Day 6: 17 Aug in Oslo.
Information Coordinators' Meeting in the morning (i.e. a briefing for all the folks appointed as Information Coordinators from the various Standing Committees). I had to miss a visit to a library because of this meeting... what do do? Duty calls.
I counted about 45 people in the room. Wow.
A question was asked: "How many of you are newly appointed Information Coordinators?" About 20 hands went up (including mine). OK, I don't feel so bad now.
Main agenda discussed was the role of IFLANET (the official IFLA website). The web administrator (a lady from France, if I'm not mistaken) explained about her role as web-master, which was to design & maintain all IFLA electronic services, maintain consistency across services, upload & archive documents.
[How does one get a job as IFLA web-master? Not that I'm qualified. Just curious.]
Other items briefed included the rationale for not decentralising the web-administration for the services, instructions & specs on sending materials for uploading.
There was a relatively long discussion on IFLA's mailing lists (listservs) for the various sections. I was actually going to ask whether each Standing Committee could start their blog. But a lady next to me beat me to the question by asking if IFLA planned to introduced RSS to the site (another lady quickly asked, "What's that?").
A RSS feature would have to be KIVed for now. There's only one web-master for the maintenance for the entire IFLANET. They are trying to recruit a bigger team I think... Nah, think I'll stick to my current job. :)
After the meeting, I spoke to the lady who made the point about RSS. Turns out she's a legal adviser working for an organisation in the Neatherlands (will update her organisation's url later; left her business card in the office).
She says she doesn't blog but knows someone who does. Nope, she doesn't know Sybilla.
We promised to keep in touch. Who knows, we might just start a blog for our own standing committees in the near future, with blessings from IFLA.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 5 (part 2)
Continues from previous post: Day 5 - 16 Aug in Oslo. From the session on "Libraries serving disadvantaged persons".
The second speaker shared her experience in using the IFLA checklist for disability services. Made a comment that implementation of services was still down to economic considerations, and that "changes occur very slowly."
What's interesting and inspiring for me was thatspeaker begun by saying she's deaf. Said she could only lip read, and noticed the conference room did not have emergency evacuation signs in text form, so would the audience help her to escape if there was a fire... :)
My own takeaways from this session:
The issues surrounding library services for people with disabilities have not changed much since my own literature review for my thesis in 2000. Progress in this area is slow.
However, discussion is still needed because otherwise it eliminates the possibility of future service provision. There has to be professional consciousness, I think.
Main reason for this slow progress is really down to economics, as the speaker said. And that's simply the fact. Not everyone is happy about it, but I think what's key is to acknowledge this, and deal with it.
IFLA has a Standing Committee for libraries serving people with disabilities. They've published a checklist developed checklist and guidelines. Would be put on IFLAnet after the conference.
Here's a thought: Which is cheaper in the long run? Retrofit a library to cater for selected groups of people with disabilities, or subsidise a home delivery and collection service?
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
The second speaker shared her experience in using the IFLA checklist for disability services. Made a comment that implementation of services was still down to economic considerations, and that "changes occur very slowly."
What's interesting and inspiring for me was thatspeaker begun by saying she's deaf. Said she could only lip read, and noticed the conference room did not have emergency evacuation signs in text form, so would the audience help her to escape if there was a fire... :)
My own takeaways from this session:
The issues surrounding library services for people with disabilities have not changed much since my own literature review for my thesis in 2000. Progress in this area is slow.
However, discussion is still needed because otherwise it eliminates the possibility of future service provision. There has to be professional consciousness, I think.
Main reason for this slow progress is really down to economics, as the speaker said. And that's simply the fact. Not everyone is happy about it, but I think what's key is to acknowledge this, and deal with it.
IFLA has a Standing Committee for libraries serving people with disabilities. They've published a checklist developed checklist and guidelines. Would be put on IFLAnet after the conference.
Here's a thought: Which is cheaper in the long run? Retrofit a library to cater for selected groups of people with disabilities, or subsidise a home delivery and collection service?
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 5 (part 1)
NOTE: I'm now back in Singapore, but posts are backdated. Thanks to those who mailed me to say they found the posts informative. I'll finish up the remainder of the posts over the next few days.
Day 5 - 16 Aug in Oslo. Attended the session on "Libraries serving disadvantaged persons".
