On Friday November 30, a group of librarians from the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Asia Pacific Regional Council Meeting (APRC) 2018 visited the Pridi Banomyong Library (see previous blog entry). OCLC is an American nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs.  Members of the OCLC Asia Pacific Executive Committee include respected library directors: Dg. Rukiah Ag. Amit of the Malaysian University of Sabah (UMS), Malaysia; Shuqing Chu of Zhejiang Public Library, China; Bushra Almas Jaswal of Forman Christian College (FCC), Lahore, Pakistan; and Assistant Professor Akekarin Yolrabil, Thammasat Business School of the TU Library.

Other institutions represented for the visit included the University of Hong Kong, China; Chuo University, Japan; Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia; Taylor’s International School KL, Malaysia; Forman Christian College, Pakistan; Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan; Benguet State University, Philippines; Saint Louis University, Philippines; Singapore Management University,  Singapore; National Central Library, Taiwan; Sripatum University Library, Thailand; Beijing Normal University Library; Shanghai Library, China; Northwestern Polytechnical University Library, China; Wuhan University, China; Institute of Social Sciences Information, Vietnam; National Economics University,Vietnam; Madras University Library, India; Museum of Siam Bangkok; Thai Public Broadcasting Service; Maruey Knowledge Center, Bangkok; and the Thai Library Association.

Among the distinguished institutions represented during the November 30 visit to the Pridi Banomyong Library was the Singapore Management University (SMU) Libraries. SMU Libraries own over 420,000 printed and electronic books, with access to over 80,000 print and electronic journals and more than 180 electronic databases. As its website describes,

SMU Libraries offers a range of learning spaces, including open areas for individual and collaborative use, study carrels, project rooms equipped with LCD panels, learning labs, quiet areas, investment studio, graduate lounges, and Hive – an innovative space for collaborative learning. Library space is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities such as wireless network, digital signage, express workstations, videoconferencing and dedicated computers with specialised financial software. Collections of lifestyle reading materials, videos, games and recent issues of newspapers and magazines and a display of latest arrivals are available at the Lounge area of Li Ka Shing Library.

The Li Ka Shing Library building includes louvered windows allowing abundant natural light to enter the library, in addition to skylights and light wells. SMU’s Kwa Geok Choo Law Library has an architectural design in the form of a pearl. SMU Libraries is a member of the American Library Association (ALA); ASEAN University Network Inter-Library Online; (AUNILO); Educause; EconBiz; Hong Kong Library Association (HKLA); International Association of University Libraries (IATUL); International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA); Learning Environments Australasia; Library Association of Singapore (LAS); and Pacific Rim Research Libraries Alliance (PRRLA).

Its vision:

To be a leading research library providing ubiquitous access to information using innovative strategies to drive intellectual exchange and the creation of knowledge.

MISSION

The Library’s mission is to enable a culture of life-long learning through collaboration, engagement and outreach. It aims to provide seamless access to information using innovative and leading edge technology.  The Library is committed to delivering exceptional services and building dynamic relationships within the SMU community and beyond.

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

The Library endeavors to provide universal access to the library resources and services required for academic and research success…

VALUES

• Respect:

Valuing others and accepting diversity

• Accountability:

Taking responsibility for your action and results

• Passion:

Being enthusiastic and engaging

• Professionalism:

Delivering equitable, unbiased, and timely service to all library users

The SMU Libraries collections include academic works

to support teaching and research by the Schools of Business, Economics, Accountancy, Information Systems and Social Sciences; and, courses taken by undergraduate and postgraduate students in all schools. The collection is interdisciplinary and covers the broad fields of business, economics and commerce with special strengths in finance, trade, accounting, management and international business. The collection at the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library is designed to provide resources necessary to support teaching and research by the School of Law and courses in Law taken by undergraduate and postgraduate students of other schools. As well as Singapore primary and secondary sources, it includes access to materials of the main jurisdictions of the common law that have influenced Singaporean law. Library users also have access to US and EU law and international law materials.

There are also collections to promote the cultural, leisure and community aspects of life at SMU. These include a Lifestyle Collection of almost 1200 leisure titles in contemporary, classic, and regional fiction, travel, food, hobbies, personal development, and health and fitness. A Literature and General Reading Collection comprises works by such noted authors as E.M. Forster, Daphne Du Maurier, Graham Greene, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare, and many others.

Rare books

Chuo University Library in Tokyo, Japan, was founded over 130 years ago. Its collection amounts to about 2.3 million volumes, making it among the leading university libraries of Japan. The Central Library offers 190,000 bookss in open stacks, and 990,000 documents and volumes in closed stacks, including external storage.

The Chuo University Library Rare Books and Special Collections department contains rare books about ancient Roman law, modern German and Italian law, accounting and bookkeeping – including books published in Europe in the 1500s – and manuscripts from the collection of Count Henri de Boulainvilliers (1658-1722), a French historian, historian of legal systems, and philosopher. There are also collections dedicated to such English authors as Bernard Mandeville, David Hume, Thomas Hardy, and Jeremy Bentham.

The TU Library owns several books by and about these writers. Chuo University Library Rare Books and Special Collections also owns a group of First editions of British classical economics books by Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, and James Mill as well as first editions in different languages of Das Kapital, also known as Capital: Critique of Political Economy by Karl Marx, a theoretical text in materialist philosophy, economics and politics.

Among the most beautiful items in the Chuo University Library Rare Books and Special Collections are publications printed by the Kelmscott Press   of William Morris, an influential English craftsman of the 1800s. There are also many books of historical interest about medieval and modern Japan.

Another institution represented by the visitors on November 30 was the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics Library, considered one of the best libraries of Pakistan, with core collections on statistics, economics, demography, sociology, banking, finance, trade and commerce. It also owns books on information technology, geography, law and management as well as philosophy, religion, politics, literature, and history.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)