Simmons GSLIS: Dispatches from the Field

In another effort to find the perfect analog library to digitize, Patrick and I rented bicycles and explored the Perfume River inland away from the ocean, stopping at Van Mieu, or the “Temple of Literature.” This national temple to Confucius was dedicated in 1808 by Gia Long of the Nguyen dynasty. Little remains of the complex, but there are 32 stone stelae listing the names of the 297 recipients of doctorates from exams held between 1822 and 1919, a practice we could perhaps adopt at Simmons GSLIS. Two other stelae, under small shelters, are edicts from Ming Mang and Trieu Tri banning, as the Rough Guide to Vietnam says, the “abuse of eunuchs and royal maternal relatives.” Fortunately, these vices are no longer problems. However, a rubbing of these edicts did not seem to be a suitable starting place for our digital library, and so we biked on.

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Gates of Van Mieu
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Harmonious arrangement
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16 plaques
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On Friday, we heard presentations about the different departments in the Hué University LRC by the participants in the program in the LRC. The presentations were lively and informative, and included a tour of the library. Here are some photographs of the presentations and the tour, to give a sense of the physical organization of the LRC.

Terry

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Stacks
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Sabre Foundation donations
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Audience at the five presentations
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The student shows how to disconnect the fiber optic cable to the internet.
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The student answers questions
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Because the LRCs are relatively new, there are not extensive archives. The lack of available older material is a problem for the digital libraries course, since typically archival materials are chosen for digitizing. Intellectual property issues and the addition of unique materials to the world’s digital collections encourage the digitization of archival materials. In Hué, some preliminary contact has been made by the Hué LRC with families holding old mandarin materials.

However, the digital libraries course needs materials to digitize now. Therefore, Patrick and I have been searching for older library or archival materials. Last Saturday, we went to the Citadel in Hué, not as only tourists, of course, but on a quest to appraise the potential of materials to digitize, such as rubbings, scrolls, and books. It was a professional appraisal visit, although our behaviors were perhaps indistinguishable from other tourists. We were guided by some of the students.

The Citadel was built by the Emperor Gia Long, founder of the Nguyen dynasty, who moved the capital from Hanoi to Hué. Construction began in 1805 and lasted roughly 30 years, and was designed to be three concentric circles. The Forbidden Purple City lies at the center of the Imperial City. The Citadel, the Imperial City, and the Forbidden Purple City are all protected by moats fed by the Perfume River. The Imperial City contains the Emperor’s administrative offices, parks, and dynastic temples, and contains the Thai Hoa Palace (The Palace of Supreme Harmony).

During the battle of Hué in the Tet Offensive, 1968, in the Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 (The American War), which Stanley Karnow described as the “most bitter battle” of the war, much of the Hué and the Imperial City was leveled. Although the restoration work continues on the Citadel, evidence of the battles is still apparent. In addition to the nine sacred cannons, seized from the Tay Son army in the early 19th century, there is a nearby display of 40 year old cannons, howitzers, and light tanks.

In the quest for library materials, I picked up “Life in the Forbidden Purple City,” by Ton That Binh, Da Nang, Da Nang Publishing House, 2002(?). The unique past of Hué was found at the Citadel, but regretfully nothing to digitize other than this book, which was not archival.

Terry in Hué

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small Imperial City gate
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One of the many moats
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Main gate to the Imperial City
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The Hue Learning Resource Center has several organizational units arranged on four, open floors: Information Resources (Technical Services), Information Services (Public Services), Informational Technology (IT), and Administration. Dr. Huynh Dinh Chien, MD, PhD, is the director. We listened to informative presentations on Friday from each department.

The IT group has 12 servers, 278 PCs in both public and staff areas, and 226 thin client systems. The servers include a web server, mail server, database server, proxy server, file server, printer server, and two thin client servers. Over 20,000 LAN and ILS accounts are being maintained for the users. All users log in. The network bandwidth is roughly 1.7 Mbps, comprised of a leased line and two ADSL lines. The ILS is VeBrary, developed and implemented by Lac Viet Computing Corporation in Vietnam. It supports several Vietnamese common character entry methods, such as Telex, VNI, and VIQR. The ILS, as well as being Unicode-compliant, supports UNIMARC, MARC 21, AACR2, ISBD, Z39.50 and ISO 10161.

Circulation in the HUE LRC averages over 1000 transactions per day and the turnstile count is almost 2000 entries per day. The Reference/Information desk average about 200 questions per day. Library Orientation classes are compulsory for anyone who wants a card to the library, and since 2004 the IS staff has conducted about 400 classes. I sat in on two classes, and each had about 50 students. LRC cards are purchased for a small fee (under $3.00/year) and the LRC provides free internet access. There are 900 seats in the LRC, and the library is open 14 hours/day, 6 days/week.

The LRC was completed in roughly 2002, with funding from Atlantic Philanthropies, under the guidance of RMIT International University Vietnam. Since it is relatively new, there are only 60,000 book titles. There are approximately 48 staff in the library, which includes an International Center located in the LRC. The LRC has several revenue-generating services, such as a cafeteria, a vehicle parking service, photocopying/printing, and Cisco certified training courses.

The Hue LRC is a new and modern building, with a contemporary infrastructure. It emphasizes international collaboration. The staff are working hard to develop a new relationship between staff and users. The projects anticipated for the coming year include a digital library and e-learning. Coincidentally, we are teaching a course in digital libraries, and are using an open source learning management system that may transfer nicely to an e-learning system supported by the LRC.

Terry in Hue

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Computer Lab, Hue LRC
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Students working on the first floor of the Hue LRC
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Hue LRC from across the street
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Patrick McGlamery teaching in the Hue LRC
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In October of 2005, Simmons College received a $1.8 million grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies to train a new generation of Vietnamese librarians for leadership roles. Professor Pat Oyler, who oversees the grant, has been working with Vietnamese librarians for over 12 years.