First speaker was Mr. Mogens Wiederholt. He talked about Denmark's national strategy for library services to people with disabilities (I have to check the full paper to confirm if it's library services in general). He continued that the national policy came about because of efforts from the Equal Opportunities Center in Denmark.
Shared that the national strategy should contain the action plans for each library, standards for access (including Digital Library Services), education of staff & the formation of an Information Network, starting a company to develop products for people with disabilities (he mentioned more, but I only had time to note those points down).
He made a point that "equal opportunities" was defined as "everyone should have the same possibility to make use of services offered" or "an almost equal starting point". [Personally, I think the difficulty lies in agreeing with what is meant by "equal starting point" and whether this is subsidised, and by whom.]
Speaker also mentioned a danish study... (really got to read the paper).
He concluded by saying that there have been improvements since the 1998 study in Denmark, but still a long way to go in establishing full accessibility.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
Day 5 - 16 Aug in Oslo. Attended the session on "Libraries serving disadvantaged persons".
First speaker was Mr. Mogens Wiederholt. He talked about Denmark's national strategy for library services to people with disabilities (I have to check the full paper to confirm if it's library services in general). He continued that the national policy came about because of efforts from the Equal Opportunities Center in Denmark.
Shared that the national strategy should contain the action plans for each library, standards for access (including Digital Library Services), education of staff & the formation of an Information Network, starting a company to develop products for people with disabilities (he mentioned more, but I only had time to note those points down).
He made a point that "equal opportunities" was defined as "everyone should have the same possibility to make use of services offered" or "an almost equal starting point". [Personally, I think the difficulty lies in agreeing with what is meant by "equal starting point" and whether this is subsidised, and by whom.]
Speaker also mentioned a danish study... (really got to read the paper).
He concluded by saying that there have been improvements since the 1998 study in Denmark, but still a long way to go in establishing full accessibility.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 4 (part 3)
15 Aug 05. After the presentation at about 1pm, my Standing Committee rushed off to Oslo Public Library for the launch of the Nordic Picture Books Exhibition.
What Oslo Public Library looks like from the outside. It's huge.
The Children's Section.
The view from the third floor. It overlooks a wide expanse of space. People are just sitting on the grass with the shirts off (guys only lah, not the women).
What you see when you go up their second floor.
View of their 2nd level circulation area.
We only had time to stay for about an hour before we all had to rush to another venue for an extra Standing Committee meeting. The extra section meeting ended around 4pm. Went back to hotel to change into something more comfortable as there was a special event in the evening -- the official opening of the National Library of Norway.
We took a train down to the National Library near a place called the Hydro Park (Drammensveien)...
... but we didn't actually go inside the library (for now). We were seated on a open area (some 2,000 delegates -- perhaps more)...
... and we watched the opening ceremony and event from a huge screen while seated on the grass. Kind of like "Woodstock" for librarians!
This is how the National Library looks from the outside.
BTW, the sky looks bright but the time was already 7 or 8pm. The day just seems so long, really and I think that' s maybe why the pace of life don't seem to hectic -- at least for me, my perception was that it's still bright and there's plenty of time to do what you want.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
What Oslo Public Library looks like from the outside. It's huge.
The Children's Section.
The view from the third floor. It overlooks a wide expanse of space. People are just sitting on the grass with the shirts off (guys only lah, not the women).
What you see when you go up their second floor.
View of their 2nd level circulation area.
We only had time to stay for about an hour before we all had to rush to another venue for an extra Standing Committee meeting. The extra section meeting ended around 4pm. Went back to hotel to change into something more comfortable as there was a special event in the evening -- the official opening of the National Library of Norway.
We took a train down to the National Library near a place called the Hydro Park (Drammensveien)...
... but we didn't actually go inside the library (for now). We were seated on a open area (some 2,000 delegates -- perhaps more)...
... and we watched the opening ceremony and event from a huge screen while seated on the grass. Kind of like "Woodstock" for librarians!
This is how the National Library looks from the outside.
BTW, the sky looks bright but the time was already 7 or 8pm. The day just seems so long, really and I think that' s maybe why the pace of life don't seem to hectic -- at least for me, my perception was that it's still bright and there's plenty of time to do what you want.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 4 (part 2)
Mon 15 Aug. Attended the Children's & Young Adults session after the previous one on government documents. Incidentally, the Libraries for Children & Young Adults section celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, hence the presentation theme "A voyage in the past, present & future".
