Presentation on the University Library System in South Korea

Since my return from South Korea after a successful six month training program, my first professional activity was to present a paper on my experiences.

Accordingly, I made a presentation on the "University Library System in South Korea” at the Achievers Colloquium organized by the University Librarians Association of Sri Lanka on 5th December 2008 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI), Colombo.

There I discussed about various aspects of the university library system in Korea including Library Organization, Bibliographic Control, Library Cooperation, Using modern ICT, Library Space Planning.

The audience was the university librarians and they were really interested about the present status of the university library system in Korea. They identified the university library system in Korea as a well planned and a well developed library system and there were so many examples and practices to be noted and applied for the university library system in Sri Lanka.

Also, I plan to make several more presentation in near future including the “National Library of Korea and It’s Services”.

Using Weblogs for Reference Services in Library 2.0 era = Library 2.0시대에 블로그를 이용한 참고봉사

Today, (Monday 24th) I made a presentation at the National Library of Korea on "Using Weblogs for Reference Services in Library 2.0 era".

In my presentation I discussed following things:

*What is Library 2.0?

*Changes in Reference Services in Library 2.0 era

*How to use Weblogs for Reference Services in Library 2.0 era?

The event was attended by directors and librarians of the National Library and also my colleagues in the training program. You may access the presentation that I made in Korean Language, by following this link:

http://www.slideshare.net/tharangad/using-weblogs-for-reference-services-in-library-20-era-library-20-presentation-782718

Preservation Workshop in NLK

The National Library of Korea (NLK) established it’s Preservation Office (자료보존실) in 2003 with conservation specialists and state-of-art equipments for systematic conservation and management of nations’ treasures. It is comprised with:

• A Conservation Laboratory
• A Fumigation Room
• A Microfilm Laboratory &
• A Deacidification Room

Parallely to the National Library’s 63rd Anniversary, the Preservation Office of NLK conducted a workshop on Preservation on 15th Oct. In that workshop, participants were able to obtain hands-on-experience on various steps of preservation process from diagnosis of the health of the book (책 건강진단) to book-binding. The Workshop was an effort to bring the whole conservation process out of the preservation office, and exhibit it to the library community in the Country.

Library 2.0 environment in South Korea

Dear All,

As I have mentioned earlier, South Korea has a well developed library system. At the same time, they are well aware about the changing environment in the field of library and information science, and always try to keep the library community in the country aware regarding these changes. Also they are keen in finding solutions and developing strategies to address those changes.

Accordingly, the "The Library 2.0 Technical Seminar" was held today at the COEX Mall located in the Gangnam-Gu, Seoul with the participation of around 100 library professionals. Some interesting papers were presented and some of them are as follows:

• Evolution of Library 2.0: semantic and the Library
• Semantic Technology and the Future of the Library
• PYXIS: Library 2.0 portal for a successful library service
• Social Semantic Digital Library
• Digital Library improved by SOLARS DLi II

Among them, there were some case studies which describes how the Library 2.0 concept has been adapted and will be adapted in library services in Korea.

It was an useful and interesting session.

If you need more information pls. do not hesitate to contact me.

With Best Regards,

Tharanga Ranasinghe (from Seoul)

Library Song

There’s a place for you and me,
it’s the local public library.
They have books and things that they lend for free
It’s the latest, it’s the greatest, it’s the library.

Educational, informational
Entertainment that’s sensational.
It’s the way of life, it’s for you and me
It’s the latest, it’s the greatest, it’s the library.

They have histories, they have mysteries
And for mothers, books of recipes
See a movie show, hear a symphony
It’s the latest, it’s the greatest, it’s the library.

- Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services (2001)

September 2008 Web Server Survey

Dear All,

September 2008 survey of Netcraft has received responses from 181,277,835 (181 million) websites.

This is an increase of 4.5 million sites, compared with the last month (176 million websites).

For more information, visit: http://news.netcraft.com/

Regards,

Tharanga Ranasinghe.

Article on Library 2.0

Dear All,

Library 2.0 refelects the transition within the library world in the way that services are delivered to users. The focus is on user-centered change and participation in the creation of content and community. It changes the traditional, one directional services offered by libraries for centuries. In this environment, user is a participant, co-creator, builder, and a consultant.

The following article titled 'Library 2.0: Service for the Next-generation Library' published in 'Library Journal' 2006, discusses the concept in detail:

Pls. follow the URL to access the article:

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6365200.html

Regards,

Tharanga Ranasinghe.

