Datin Paduka Hajah Adina binti Othman

 Cultural Institutions responsible for the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage  Responsible for the preservation of historical monuments, landscapes, artifacts, works of art as well as documents, archives and records, which are not necessarily in paper form only  Libraries : generally refer to the place housing a large collection of books which may include digital sources, print, audio, and visual materials in numerous formats.

 Complement one another  Relationship have always been and should always be close  Serve the same clientele - information and knowledge seekers  Core business interlinked  Cultural institutions serve to preserve for posterity and to facilitate research  Libraries enrich the understanding of the artefacts held in the cultural institutions.

 Archives are closer to cultural institutions  Archives hold the records and written documents of the Government  Archives basically primary sources  Libraries hold considerably more secondary sources

 National Archives, Libraries, Museums and other cultural institutions are among the country’s core research resources  Libraries, Archives and Museums as the three pillars of cultural institutions  Need to collaborate more closely not only with each other but with other interested parties, such as education institutions, related government agencies as well as Non- Government Organisations (NGOs) and the private sector.

 Relationship and collaboration more relevant and necessary in small populated countries  Brunei Darussalam - small population, limited manpower and financial resources  Cooperation saves money and time  Reach users more efficiently  e-Library – at least 20 libraries  e-Archives  B-Heritage

 Knowledge the basis of a nation’s life  Knowledge intrinsically linked with information  Age of information technology explosion  Dissemination of information easier, faster  Multiple modes for information dissemination  Search engines easier than the traditional manual search  Role of traditional information repositories jeopardised if they remain stagnant  New technologies need to be embraced and utilised  Traditional concept of libraries and other information repositories need to be redefined

 Efforts need to be taken to show that libraries, archives and other information repositories are still relevant and essential to the knowledge and information seeker  Adaptation to the information explosion era requires profound changes in the organizations – not just in skills but no less important, in attitude  21 st century information specialists face more challenges but also exciting opportunities

 Advantage of librarians and information managers  World wide web massive – difficult for some researchers unsure of the effective ways of navigating it  Advances in management information technology has brought about radical changes in organisational form and function  Impact on information storage, information management and searching tools

 Need for information specialists to rethink strategies  The potential for change is here and information managers need to grab them  Can increase efficiency, effectiveness, creativity and innovativeness  Electronic information storage and retrieval should be the norm  Traditional archives and library should be retained in terms of storage  Information professionals should take on additional jobs of electronically storing and retrieving their holdings

 Types of libraries :- ◦ Public libraries ◦ Special libraries ◦ Reference libraries ◦ Academic libraries ◦ School libraries  The Language and Literature Bureau, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, runs the public libraries  Act as the lead agency in Brunei on coordination of library development programmes  Other key players being the University Brunei Darussalam Library  Ministry of Education lead agency on provision of formal training for librarians basically through the vocational schools.

 No National Library  Preservation of Books Act 1967  Legal deposit entrusted to the Director of Museums - three copies of nationally produced publications deposited in the Brunei Museum  Since the 1970s, the Public Library has also acted as depository for all Brunei publications  National bibliography published by the Museums Department - backlog  Cooperation needed from librarians to ensure annual publication of National Bibliography  Two main functions of the National Library i.e. the legal deposit and the national bibliographic control, have been addressed

 Brunei National Archives Act 1975 (revised 1983)  National Archives of Brunei is the lead agency for archives  Current Director of the National Archives is the Director of Museums

 National Library/University Library?  National Library/National Archives?  Absence of a National Library should not be used as rationale for inertia and inactivity  Demography and the small population of Brunei - some other set up?  Should not divert from core business to serve the community  Intrinsic right of all to access to information and knowledge

 Need to ‘license’ the librarians and information handlers to ensure they have the right qualifications from the lowest post  Regulatory body to implement this and keep a register on them  Need to review the schemes of service of librarians and archivists  Training should be made compulsory  Need to establish a framework for library qualifications to regulate standard of information handlers and providers

 Need to upgrade image of librarians  Change in the role of librarians  Libraries have transformed or should transform  Society need to accept the new role of librarians and information specialists  Impact of social media and mobile technologies on the use of information and libraries  Librarians are the ‘people behind the scene’ gathering the information, organizing it, preserving it so it is accessible to all  Machines cannot do it

 Equally important, if not more important, for librarians and information specialists themselves to understand the need to change  Change of mindsets necessary to adapt to the new types of information seekers  Need to comprehend and accept the change in their roles  Libraries and information repositories which fail to adapt to the needs of society and stay relevant to the community they serve will find themselves marginalised in the long run.

 Libraries should exude aura of dynamism  Libraries should continually upgrade themselves  Be alive  Be a place that can promise exciting discoveries to your readers  Do not forget your core business - to serve the community by providing access to information  Clients should be central to all your strategies  Restrategise  Reach out to the younger generation

 The feel of a book in one’s hands definitely beats reading from a monitor screen  Have pride in what you do  Society will always require the services of libraries and archives.

Thank you