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.
The presentations of 22 representatives of SRILA member organizations shared case studies and best practices in preserving cultural inheritance within libraries, exchanged insights and practical experience in digitizing collections, providing services to users, finding new operational strategies for library development, leveraging AI in library operations, and sustainable library development programs based on each library's unique context. The presentation of the National Library of Viet Nam by Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Deputy Director, entitled "Silent pages - Great impact and influence" highlighted how documentary heritage preserves identity, connects communities, and promotes sustainable development goals.
Based on the recognition that promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations is an important factor in achieving global sustainable development goals, and for SRILA to better fulfill its mission as a cultural center for Belt and Road countries, the Conference proposed a number of contents that need to be actively implemented in the coming time, including: (1) Promoting resources co-construction and sharing; (2) Exploring the application of new technologies together; and (3) Further improving the talent training mechanism in the Alliance.
During the Conference, the delegation of The National Library of Viet Nam had a bilateral meeting with the leaders of The National Library of China to exchange and discuss the plan to implement cooperation activities within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement signed between The National Library of Viet Nam and The National Library of China for the period 2025 - 2030.
On the sidelines of the Conference, delegates visited the Chinese Imperial Examination Museum, Nanjing Library, Nanjing Jiangbei Library and Jinling Library in Nanjing City, which are cultural institutions with large investments in facilities, document resources and modern equipment.
Photos from the same event:
Conference Overview
Vietnamese delegation at the Conference
Exchange with the Southeast Asian and Chinese library colleagues
___________
News: Bui Thi Thuy, Photo: Conference Organizing Committee