1. General Sciences Library of Ho Chi Minh City
Presentation for the participants of the Training course of Knowledge management SISS-ZEF
Ho Chi Minh City, june 18, 2008

2. Our library is located in Ho Chi Minh City which is the biggest city in the country
Population: 8 million
It is the economic, cultural, technological and recently tourism center
There are 42 colleges and 29 universities.
The high-demand and high-interest information requests are Economy, Information Technology, Engineering, Medicine, Law, Culture and Arts

3. Founded in 1868 as the library for Admirals and Governors
Formerly the National Library of South Vietnam
Extensively used by students, researchers, foreign scholars and ordinary citizens
GSL is also responsible for supervision of 24 district libraries in HCMC, and support for southern provincial libraries
Library staff of 107, some involved in teaching programs
Library has multiple roles in supporting cultural, research, government, industrial and commercial pursuits.

4. Collections and Access
- Up to 500,000 books
- 895 newspaper titles
journal titles
- 961 titles/ microform items
- Special collections
Other:CD-ROM,Video and Cassette Tapes
Databases, Alternative Formats for VIP
OPAC Access
High usage, up to 1000 users per day

5. Services

6. Highlights The first library in the country:
to set up a new and comprehensive facility and program for preservation
to implement services for visually-impaired people and to introduce other institutions including 64 provincial libraries and the blind associations around the country to provide equipment, talking books and training programs
to expand services beyond the walls of the library to serve people in rural areas with a Mobile Internet Library
to develop a new model of Children’s Library Services
Using the majority of computers (120 out of 189) for public access to information.

7. Special collections Indochinois collection
Books: titles
Periodicals: 108 titles = units
Maps: 78 titles
Publications of 19 century – 1954
Books: titles (including Indochinois collection)
Periodicals: 511 titles = units (including Indochinois collection)
Some materials of 16, 17, 18 centuries:
Dell’historia della China (1586)
Dictionanivm annamiticvm… / Alexandre de Rhodes (1651)
Voyage du Siam (1666)
Le grand dictionnaire historique, ou le meulange curieux de… (1759)
Voyage au Tonkin (1788)
Publications of
Books: titles (including Indochinois collection)
Periodicals: titles = units (including Indochinois collection)
Music sheets: titles = units

8. Preservation for access enhancement
Comprehensive preservation program to:
upgrade collection storage environment
perform preservation reformatting through microfilm and digital imaging
conserve/restore rare and endangered items
expand bindery to address deterioration of general collections through over-use

9. Statistics of 2000-2006 Care for GSL’s collections by:
repairing and rebinding: 35,100 books - stiffening: 8,300 books
restoring 57 special and rare books - 2,305 folders and 220 boxes for housing
Assist other institutions including public and academic libraries, museums and publishers by:
- repairing and rebinding: 7,520 books - stiffening: 8,300 books
restoring: 48 maps - 3,912 folders and 34 boxes for housing
- creating: 178 book supports - training: 219 librarians and students

10. Making information accessible for visually impaired people
On-site reading and lending for use at home
Provide alternative formats (Braille,…) on demand
On demand reading books and newspapers
CCTV for low vision people in all reading rooms
Produce Braille, tactile graphic, talking books
Distribute talking books to over 100 organizations in Vietnam
Facilitate materials for 12 blind users to pursue the distant education program of Hadley school (USA)
The studio for Production of Digital Talking Books
: 150 titles on 5896 CDs, 344cassette tapes have been produced in Vietnamese, English, Khmer, Laos, Thai, Ede and Xedang
In-house reading using
adaptive technologies
CCTV access is available in all reading rooms
Using Victor-machine to read digital talking books

11. Expand library services for for visually impaired people
Launching library services for VIP in Laos with 82 titles on 256 CDs and 23 cassetts, CCTV,
12 victor-reader machines.
Cooperating with Force Foundation for provision of training and development programs for public library - 64 managers and 188 staff
nationally; and 6 persons for Laos and Cambodia
Delivered 109 victor-machines; 67 CCTV; 150 titles on
5896 CDs,
344 cassette tapes for 85 public libraries, blind associations; and schools for the blind around the country
Creating tactile graphic database
Set up a tactile collections of 240 Books for blind children

12. Children’s Library

13. Children’s Library Services: - On-spot reading/Lending for home use
- Electronic database searching
- Internet access
- Training on library use, computer and application software, database searching…
- Book exhibitions
- Various types of collective activities: Culture exchange, performances, book story telling, drawing, other creation activities including handicrafts…

14. 18-seat multimedia section including 8 computers online, 2 TVs, video players, DVDs for machine – readable information, 2 Victor Reader machines and 1 CCTV for Visually Impaired people (VIP).
- Electronic resources on CD ROM or online, GSL’s databases, alternative formats for Visually-impaired people such as digital talking books, Braille, tactile graphics and tactile books for blind children.
- Telecommunication service provided by Ho Chi Minh City Electricity Company.
- Reading space for about 1000 print titles on all subjects and different levels.
Services:
Movie/Videos for learning and leisure purposes
Victor Reader, cassette, alternative materials for VIP
Information database searching
Internet service
Training on computers and facilities for use, on searching information…
Presentations on different topics
On-spot reading and lending home
Book circulation until the next visit

15. Mobile Library