of Viet Nam and the National Hangeul Museum; “Experience the art of calligraphy” in Viet Nam organized by the National Hangeul Museum.

To carry out the tasks assigned by the Decision number 2175/QD-BVHTTDL dated July 23, 2023 of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the plan to implement the digital transformation program of the library sector to 2025 with a vision to 2030, and the Library’s work plan for 2024, from June 26-27, 2024, in Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) organized a Training Course on “Standardization of Bibliographic Data – Requirements and Methods”. In the field of library - information, besides standards, technical regulations and codes of practice are important tools to ensure standardization in document processing, standardization of data is one of the important steps for libraries to implement connectivity, sharing and digital transformation. Specific regulations are expressed through cataloging rules, classification schemes/tables, subject heading tables, terminology systems, regulations on order and procedures, machine-readable cataloging templates, etc.

On May 16, 2024, in Taichung City (Taiwan), the National Library of Public Information (NLPI) hosted the 2024 Asia-Pacific Public Library International Forum. The Forum drew the attention and participation of representatives from universities and public libraries in Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Viet Nam. The forum focused on two main topics: “The application of smart technology in library services” and “Experiences library service characteristics in various countries”. At the forum, the speakers focused on discussing and sharing about common issues as well as future trends of public libraries such as: “The birth of LikeSNU: How histories become data", "The impact of COVID-19 on libraries and the digital transformation of public libraries", "Smart technology revolutionizing library services", "An all-around view of public library services", "Transforming library operations with robotics", "Curation of knowledge information resources", "Technology boosting reading: the new era of smart library services", “Library services using the cutting-edge technology", "Virtual librarian using ChatGPT", etc.