The Enriching Indigenous Southeast Asian Collections in Libraries Conference (e‐iseacol)
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07419050510633899 |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| Pages | 14-15 |
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Author | Christopher A. Miller |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
The Enriching Indigenous Southeast Asian
Collections in Libraries Conference
(e-iseacol)
Christopher A. Miller
14 LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 8 2005, pp. 14-15, #Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419050510633899
The rich cultural diversity of
Southeast Asia at once insures that
opportunities for the collection of
unique local materials abound yet, in
many parts of the region, challenges the
existing library and information center
infrastructure. Keen to address issues of
preservation and access to indigenous
materials, the Philippines-based Center
for Human Research and Development
Foundation, Inc. sponsored a two-day
conference in hyper-urban Makati City,
Manila entitled, e-iseacol: Enriching
Indigenous Southeast Asian Collections
in Libraries. International in scope yet
local in concern, the conference hosted
130 participants, 109 information
professionals from throughout the
Philippines and 21 of their colleagues
from abroad (Brunei Darrusalam,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand, Netherlands, the UK and
USA). Unfortunately absent from the
event were representatives from the
remaining Southeast Asian nations of
Cambodia, East Timor, Laos,
Myanmar, and Vietnam. Institutional
representation from within the
Philippines ranged from librarians
overseeing the collections of major
universities to representative
information professionals employed by
cultural and ethnic minority group
information centers throughout the
country. Regional Southeast Asian
librarians in attendance tended to
represent large university and national
libraries, while participants from the
US attended on behalf of CORMOSEA
(Committee on Research Materials on
Southeast Asia (http://cormosea.org)
and their respective academic Southeast
Asia collections (Arizona State,
Michigan, and Washington).
The conference was designed around
four major objectives:
(1) To act as a forum for facilitating
access to indigenous (perhaps per-
ipheral) Southeast Asian libraries,
information centers, and cultural
organizations.
(2) To explore ways in which the
Internet may be employed in the
global utilization of Southeast
Asian materials.
(3) To discuss the elimination of ob-
stacles to the access of cultural
heritage in Southeast Asia.
(4) To identify and secure collections
of indigenous materials that remain
untapped. While primarily orga-
nized around library networks, the
conference advertised and sought
input among other interested com-
munities, including museum cura-
tors, academics, and publishers.
Organized around a format of
alternating individual paper
presentations and open discussion
forums, the e-iseacol conference began
with a keynote address from former
diplomat and current senator, the
Honorable Leticia Ramos Shahani, a
well known cultural ambassador in the
Philippines. Crafted to establish the
tone of the conference, Shahani's paper
recognized that regional libraries as
centers of identity were poised to
dramatically benefit from the
borderless nature of information in the
age of globalization. Acknowledging
both the beneficial and harmful
tendencies within concepts of tradition,
the speaker implored all present to
celebrate human diversity by preserving
living knowledge. More a broad
philosophical presentation rather than a
guide to practical action, Shahani asked
all present to stretch beyond traditional
Southeast Asia librarianship to embody
a religion of knowledge.
Richard Field, director of
Educational Services International in
London and specialist in ephemeral
Southeast Asian publications, offered in
his presentation an outline for the
establishment of an online electronic
resource, Indigenous Southeast Asian
Information Point (ISEAIP). Proposing
to centralize access to indigenous
materials, Field's plan called for
maximum participation and the
utilization of expertise as local
librarians experience greater
connectivity and increasingly
accessible modes of communication.
Field's proposal called for an admirably
wide scope of inclusion of indigenous
materials, yet he inadequately
acknowledged the regional digital
divide.
While nations like Singapore and
Thailand enjoy advanced ICT
infrastructure, countries like East
Timor, Laos, and Myanmar maintain
minimal networks, almost entirely non-
existent in the periphery on which this
conference has focused its collection
cause. Judith Henchy, Southeast Asia
librarian for University of Washington
Libraries, detailed in open discussion
the creation of such an information hub
in the Department of Education funded
(TICFIA) project to build a Southeast
Digital Library among key
CORMOSEA institutions in the USA.
Syed Salim Agha, chief librarian of
the International Islamic University
Malaysia, presented two papers
(sessions two and four) focused on
establishing a regional network among
Southeast Asian libraries and the role of
the internet in enriching library
collections. Primarily concerned with
available technologies for the purpose,
the paper sought to fill an instructional
gap among the participants. Dr Erlinda
K. Alburo, director of the Cebuano
Studies Center in Cebu, Philippines,
employed experiences in a regional
library to illustrate methods by which
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