Vietnamese librarians spent a semester taking core GSLIS classes during 2006, one half of the 25 librarians in the Spring 06, and one half in the Fall 06. In addition to GSLIS classes, each group visited the Library of Congress, attended either the ALA Annual or Midwinter Conferences, and spent time at the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. They returned to their respective Learning Resource Centers in Can Tho (in the Mekong Delta), Hue, Danang, and Thai Nguyen (north of Hanoi).

The Vietnamese librarians have three more semesters, taught in Vietnam, to finish their Simmons MS in LS degree. Pat Oyler taught three course in the first Vietnam semester, from March until the end of May 07. The site was in the Can Tho LRC, and all the students moved to Can Tho to enroll in the courses.

Now the courses are offered in Hue for the summer semester, and the students have moved to Hue. There are three GSLIS courses being taught by Patrick McGlamery, of the University of Connecticut, and me. These courses are Academic Libraries, Digital Libraries, and Digital Information Services and Providers. A fourth course is being offered to expand the students’ experience, User Education. The students attend class Monday – Thursday, morning and afternoon with each class meeting twice. On Friday, they participate in lectures and shadowing internships at the Hue LRC. The courses run from roughly June 11 – August 15. The final Fall semester will be in both Danang and Thai Nguyen.

In roughly the middle of the summer semester, July 16-20, Patrick and I will be offering a week-long seminar for the IT staff at the four LRCs.

It is a full schedule, and we are all grateful to have survived the first week.

- Terry Plum in Hue

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Perfume River, Hue
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6 June 2007 – Wednesday

Well, finals have begun and the campus has gone quiet. We have killed thousands of trees with all the printing going on in the library and the computer lab – ‘for free’ printing brings with it lots of waste, which is too bad but inevitable and for the moment not changeable here.

Past few days have been okay. On Sunday evening, Rena & Simon organized a dinner for Abby & Kurt – just them and Marjorie and me (plus baby Adam). We ate at the Burj al-Hammam which is right on the Gulf – good Lebanese food, great views, excellent company.

On Monday evening I participated in a conference call with Iraqi Library Group Advisory Committee members. Simmons was hosting the call, and as is wont to happen, I could not get through on the announced line – one can not use 800 numbers here – go figure. I finally got through – late – and was able to chat about our program this coming September. What continues to worry me is the still and ever-more-rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq. Will anyone come in September? Is what we are doing making any sense, given the circumstances? We will of course keep moving forward, hopefully…

Later today Abby, Marjorie and I will trek off to the border area. Abby & Marjorie want to see this area as it fascinates us all – we’ll be careful, of course – those two women – tall, blonde, attractive – do stand out.

Small victories – got my tv in my apartment fixed – the man even came by, found the place and did his thing very efficiently – yeah!!

Tomorrow evening I am working from 5 – 8 pm. Two of our three part-timers are on leave, so I’ll relieve our third, Ms. Ajitha. After that, there is a dinner at the SAS/Radisson for those faculty that are departing. We are losing some good folks and they’ll be missed.

Well, will send this off now. Hope this diary entry finds you all well. The daily temperature on my patio at 6am is now regularly in the low 90s F. Temps in the sun are running around 105/110 – it is remarkable how easy one gets used to these temperatures.

Be well!

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AMICAL - May 2007
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2 June 2007 – Saturday

I’m back in Kuwait now, first day of work in a couple of weeks. The place is nuttier than usual – people way too hyped up. Perhaps it is end-of-year craziness – let’s hope so. Finals officially begin Monday and students are scurrying around to get work done – anxiety abounds and nerves on short-edges for the moment.

My nearly two weeks away have done wonders for my attitude. The week in England visiting first Michael & Jill Brookes and then touring with Willie & Neville Custance was absolutely delightful. We got to see some areas that were new to us – Chipping Camden in the Cotswolds and the Derbyshire area (visited Chatsworth – nice shack if you are a lord). Good food, too, and lots of adult beverages – yeah!!!

The AMICAL conference in Morocco was excellent. Ifrane is 50 kilometers south of Fes (which is pronounced with a soft ‘s’ – a feZ one wears on one’s head – FeSSS is a place to live in). If you are interested in which institutions are in AMICAL, take a look at www.amicalnet.org – we are a remarkably diverse group. We are also a remarkably compatible group – 18 institutions using the American model to teach, yet keeping their own spirit and character. Yours truly is now chair of the NomComm (nominating committee) and the SusComm (sustainability committee) – we’ll elect officers by the end of June and then we and they have to figure out how to keep AMICAL alive after grant funding runs out.

Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane is very pretty. One feels like you are in Switzerland vs. Morocco – the area is very hilly and the weather is cool evenings (need a sweater and jacket). I’ll be sure to include a picture of the Library with this report – you’ll see what I mean by the Swiss look and every building on campus has the same look. The library folks there ran a great conference – excellent logistics, good food and lots of it, nice facilities, neat road trips (to Azrou and Fes) – a fairly young staff excepting the director and all very competent. The conference went well, too, as librarians, IT staff and faculty all keep focused on learning and how to partner to make it better.

One last word about the Moroccan experience in that the souk in Fes is incredible. It dwarfs the Khan Khalili in Cairo, which I had thought massive. The souk is also in the medina, the heart of the old city, so it is a real warren of streets, alleys, paths. The medina is very old and one gets the sense that you really are in a different world when you are among shops, houses, apartments, food stalls etc. This souk is the best I have been in so far if you like the idea of getting lost and exploring things that are foreign to your own background!

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