Implementing the Prime Minister's Decision on Viet Nam Book Day and the guidance of the Leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST), on April 19, 2019 the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) and agencies of ministries, sectors, libraries, schools, international organizations, enterprises...launched the Book Festival 2019. With the theme“Books - Connecting knowledge & development”, the Book Festival this year continuedto be held to honor the value of books, affirm the important role of books in social life, contributeto raisepublicawareness about theimportance of reading for acquiringknowledge and skills, developing thinking, educating, training and fostering human dignity.The Book Festival 2019has brought aboutmany meaningful activities, such as: The documentary exhibition“Books - Connecting Knowledge andDevelopment”; Authors, literary works exchange; Painting through book contest; Storytelling contest in Vietnamese; Storytelling contestin English; Authors, literary works Identity contest…

In response to Viet Nam Book Day April 21^st, the World Book and Copy Right Day April 23^rd, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) has implemented the plan for 2019 Book Festival entitled “Books-Connecting Knowledge and Development”, with the aim to honor the value of books, affirm the role and importance of books in social life, encourage and promote the reading movement, contributing to building the reading culture in Viet Nam…. Within the framework of the festival, beside activities organized at the library headquarter, the NLV has actively and positively contacted and sought funding, called books donation for municipal/provincial libraries, district and commune libraries, and ethnic people in the highlands and remote areas, especially soldiers safeguarding the airspace, the islands and the borders of the country.

On February 27, 2019, in Ho Chi Minh City, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) organized a symposium to continue exchange, discuss and receive comments of library and information agencies and experts in the Southern region for the 2nd draft of the National Standard “Information and Documentation: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in libraries”. This is the second symposium, before that, the first one was held in Ha Noi on December 28, 2018 by the NLV. The symposium has received many positive exchanging ideas and discussions of scientists, managers and experts in the field of library, information and standards. Participants of the symposium have agreed on the neccessity to research and develop the national standard for radio frequency identification (RFID) in libraries in the context of information technology is constantly changing, developing rapidly and impacting strongly on all sectors and fields of activities, including the library field. The comments at the symposium focused on contributing ideas to continue to improve the standard, such as unifying the use of some terms in the standard, Vietnameseization in translating to ensure the scientific, clarity, easy to understand and use; Consult and update the latest version of ISO 28560-2:2018 Information and  documentation – Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in libraries – Part 2: Encoding of RFID data elements based on rules from ISO/IEC 15962; Continue to develop national standards in the field of library activities...

From February20-21, 2019, the 27^thConference of Directors of National Libraries in Asia and Oceania – abbreviated asCDNLAO 27) was held at the National Library of Singaporewith the participation of 41 delegates representing22 national libraries in the region. The conference selected the theme “What is our future? National Libraries in 2040” to celebrate the 40^th anniverary of CDNL-AO establishment. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference, Ms. Elaine Ng – Chief Executive of the National Library Board Singapore, chair person of the conference, welcomed all delegates and affirmed the role of CDNL-AO in sharing and bringing together issues and solutions for national libraries in the region. She also emphasized that future is the age of digital era when libraries are facing with many challenges in the industrial revolution 4.0, thus the library sector in general and the national libraries in particular need to orient the future, develop plans and visions for the national libraries in 2040.

On January 5^th 2019, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) helda Conference to reviewits activities in 2018 and deploy the tasks in 2019. Attending the Conference were Mrs. Trinh Thi Thuy - Member of the Party Executive Committee, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST); Mr. Nguyen Tuan Linh - Director, Chairmanof the MoCST's Trade Union; Mrs. Vu Duong Thuy Nga - Director ofthe Library Department; Mr. Le Ngoc Trung - Deputy Director of the Emulation and Reward Department, MoCST; the DirectoralBoard, officials and employeesof the NLV.  The conference has discussed and evaluated the achievements and limitations of the work in 2018 and set out the direction and operation plan for 2019. It is clearly stated in the conference’sreport that: In 2018, the NLV has effectively implemented its targets and working plans, achieved the outstanding achievements as follows:

