From June 16-19, 2025, the 19th Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL XIX) was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Under the theme “Inclusive Knowledge: Bridging Divides, Empowering All”, the Congress gathered over 1,200 delegates from the ASEAN member countries and several countries outside the region. The Vietnamese delegation was led by Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung, Director of The National Library of Viet Nam, along with the President of the Viet Nam Library Association and nearly 40 delegates representing different library systems in Viet Nam. The Congress featured two plenary sessions and 16 parallel sessions, where 89 papers were presented (including 8 from the Vietnamese delegation) focusing on the role of libraries as strategic partners in community development, catalysts in creating inclusive knowledge ecosystems for disable and marginalized communities, and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by bridging social divides.
From May 26-30, 2025, the Silk Road International Library Alliance (SRILA) Conference took place in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, China. With the theme "Cultural Inheritance and Sustainable Development of Libraries", the Conference brought together more than 80 directors and expert representatives of 26 national libraries of 15 countries in the Alliance, along with representatives of The National Library of China and some provincial, municipal and major university libraries in China. The delegation of the National Library of Viet Nam, led by Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Deputy Director, attended the Conference. Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Ms. Chen Ying, Party Secretary and Deputy Director of The National Library of China, highlighted three major achievements of SRILA in recent years including: The influence of regional cooperation has steadily expanded with 02 conferences and 04 forums successfully organized; The professional talent training mechanism has been established and refined with 03 professional training courses for library staff in the Alliance; A solid platform for resource co-construction and sharing has been established with the launch of the Silk Road Digital Library (SRDL) from 2022.
From May 18 - 26, 2025, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung - Director of The National Library of Viet Nam attended the annual General Assembly of the Francophone Digital Network (RFN) held in Quebec, Canada. The event was attended by 13 delegates from 12 member institutions, marking an important milestone in the process of strengthening cooperation and sharing experiences among libraries and archives in the Francophone community. This year's conference, themed "Digitalization - From Preservation to Artificial Intelligence", reflects current issues in modern library activities, especially the trend of digital transformation, development of data technology, and application of AI in the preservation and promotion of the value of Francophone cultural heritage. The main activities of the conference included the General Assembly plenary session, a series of seminar, and scientific discussions with the participation of leading experts in thefields of libraries, information and technology.
In the morning of May 19, 2025, a delegation of officials from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Library (China), led by Mr. Luo Yu, Party Secretary, visited and worked with The National Library of Viet Nam on the occasion of the Year of Viet Nam-China Humanistic Exchange. Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Deputy Party Secretary and Deputy Director of The National Library of Viet Nam, chaired the reception. The two sides had a lively and open discussion on issues of mutual interest, notably the digitization of materials, application of technology in exploiting documentary heritage, improving the efficiency of serving readers and developing modern library models.
On the morning of April 19, 2025, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) in collaboration with relevant agencies solemnly organized the opening of activities to celebrate the fourth Viet Nam Book and Reading Culture Day 2025. This is not only a meaningful cultural event, but also an opportunity to look back on the journey of developing the reading culture - a sustainable fundamental value contributing to the development of people and society in the new era. As every year, the Book and Reading Culture Day 2025 is organized to affirm the position and role of books in social life; encourage and develop the reading movement in the community; raise people's awareness of the great significance and importance of reading in improving knowledge and skills, develop thinking, educate and train human personality; build reading habits in families, schools, institutions, organizations and communities; at the same time honor those who write books, make books, preserve and promote books, connect domestic and foreign readers, create positive effects, build a learning society, contribute to the development of Vietnamese culture and people towards the goal of sustainable development of the country.
On 15-17 November 2024, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the 30th 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.
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