Big attendance. Must have been like 200 people in the room (the hall was huge though. Lots of room to spare)
The panelists -- colleagues from the Standing Committee for Libraries for Children and Young Adults.
First speaker gave an overview of the Norwegian Public Libraries (from historical view to present day services and activities). Highlights from the paper:
The second paper was on best practices of Children's Library services from around the world (which is one of the section's ongoing project). Showed pictures of what various Children's Libraries activities, like this "Donkey mobile library":
Presented lots of pictures from Croatia, Norway, Africa, UK, italy, Columbia, Singapore. Speaker said the project was to "broaden our views & minds" and that "your practice could be the solution for someone else".
Final paper was on the history of the section & plans for the future. The section was established in 1955 and called "Library Work with children" (now it's called "Libraries for Children & Young Adults). The 1950s was a time when new insights was made into child's development and psychology, and there was the UN declaration of children's rights. So this contributed to the established and growth of Children's libraries and services. Looking ahead, key issues will be on aspects like literacy & partnership.
There was a pep talk speech at the end (by the president of the Norwegian Reading Association). He said getting children to read is not about "competition with Reality-TV" but about "class, race, gender". That "those who don't read will get doors in their face".
His preposition was that libraries and the work of librarians was about stemming against the tide of intellectual barbarianism (e.g. mindless TV programming). Interesting concept.
He wants librarians to say out loud to the world, "I am proud to be a librarian & you should support what I do".
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
Big attendance. Must have been like 200 people in the room (the hall was huge though. Lots of room to spare)
The panelists -- colleagues from the Standing Committee for Libraries for Children and Young Adults.
First speaker gave an overview of the Norwegian Public Libraries (from historical view to present day services and activities). Highlights from the paper:
- In 1970s the "silence" sign disappeared for good starting in the children's PL!
- Norway has a national programme (2003 - 07) called "Make Room for Reading!" - a strategy to stimulate a love of reading & acquisition of knowledge.
- They also have a national programme for arts & culture in education -- where Norwegian libraries & schools work together to promote Norwegian culture.
- Mentioned a survey of the reading habits of Norweigian children & Young Adults (unfortunately, the study was done in Norweigian)
- Made a point that libraries should provide "access to expression, not just information". Also suggests that digital production (by users) was a means to enable expression.
- Suggests a need to clarify roles of Public Libraries and School Libraries.
The second paper was on best practices of Children's Library services from around the world (which is one of the section's ongoing project). Showed pictures of what various Children's Libraries activities, like this "Donkey mobile library":
Presented lots of pictures from Croatia, Norway, Africa, UK, italy, Columbia, Singapore. Speaker said the project was to "broaden our views & minds" and that "your practice could be the solution for someone else".
Final paper was on the history of the section & plans for the future. The section was established in 1955 and called "Library Work with children" (now it's called "Libraries for Children & Young Adults). The 1950s was a time when new insights was made into child's development and psychology, and there was the UN declaration of children's rights. So this contributed to the established and growth of Children's libraries and services. Looking ahead, key issues will be on aspects like literacy & partnership.
There was a pep talk speech at the end (by the president of the Norwegian Reading Association). He said getting children to read is not about "competition with Reality-TV" but about "class, race, gender". That "those who don't read will get doors in their face".
His preposition was that libraries and the work of librarians was about stemming against the tide of intellectual barbarianism (e.g. mindless TV programming). Interesting concept.
He wants librarians to say out loud to the world, "I am proud to be a librarian & you should support what I do".
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 4 (part 1)
Monday, 15 Aug 05. Attended the session on "Government information and official publications". There were 5 speakers who came from Iran, the Carribeans, U.S. (two of them), Singapore (my colleague).
Speaker from Iran talked about the digitisation work of her organisation (the Management and Planning Organisation of Iran. Shared some challenges faced in the digitisation work. They are moving towards a "full digital library".
The one from the Carribeans spoke about e-government initiatives in the Carribeans (btw, I learnt that the Carribeans is made up of 15 countries).
