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.
Opening Ceremony of the 3rd AKRCC General Conference (2024)
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.
Looking back at the implementation of the Project, the National Library of Viet Nam and the national libraries of ASEAN countries and Korea participated in the 1st AKRCC Conference held online on December 15, 2022. At the first meeting, the national libraries of 10 ASEAN countries and Korea signed a commitment to jointly participate in the reading culture development program for children. Then, from October 15-31, 2023 at the NLCY (Seoul - Korea), the 2nd AKRCC Conference was held with the focus on implementing a training program for librarians. At this Conference, the National Library of Viet Nam sent 1 staff member and nominated 2 library officials from Hung Yen and Dong Thap provinces to participate in the conference.
Representatives of ASEAN libraries attended the 2nd Conference and Training Program (2023) of AKRCC
And from October 27-30, 2024, the 3rd AKRCC General Meeting was held with the full participation of members from 10 ASEAN countries and Korea. The 3rd meeting assessed the results of implementing the common goals set out in previous meetings and discussed the direction for long-term cooperation among member countries. The meeting agenda includes: Summary report on the development of children's reading culture implemented by each country; Discussion sessions on strategies for operation and cooperation in the process of promoting reading culture for children; Participation in special topics on how to build ASEAN-ROK cooperation projects, essential capacities to equip the young generation to enter the AGI era; Study tours of typical Korean libraries that have well done on promoting children's reading culture.
Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, NLV Deputy Director, member of the AKRCC Directorial Board gave speech to evaluate the Project
Participating in the 2022-2024 AKRCC project as an official member, with 4 presentations, the National Library of Viet Nam had the opportunity to introduce and share about: Traditional Vietnamese culture through costumes and festivals; Current status of developing reading culture for children in Vietnamese libraries; Achievements of reading promotion activities in 2023 and goals for 2024 in developing reading culture for children in Viet Nam; Results of implementing activities to develop reading culture for children at the Children's Cultural Library (NLV) and Vietnamese libraries for the period of 2023-2024. In addition, representatives from the NLV and 2 Vietnamese public libraries were trained on such topics as: leadership in culture management; building and operating book clubs; building a reading program for children; methods of reading picture books with children; steps to evaluate a book; digital information literacy for children; introducing libraries through social media activities; exploring picture books through drama; story coding and introduction to using artificial intelligence in the library field...
Ms. Tran Thi Phuong Lan, Head of Reading Room Division (NLV), member of the AKRCC Implementation Committee presenting paper
The 2022-2024 ASEAN-Korea Children’s Reading Culture Development Project has ended, however, with the initial positive results achieved in the roadmap to enhance the development of reading culture for children in ASEAN countries in general and in Viet Nam in particular, it will be the premise to open up many bilateral and multilateral cooperation activities between the NLV and the NLCY as well as the national libraries of ASEAN countries in the coming time.
AKRCC Members attending the 3rd Conference (2024)
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News and Photos: An Khanh, NLCY