Conference - Workshop "Application of Dewey Decimal Classification – Edition 23 (DDC 23) in professional activities of Vietnamese libraries (2014 - 2023)"

Pursuant to Decision No. 927/QD-BVHTTDL dated April 5, 2024 of the Minister for Culture, Sports and Tourism, on September 19-20, 2024, in Ninh Binh city, Ninh Binh province, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) organized a Conference - Workshop entitled "Application of Dewey Decimal Classification Edition 23 (DDC 23) in professional activities of Vietnamese libraries (2014 - 2023)".

2024-09-20-ddc-23- 4

Panorama of the Conference – Workshop

Attending the Conference – Workshop, on the side of the delegates were Ms. Kieu Thuy Nga - Director of the Library Department, MoCST; Mr. Vu Hong Minh - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ninh Binh province; Dr. Vu Duong Thuy Nga - Former Director of the Library Department, MoCST; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vu Hung Cuong - Director of the Institute of Social Sciences Information, Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences; MSc. Nguyen Huu Gioi - President of the Viet Nam Library Association; Dr. Nguyen Huy Chuong - Director of the Institute for Digital Knowledge's Research and Development, President of the Northern Academic Library Association; MSc. Tran Thi Hong Xiem - President of the Viet Nam Library Association of Southern Academic Libraries, and representatives of leaders and officials working on professional activities of provincial/municipal libraries, special libraries, armed forces libraries, academic libraries, and library - information training institutions nationwide; leaders and experts from IDT, UC Viet Nam, Slib and D&L companies.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung - Director of the NLV delivered the opening speech at the Conference – Workshop

Classification is an important step in the professional workflow of library - information agencies. Besides its effective role in supporting organization and management of information resources systematically and scientifically, enhancing accessibility, improving user experience, and at the same time being the foundation for diverse library products and services, classification of library materials also contributes to promoting the exploitation and exchange of information resources at national and international scales, especially in the new context.

Stemming from the need to use a unified classification scheme nationwide, aiming to standardize the stages of library professional activities for the purpose of integration, exchange, and sharing between domestic and international libraries, the NLV has gradually researched and translated the DDC classification scheme - one of the most widely used classification systems in the world into Vietnamese.

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.

Mr. Vu Hong Minh - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ninh Binh province delivered a welcome speech at the Conference - Workshop.

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.

During the preparation for the Conference - Workshop, the Organizing Committee received many papers from libraries and information centers across the country. These are all high-quality papers, addressing the most core contents in the application and implementation of the DDC 23 Classification Scheme.

Delegates present papers at Conference – Workshop

During the Conference - Workshop, delegates listened to presentations of a number of papers by leading experts in the library field and representatives of those directly involved in cataloging and classification activities. The presentations focused on theoretical and practical issues in applying DDC 23; the advantages, difficulties and requirements for classification using DDC 23; the role of "new cataloging" human resources in the context of technological impact and digital transformation of library activities...

Also within the framework of this Scientific Conference - Workshop, the exchange, discussion, and group work sections were included in the official program to create a forum for exchanging and sharing issues related to the application of the Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme in an effective and practical manner.

Ms. Kieu Thuy Nga - Director of the Library Department gave a speech at the Conference – Workshop

Mr. Nguyen Huu Gioi - President of Vietnamese Library Association spoke at the Conference – Workshop

With a frank, democratic and scientific spirit, the Conference - Workshop received many comments and shared experiences, truly becoming a common forum for experts and officials directly working on classification activities.

After a serious and responsible working program, the Conference - Workshop attained a great success and achieved the set goals:

(1) The conference agreed with the synthesis and assessment of the National Library of Viet Nam on the application of DDC 23 in the professional activities of Vietnamese libraries in recent times. After 10 years, the application of DDC 23 in the professional activities of Vietnamese libraries has achieved remarkable achievements:

- The policy of applying DDC 23 in the entire library sector has received attention from leaders and managers of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, relevant departments and branches, as well as professional guidance and support from the National Library of Viet Nam.

- DDC 23 has been well received by libraries with high consensus on the application policy. Currently, DDC 23 is a classification scheme commonly applied in library - information agencies in the country.

- Training and coaching on the use of DDC 23 has been promptly implemented by the NLV in many diverse forms. Library – information training institutions have also included DDC 23 in their official curriculum.

- DDC 23 has overcome limitations of the Abridged DDC 14 such as updating new scientific and technological issues, changes in geography, politics and history of the world in general and of Viet Nam in particular.

- Promoting the role as a platform to enhance the ability to link and share materials between library – information institutions to save effort, time, and costs, meeting the requirements of the interconnection trend between libraries in the same system, in the same country and around the world.

- DDC 23 supports many professional activities of the library, especially in organizing and managing library collections, help retrieving materials easily, quickly and accurately.

(2) Besides the outstanding achievements, the Conference pointed out the remaining limitations in the application of DDC 23:

- Documents on the application of professional standards in general, including DDC 23 in the entire library system of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism are currently only recommendations. Inter-sectorial documents guiding the application and conversion of other classification schemes to the DDC 23 classification scheme have not been issued yet.

- Currently, different library systems in the country still uses many different classification schemes. Many libraries including mainly special and multidisciplinary library systems, and a few public and academic libraries have not or do not apply DDC 23.

- Some problems arising in the process of using DDC 23 in classification of materials need to be resolved in the coming time.

- Training and retraining are not organized regularly; advanced training courses are not given attention.

- Forums for exchanging and sharing experiences on DDC 23 application have not been established. National Conferences and Workshops on DDC 23 have only been organized according to the implementation roadmap every 5 years.

(3) The conference also agreed to propose specific directions and solutions to promote the achievements gained in recent years and enhance the application of DDC 23 throughout library systems in the coming time:

- Propose the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and relevant authorities to strengthen the role of state management in library activities, including professional activities. Directive documents and specific regulations related to standardizing professional activities, and unifying the application of DDC 23 should be issued. The state management agency in charge should issue a directive document on enforcing book publishing agencies nationwide to participate in Cataloging in Publication activity.

- Coordinate with other sectors to develop documents and policies for the operations of special libraries and academic libraries in general and data processing in particular.

- Optimize and utilize existing resources by collaborating, sharing resources and directory data, etc.

- Promote Cataloging in Publication activity, share centralized cataloging databases to save costs, time and effort in the process of classifying library materials.

- Take into account the plan to provide the DDC 23 - Vietnamese edition on the web platform (WebDewey), ensuring updates, flexibility and ease of use for libraries nationwide.

- Actively apply new science and technology such as artificial intelligence to support classification.

- Create online discussion groups on social networking platforms to discuss matters arising in application of DDC 23 in practice. Build an experts group to monitor, update, and supplement new content of the DDC Classification Scheme, while actively and effectively contributing to the continuous development of DDC.

It can be affirmed that the policy of applying DDC 23 to the Vietnamese library system is a correct decision and in line with the development trend. The process of implementing the application of DDC Classification Scheme for a decade has shown many achievements but also encountered many difficulties and shortcomings. Based on the results obtained from this Conference - Workshop, it is believed that the application of Dewey Decimal Classification Edition 23 (DDC 23) in the professional activities of Vietnamese libraries will continue to be promoted and become increasingly effective.

Photos of the same event