US speaker introduced the work of the Government Printing Office (GPO), one of which was a project to start a registry of u.s. Government digitisation projects (I think Singapore ought to start something like this too). I learnt there was a "science.gov" proj (www.science.gov). It's a cross-agency gateway to selected U.S. government science & tech information. This gateway allows deep web-searching in to database records that would otherwise not be retrieved by search engines. Challenges faced included the wide scope & breath of audience -- which then affected taxonomy issues.
My colleague shared NLB's experience in being involved in the e-government initiatives (e.g. Information Literacy programmes). There was an overview of the Singpaore government's e-govt timeline, and what role the NLB played in supporting the national IT strategy.
That's my colleague, Rajen, on the extreme right of the picture at the lecturn.
Last speaker talked about the challenges of a networked society. Mentioned that existing (institutional) structures of searching and presenting information are not evolving fast enough vis-a-vis globalisation, leading to "disintermediation" - i.e. libraries are bypassed for google. Suggests that as libraries put their collection online, they must also make available assistance online. Mentioned Govtinfo.org (GIO) and explained a framework of sorts called "EULEGIS".
Take-aways from the session:
Seems all governments in the world are moving towards "e-government". It might be easier to count the number of governments not doing so. The Internet is definitely firmly entrenched in government and society but a fully networked society cannot evolve by chance.
Effective e-government initiatives must include a national strategy for making its citizens "IT literate" and "Information Literate". That's might therefore be a key role for libraries to play, particularly public libraries.
BTW, as a response to a question during Q&A, the Carribean speaker made reference to a New South Wales study on the role of Public Libraries & E-government. Got to check up on that study.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005, role of libraries
Speaker from Iran talked about the digitisation work of her organisation (the Management and Planning Organisation of Iran. Shared some challenges faced in the digitisation work. They are moving towards a "full digital library".
The one from the Carribeans spoke about e-government initiatives in the Carribeans (btw, I learnt that the Carribeans is made up of 15 countries).
US speaker introduced the work of the Government Printing Office (GPO), one of which was a project to start a registry of u.s. Government digitisation projects (I think Singapore ought to start something like this too). I learnt there was a "science.gov" proj (www.science.gov). It's a cross-agency gateway to selected U.S. government science & tech information. This gateway allows deep web-searching in to database records that would otherwise not be retrieved by search engines. Challenges faced included the wide scope & breath of audience -- which then affected taxonomy issues.
My colleague shared NLB's experience in being involved in the e-government initiatives (e.g. Information Literacy programmes). There was an overview of the Singpaore government's e-govt timeline, and what role the NLB played in supporting the national IT strategy.
That's my colleague, Rajen, on the extreme right of the picture at the lecturn.
Last speaker talked about the challenges of a networked society. Mentioned that existing (institutional) structures of searching and presenting information are not evolving fast enough vis-a-vis globalisation, leading to "disintermediation" - i.e. libraries are bypassed for google. Suggests that as libraries put their collection online, they must also make available assistance online. Mentioned Govtinfo.org (GIO) and explained a framework of sorts called "EULEGIS".
Take-aways from the session:
Seems all governments in the world are moving towards "e-government". It might be easier to count the number of governments not doing so. The Internet is definitely firmly entrenched in government and society but a fully networked society cannot evolve by chance.
Effective e-government initiatives must include a national strategy for making its citizens "IT literate" and "Information Literate". That's might therefore be a key role for libraries to play, particularly public libraries.
BTW, as a response to a question during Q&A, the Carribean speaker made reference to a New South Wales study on the role of Public Libraries & E-government. Got to check up on that study.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005, role of libraries
Sunday, August 14, 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 3
Day 3 - 14 Aug 05, Sunday. Conference opening ceremony at Oslo Spektrum. Incidentally, this year is also Norway's 100th year of Independence, so it was quite appropriate to host IFLA here.
His Majesty King Harald V of Norway arrived at 10.45am sharp. I was seated way at the top of the indoor stadium and from my vantage point, the king was dressed in a simple business suit and looked like a typical business man.
Speeches were given...
Minister of Culture & Church Affairs
There were performances...
In one performance, the harpist was using electric guitar effects pedals like Reverb & Distortion. Never seen or heard that before for a harp!
Then the grand finale, where they paraded all the flags of the participating countries on stage. It's a packed stage.
