Regional librarian congress opens in Hanoi

     The 14th Congress of National Southeast Asian Librarians (Consal XIV) opened in the capital city of Hanoi on April 21, drawing the participation of 800 delegates from 26 countries around the world.
In her speech at the opening ceremony, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan said during the country’s national construction and international integration process, Vietnam has always provided investment and the best possible conditions for development of its libraries.
Doan spoke highly of the targets, programmes and events that Consal has carried out over the past four decades and said she hoped that Consal XIV would devise an action plan to accelerate the provision of information.
The vice president urged the Vietnamese librarians who are representing more than 25,000 of their colleagues at Consal XIV to make the best of the event to share their experience and strengthen solidarity with their counterparts from abroad.
Vietnam National Library Director Pham The Khang said the congress is a chance for regional librarians to enhance solidarity and cooperation, share operational experience and discuss ways of developing libraries and information exchanges in the region.
During the course of the two-day congress, the participants will look into a wide range of issues, including training of librarians, ways of providing library services more effectively, applying global technologies and the management and marketing of libraries.
With the theme of “Towards dynamic libraries and information services in Southeast Asian countries,” the congress is hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.