July 2008 Web Server Survey

Dear All,

July 2008 survey of Netcraft has received responses from 175,480,931 (175 million) websites.

This is an increase of 3.14 million sites, compared with the last month (172 million websites).

For more information, visit: http://news.netcraft.com/

Regards,

Tharanga.

National Digital Library (NDL) of Korea is Under Construction

Dear Colleagues,

The National Digital Library (NDL) of Korea, with the aim of providing high-quality knowledge & information portal services accessible to users anytime & anywhere, is under construction now.

The six principles of the basis for the NDL’s missions are as follows:

1. The Digital Library approachable from anywhere
2. The Digital Library with no barriers
3. The Digital Library encouraging participation
4. The Digital Library as the Global Knowledge Information Hub
5. The Digital Library providing Information Literacy Service
6. The Digital Library providing Information Reference Service

The construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of year 2008 & the opening of the NDL will be in the Spring 2009.

There is no doubt that the NDL would provide an easy to use information service environment by integrating & gathering digital information resources around the world and would act as a gateway to global information and knowledge.

For more information, please visit: http://www.ndl.go.kr/index_eng.asp

If you need further information, pls. write me during my stay in South Korea.

With best regards,

Tharanga.

Tharang from South Korea

Dear All,

I am writing to you all again from South Korea.

These days, I am training at the National Library of Korea and studying Korean Language at the Seoul National University.

Here is a link for some photographs of mine during:

• the training program at the Seoul National University Library
• My country presentation at the Donguk University
• 3 day trip to Deegu, Gyeongju and Busan
• One day trip to DMZ
• the training program at the National Library of Korea

Link: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcsWrlq3YsmTlg

Best Regards,

Tharanga.

Pictures from Korea

Dear All,

Herewith I would like to share some pictures of us in Korea with you all. Link to photos: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BZOG7dm1bMXvg

Currently, I am following a training program at the Seoul National University (SNU) Central Library (http://library.snu.ac.kr/index.jsp). At the same time, I am studing Korean Language at the SNU Language Education Centre.

Regards,

Tharanga.

I am in South Korea

Dear All,

Now I am in Seoul (South Korea) on a scholarship granted from the South Korea Government. I am studying korean language and Librarianship here in Seoul National University & in the National Library of Korea.

This is a nice, beautiful & clean country. people are so heplfull. I will write back to you soon.

Regards,

Tharanga.

UNESCO Workshop on Information Literacy

Dear Collegue,

UNESCO has planned a series of Training the Trainer Workshops in Information Literacy (IL).

Following link may direct you for more details on the workshop series

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=25623&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Central & South Asian regional workshop will be held at the Punjabi University, Patiala, India on 5-7 November 2008. (http://tttw.patiala.googlepages.com/)

Regards,

Tharanga.

Create your own web page, quickly and easily

Dear friends,

Google has taken an another revolutionary step to help Internet community by letting them to create their web pages on Google and host them in Google.

Google Page Creator is a free online tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish useful, attractive web pages in just minutes.

• No technical knowledge required (Build high-quality web pages without having to learn HTML or use complex software)
• What you see is what you'll get (Edit your pages right in your browser, seeing exactly how your finished product will look every step along the way)
• Don't worry about hosting (Your web pages will live on your own site at http://yoursitename.googlepages.com)

Be hurry! Visit http://www.pages.google.com for more information.

Tharanga.

April 2008 Web Server Survey

Dear Friends,

The April 2008 survey received responses from 165,719,150 (165 million) sites. Most of this month's growth of 3.1 million sites is seen in the US, with Google's Blogger service alone adding 1.1 million extra sites.

Regards,

Tharanga.

February 2008 Web Server Survey

Dear All,

February 2008 survey received responses from 158,209,426 (158 million) websites.

This is an increase of 2.6 million sites, compared with last month's (Jan. '08) unusually low growth of only 354 thousand.

For more information, visit: http://news.netcraft.com/

Tharanga.

January 2008 Web Survey - Slower Growth!!!

Dear all,

According to the January 2008 survey there 155,583,825 (155 million)sites, reflecting a much slower growth of only 354 thousand sites, compared with last month, where the increase was 5.4 million.

For more information visit: http://news.netcraft.com/

Tharanga.

Presentation on Wikis & Blogs

Dear all,

The following URL will lead you for a valuable .ppt presentation on above made by Gerry McKiernan, Science and Technology Librarian, Iowa State University Library, USA.

URL: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/TICER2005.ppt