All very nice. Even the speeches were short and sweet. What I remember most from the ceremony was an annecdote from one of speaker, on the "Challenge of Change":
Einstein passed his assistant a set of exam questions for the year. His assistant asks, "Aren't these the same questions as last year?". And Einstein's reply: "Yes, but the answers have changed". Sort of sums up today's reality to some extent, doesn't it?
There's about 2500 participants. The reception hall was just packed with IFLA delegates.
After the opening ceremony, I attended the session for Newcomers to IFLA. Seems there are a lot of newcomers, which certainly bodes well for IFLA. The speakers elaborated more on how IFLA is organised, what are the roles of the governing board, how decisions are made and encouraged participants to be involved in the various Standing Committees. IFLA has 8 divisions (called Sections) and 44 sub-sections (called Standing Committees).
I'm beginning to see that it's the involvement in the committee work that differentiate IFLA from other conferences. The papers and presentations are organised and chaired by the respective Standing Committees (SC). Then there's the SC meetings that serve as platform for IFLA members (all volunteers for that section).
The way I see it, the papers and presentation serve as platform for intellectual discussions while the work at the SC level serve to carry out projects.
I don't have a full grasp of IFLA's structure yet -- its various sections and SCs, membership, voting rights. But I think I have enough information at this point to have a conceptual understanding of how my involvement in the Standing Committee ties in to IFLA and library work in general.
Later that evening, I went over to a place called "Stratos", where Jostein Gaarder (of Sophie's World) was one of the author speaking. I learnt that his name is pronounced as something like "Hoo-steen" (Jostein) "Gur-duur" (Gaarder).
The place was right at the rooftop where there's a magnificent view of Oslo.
The author-talk was followed by a music performance, playing what seemed to me like a cross between jazz and new age ethereal music. Maybe it's unique Norwegian Jazz. Nice.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
His Majesty King Harald V of Norway arrived at 10.45am sharp. I was seated way at the top of the indoor stadium and from my vantage point, the king was dressed in a simple business suit and looked like a typical business man.
Speeches were given...
Minister of Culture & Church Affairs
There were performances...
In one performance, the harpist was using electric guitar effects pedals like Reverb & Distortion. Never seen or heard that before for a harp!
Then the grand finale, where they paraded all the flags of the participating countries on stage. It's a packed stage.
All very nice. Even the speeches were short and sweet. What I remember most from the ceremony was an annecdote from one of speaker, on the "Challenge of Change":
Einstein passed his assistant a set of exam questions for the year. His assistant asks, "Aren't these the same questions as last year?". And Einstein's reply: "Yes, but the answers have changed". Sort of sums up today's reality to some extent, doesn't it?
There's about 2500 participants. The reception hall was just packed with IFLA delegates.
After the opening ceremony, I attended the session for Newcomers to IFLA. Seems there are a lot of newcomers, which certainly bodes well for IFLA. The speakers elaborated more on how IFLA is organised, what are the roles of the governing board, how decisions are made and encouraged participants to be involved in the various Standing Committees. IFLA has 8 divisions (called Sections) and 44 sub-sections (called Standing Committees).
I'm beginning to see that it's the involvement in the committee work that differentiate IFLA from other conferences. The papers and presentations are organised and chaired by the respective Standing Committees (SC). Then there's the SC meetings that serve as platform for IFLA members (all volunteers for that section).
The way I see it, the papers and presentation serve as platform for intellectual discussions while the work at the SC level serve to carry out projects.
I don't have a full grasp of IFLA's structure yet -- its various sections and SCs, membership, voting rights. But I think I have enough information at this point to have a conceptual understanding of how my involvement in the Standing Committee ties in to IFLA and library work in general.
Later that evening, I went over to a place called "Stratos", where Jostein Gaarder (of Sophie's World) was one of the author speaking. I learnt that his name is pronounced as something like "Hoo-steen" (Jostein) "Gur-duur" (Gaarder).
The place was right at the rooftop where there's a magnificent view of Oslo.
The author-talk was followed by a music performance, playing what seemed to me like a cross between jazz and new age ethereal music. Maybe it's unique Norwegian Jazz. Nice.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
Saturday, August 13, 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 2 (Section Meeting)
Day 2 in Oslo. Sat morning, 13 Aug 05, 8.30am. Attended the standing committee (Children & Young People Libraries) meeting #1. Now I can associate faces to the section members' names I've been seeing in the email list.
