OCLC APRC 2014 membership conference group picture

Today, Khun Tarin Unksakul from radio FM88 interviewed Khun Srichan Chancheewa, director of the Thammasat University Libraries, about the OCLC Conference 2014 (https://oclc.org/en-asiapacific/home.html):

RADIO FM88: What is the background of OCLC? How is it important?

KHUN SRICHAN CHANCHEEWA: The OCLC is a non-profit library cooperative providing research, programs and services that help libraries share the world’s knowledge and the work of organizing it. OCLC members bring together in their communities, manage access to e-content, provide hard-to-find resources, share fragile archival collections, and more. By joining together, member libraries benefit from reduced costs and increased access to information held in libraries around the world. The overall benefit for OCLC members is to acquire access to global resources and deliver what our users need.

RFM88: How did the OCLC APRC membership conference go? Its objective/theme was “Collaboration in the Asia Pacific Century.”

KSC: The OCLC Asia Pacific Executive Committee organized its annual conference to connect a regional network of libraries in learning and collaboration. We believe that each individual library has knowledge and competence to share and contribute. Each year, we try to find library innovations and look for speakers with local Asia Pacific expertise to share experiences. In 2014, we had speakers from Korea, Japan, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand who presented many interesting ideas. Mr. David T. Palmer from the University of Hong Kong spoke on “Collaborative Management of Institutional Assets: HKU’s CRIS,” discussing how the University of Hong Kong library improved services to the community.

RFM88: As chairperson of the APRC selected by member libraries in 2014, what is your role? How does Thailand benefit from it?

KSC: I am the main organizer and master of ceremonies for this event. I select the speakers, introduce them, and conduct an online survey to evaluate the event. Thailand’s benefit is that we meet new friends and learn from them. Our visit to Korea’s libraries helps us to develop new ideas and services for our users.

RFM88: What did you learn from this year’s conference, and how will this improve Thailand’s libraries?

KSC: I believe that the highlight of this year’s conference was Mr. Palmer’s presentation on collaborative management of institutional assets. He demonstrated how his library analyzes university assets and provide a complete dataset to the public. At Thammasat, we will apply this new knowledge to our KM website and make it available to the public soon.

RFM88: How would you wish to see libraries in Thailand improve in the near future?

KSC: Libraries in the world today cannot stand alone. We must learn, share, and magnify our ideas, experiences, and expertise together. We believe that together, we can optimize services. Together, we can share costs and reduce the augmentation rate of each library’s per-unit costs. Libraries in Thailand should use research-supported innovation, improving information services to achieve a digital society of research. We should communicate openly, honestly, and accurately with one another. I believe that all Thai libraries have valuable resources for readers and we should agree to share these resources with one another as freely as possible.

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