In implementing the National Library of Viet Nam’sprofessional training plan for the year 2018 approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, from October 1 to November 2, 2018, the National Library of VietNam (NLV) has organized training courseson application of the cataloging rule Resource Description and Access –Vietnamese edition for core cataloguers in the north, central, and south regionsof Viet Nam in order togive instructions for thelibraries to usethe cataloging tools todescribecontent of the digital resources, as well as the resources in non-digital formats (traditional materials).  Resource Description and Access (RDA) is an international cataloging standard which is based on the Anglo-American Cataloging Rule (AACR2), has designed for digital environment to meet the change and development of the information resources. The birth of the RDA has marked an important change, a step forward in the catalogingactivityand been officially applied in many libraries around the world. The organization ofthe training courses onapplication of the RDA cataloging rules for Vietnamese libraries comes from the requirement of modernizing library - information activities with the aim to increase exchanges, share information and promote international integration, especially standardization in processing information and materials.

To carry out the duty assigned by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) on implementing projects of developing National Standards, on December 28, 2018, the NLV organized the first symposium with the aim to exchange, discuss and receive comments of scientists, managers and experts in the field of library, information and standards for the 2nd draft of the National Standard “Information and Documentation: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in libraries”. So far, there hasn’t been anyofficial documents on regulations and guidelines related to the standardofRadio Frequency Identification (RFID) in libraries in Viet Nam. This leadsto the unsynchronizedand inconsistentapplication of the RFID technology into library operation and management, causing difficulties in many processes, such as borrowing/returning materials, inventory, interlibrary loan... Therefore, research and development of the National Standard on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in libraries, specifically the establishment of rules for a data pattern and coding rules for the use of RFID tags for documents matchingthe needs of all library types is necessary and catches up with theoperation trend of the library information agencies around the world in the context of information technology is constantly changing and developing rapidlylike today.

Within the series of activities of the project "Window on Korea" period 2016-2020, on December 18, 2018, the National Library of VietNam and the Korean Cultural Center in VietNam (representing the National Library of Korea) co-organizedthe Books presentation ceremony for the next phase of the project signed between the two Libraries. In this phase, the National Library of Korea has presented over 200 book titles with various topics in Korean and English to the National Library of Viet Nam. These books will be added to the foreign languages collection of the Library to help scientists, researchers and students learn more about country and people of the Kimchi land. Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung - Deputy Director of the National Library of VietNam expressed the sincere thanks to colleagues of the National Library of Korea as well as leader and staff of the Korean Cultural Centerand hoped that the two national libraries will continue to have more effective cooperation in the future.

Implementing the 2018 professional training plan of the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in the morning of October 1, 2018, in Hai Phong, the NLV held the opening of the training course on using the Resource Description and Access-Vietnamese edition for core cataloguers in northern provinces. This is the first training course of the 3 courses to be held in the North, the Centre and the South respectively. Attending the opening ceremony was Ms. Kieu Thuy Nga - Director of the NLV, Ms. Tran Thi Hoang Mai - Deputy Director of Hai Phong Service of Culture, Sports and Tourism, library leaders in charge of technical services and cataloguers of some information and library institutions in northern mountains and the Red River delta provinces.

On September 13^th 2018, the delegation of the National Assembly (NA) Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children (CCEYAC) paid an official visit to the National Library of VietNam(NLV) to survey the implementation of the Library Ordinance of the library. The delegation included Ms. Hoang Thi Hoa - Vice Chairwoman of the CCEYAC; Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung - Standing Member of the CCEYAC, Mr. Phan Viet Luong - Standing Member of the CCEYAC; Mr.Vu Minh Dao - Director of the Department of Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children(DCEYAC); Ms. Nguyen Thi Sau – Deputy Director of the DCEYAC; Ms. Doan Quynh Dung - Deputy Director of the Library Department; Mr. Nguyen Huu Gioi - President of Vietnamese Library Association and expertsof the NA Office and Library Department. Welcoming the delegation wereMs. Kieu Thuy Nga - Director of the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV)andthe Deputy Directors, Head of the library’s divisions.