Up to a third of this year's Standing Committee (SC) members were new, in replacement of the outgoing members. The chairperson explained that SC meetings were basically "business meetings" where the committee's strategies, plans, administrative matters (like budgets), programmes and projects were discussed.
The chairperson hails from Sarajavo. She is very competent, as I'm sure are all those attending.
At this meeting we re-elected the chairperson & secretary. The chairperson then appointed the Tresurer & Information Officer (IO). I was appointed as IO and a main duty is to publish the SC's newsletter.
The IO post was held by my outgoing colleague. She did such a good job that our SC's newsletter has been nominated for an IFLA award. I shall try my best to uphold the high standards set.
Later, I was asked by another colleague what an IO does. I joked that I now control what the rest of IFLA reads about our committee's work. Not strictly true about the control part but I'm beginning to learn that the newsletter is important.
As the chairperson said, "Our section newsletter reflects the work of the committee". She was explaining how she had to gather materials for a paper for the SC's 50th anniversary (this year), and there was a lack of materials documenting the work.
The meeting continued with other items on the agenda, like passing the minutes of last meeting, reviewing the task assignments and a brief mention for a need to brainstorm for next year's IFLA programme for our SC.
Sitting in the room at the first meeting, it really sunk in that I'm in an international panel, and there is lots of work to be done in addition to my regular job. I'm now an IFLA Officer.
Ooh, what have I gotten myself into? :)
Just joking. I've been briefed on what was expected when I signed my name on the dotted line. But one only realises the full exent of job when we're actually involved in it. I'm telling myself not to dwell too much on the anxieties I'm facing right now and just plug away at it in manageable pieces, to the best of my abilities.
The SC members would meet two more times during this Oslo trip. There's another meeting on Friday morning, 8am. That's the official one. Our chairperson has called for another extra session on Monday afternoon. It's work, work, work!
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
Up to a third of this year's Standing Committee (SC) members were new, in replacement of the outgoing members. The chairperson explained that SC meetings were basically "business meetings" where the committee's strategies, plans, administrative matters (like budgets), programmes and projects were discussed.
The chairperson hails from Sarajavo. She is very competent, as I'm sure are all those attending.
At this meeting we re-elected the chairperson & secretary. The chairperson then appointed the Tresurer & Information Officer (IO). I was appointed as IO and a main duty is to publish the SC's newsletter.
The IO post was held by my outgoing colleague. She did such a good job that our SC's newsletter has been nominated for an IFLA award. I shall try my best to uphold the high standards set.
Later, I was asked by another colleague what an IO does. I joked that I now control what the rest of IFLA reads about our committee's work. Not strictly true about the control part but I'm beginning to learn that the newsletter is important.
As the chairperson said, "Our section newsletter reflects the work of the committee". She was explaining how she had to gather materials for a paper for the SC's 50th anniversary (this year), and there was a lack of materials documenting the work.
The meeting continued with other items on the agenda, like passing the minutes of last meeting, reviewing the task assignments and a brief mention for a need to brainstorm for next year's IFLA programme for our SC.
Sitting in the room at the first meeting, it really sunk in that I'm in an international panel, and there is lots of work to be done in addition to my regular job. I'm now an IFLA Officer.
Ooh, what have I gotten myself into? :)
Just joking. I've been briefed on what was expected when I signed my name on the dotted line. But one only realises the full exent of job when we're actually involved in it. I'm telling myself not to dwell too much on the anxieties I'm facing right now and just plug away at it in manageable pieces, to the best of my abilities.
The SC members would meet two more times during this Oslo trip. There's another meeting on Friday morning, 8am. That's the official one. Our chairperson has called for another extra session on Monday afternoon. It's work, work, work!
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: Day 2
Skipped lunch after the standing committee meeting. Met with two other colleagues and decided to visit the Ski (pronounced as "Shee") Public Library before the Caucus Meeting in the evening.
The Ski Public Library is located in a shopping mall and is strategically located just next to the cinema ticketing booth. Great way to attract movie-goers who have time to spare before the start of their show.
This is the library entrance.
And this is what you'd see when you step in.
BTW, to the left of this picture (not shown here) is a small newspaper reading corner. This level houses the Children's section. An upper floor has the AV collection. To the right of this picture are stairs leading down to the lower floor where the Adult and Young People's collection are housed.
I liked how the building design provides a sort of cross-section view, where level 1 was flushed with the street while the basememt was below street level.
We spent only 10 minutes there. The visit was unplanned but we managed to have a quick word with one of the librarian on their collection and library usage.
I saw one self-checkout machine, 3 or 4 OPAC terminals, and perhaps 8 to 10 Internet terminals.
The library was not as crowded as what we would see for a Saturday crowd in a Singapore shopping mall library. I think there was not more than 20 library users when we were there. Their library closes at about 2pm on Saturdays afternoon.
Their collection size is maybe half or even one-third of a shopping mall library in Singapore. However, the Ski Public Library supports only the local community here, which is considerably less that the residential population that a shopping mall library in Singapore supports.
But it seems that some things are quite similar in terms of user behaviour -- I saw that their newspaper section tended to attract the senior citizens, just like in Singapore's case.
Too bad we couldn't stay longer. Would have wanted to learn more about how they managed their collections, the selection criteria, on how they promoted their library, their staffing and administrative norms etc.
Took a cab ride back to Oslo city, as my colleague had another meeting to attend. Had a nice chat with the taxi driver (I may post about it another time).
7pm, we attended the caucus for Chinese-speaking delegates.
I think there was easily 100 attendees to this session, of which many were from China. There were a few caucus sessions held concurrently, grouped by language.
I have to remind myself that English is not the first language for majority of the IFLA delegates here. I think a caucus is sort of like a gathering/ briefing session spoken in that particular language (which means typically they are from the same country or region). The speakers were usually the section members in the IFLA governing board, and would provide an update on what's being discussed at the board level.
Tomorrow's the official opening of 71st session of IFLA.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
The Ski Public Library is located in a shopping mall and is strategically located just next to the cinema ticketing booth. Great way to attract movie-goers who have time to spare before the start of their show.
This is the library entrance.
And this is what you'd see when you step in.
BTW, to the left of this picture (not shown here) is a small newspaper reading corner. This level houses the Children's section. An upper floor has the AV collection. To the right of this picture are stairs leading down to the lower floor where the Adult and Young People's collection are housed.
I liked how the building design provides a sort of cross-section view, where level 1 was flushed with the street while the basememt was below street level.
We spent only 10 minutes there. The visit was unplanned but we managed to have a quick word with one of the librarian on their collection and library usage.
I saw one self-checkout machine, 3 or 4 OPAC terminals, and perhaps 8 to 10 Internet terminals.
The library was not as crowded as what we would see for a Saturday crowd in a Singapore shopping mall library. I think there was not more than 20 library users when we were there. Their library closes at about 2pm on Saturdays afternoon.
Their collection size is maybe half or even one-third of a shopping mall library in Singapore. However, the Ski Public Library supports only the local community here, which is considerably less that the residential population that a shopping mall library in Singapore supports.
But it seems that some things are quite similar in terms of user behaviour -- I saw that their newspaper section tended to attract the senior citizens, just like in Singapore's case.
Too bad we couldn't stay longer. Would have wanted to learn more about how they managed their collections, the selection criteria, on how they promoted their library, their staffing and administrative norms etc.
Took a cab ride back to Oslo city, as my colleague had another meeting to attend. Had a nice chat with the taxi driver (I may post about it another time).
7pm, we attended the caucus for Chinese-speaking delegates.
I think there was easily 100 attendees to this session, of which many were from China. There were a few caucus sessions held concurrently, grouped by language.
I have to remind myself that English is not the first language for majority of the IFLA delegates here. I think a caucus is sort of like a gathering/ briefing session spoken in that particular language (which means typically they are from the same country or region). The speakers were usually the section members in the IFLA governing board, and would provide an update on what's being discussed at the board level.
Tomorrow's the official opening of 71st session of IFLA.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
IFLA 2005, Oslo: First day in Oslo
Am using the free internet connection from the hotel lobby to post this. It's around 5am now, local time.
The 16 hour flight from Singapore/ Bangkok/ Copenhagen/ Oslo was uneventful and pretty smooth going. But personally the novelty of travelling by plane has really, really worn off and flying (by economy class) is a mental and physical strain. All the more incentive for me to keep fit.
Reached Oslo International Airport around 9am. Together with 6 other colleagues who were on the same flight, we took a taxi to our hotel.
Costs 870 Kroners -- or SDG$290! Expensive but necessary as it was more cost effective than travelling individually by train. Hey, welcome to Oslo! I was already warned from the travel guides that it's an expensive town.
Unpacked my stuff, got registered for the conference, and had time to spare to walk on a self-discovery tour around the city.
My small but cozy room.
View outside the quaint little window.
This was lunch. We can't afford the big meals!
Somewhere along Karl Johans Gate (a street name).
With 2 other colleagues, we managed to walk to the University of Oslo, the Royal Palace, get on board a ferry for a 2 hour tour by ferry of the fjords, quick walk to the City Hall (venue for one of the Nobel Peace prize award).
The Royal Palace grounds.
Summer houses on the islands along the Fjord tour by ferry. The route took about 2 hours.
City Hall.
On the way back to the hotel, we got a bit lost and found ourselves in what must have been a slightly seedy part of the city ('cos we saw two streetwalkers at the corner). Got back to the hotel eventually, with the help of some people (non-locals, actually) who could roughly point us in the right direction.
Weather was around 20 degrees Celsius, sun was bright. It helped that the day remained bright even till 7pm, 'cos we managed to cover lots of ground that way. I was thinking if Singapore had long daylight hours like this, our tourism sector will surely boom!
Dinner was pizza and pita -- huge portion!. Delicious stuff (decided not to convert the cost to Singapore currency. Less stressful that way).
Back to hotel around 7.15pm. Tried to read more preliminary papers but zonked out. Woke at local time 3am to research on tomorrow's meeting venue and schedule, do a bit of planning of what papers to attend.
OK, breakfast is served at 6.30am. Don't think I can go back to sleep now. Going to eat early 'cos my section meeting starts at 8.30am and there's about 15 to 20 mins walk to the meeting venue.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
The 16 hour flight from Singapore/ Bangkok/ Copenhagen/ Oslo was uneventful and pretty smooth going. But personally the novelty of travelling by plane has really, really worn off and flying (by economy class) is a mental and physical strain. All the more incentive for me to keep fit.
Reached Oslo International Airport around 9am. Together with 6 other colleagues who were on the same flight, we took a taxi to our hotel.
Costs 870 Kroners -- or SDG$290! Expensive but necessary as it was more cost effective than travelling individually by train. Hey, welcome to Oslo! I was already warned from the travel guides that it's an expensive town.
Unpacked my stuff, got registered for the conference, and had time to spare to walk on a self-discovery tour around the city.
My small but cozy room.
View outside the quaint little window.
This was lunch. We can't afford the big meals!
Somewhere along Karl Johans Gate (a street name).
With 2 other colleagues, we managed to walk to the University of Oslo, the Royal Palace, get on board a ferry for a 2 hour tour by ferry of the fjords, quick walk to the City Hall (venue for one of the Nobel Peace prize award).
The Royal Palace grounds.
Summer houses on the islands along the Fjord tour by ferry. The route took about 2 hours.
City Hall.
On the way back to the hotel, we got a bit lost and found ourselves in what must have been a slightly seedy part of the city ('cos we saw two streetwalkers at the corner). Got back to the hotel eventually, with the help of some people (non-locals, actually) who could roughly point us in the right direction.
Weather was around 20 degrees Celsius, sun was bright. It helped that the day remained bright even till 7pm, 'cos we managed to cover lots of ground that way. I was thinking if Singapore had long daylight hours like this, our tourism sector will surely boom!
Dinner was pizza and pita -- huge portion!. Delicious stuff (decided not to convert the cost to Singapore currency. Less stressful that way).
Back to hotel around 7.15pm. Tried to read more preliminary papers but zonked out. Woke at local time 3am to research on tomorrow's meeting venue and schedule, do a bit of planning of what papers to attend.
OK, breakfast is served at 6.30am. Don't think I can go back to sleep now. Going to eat early 'cos my section meeting starts at 8.30am and there's about 15 to 20 mins walk to the meeting venue.
Tag: IFLA, oslo 2005
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
