TT-TV Việt Nam - Tháng 2/2006, Thạc sỹ John Hickok, cán bộ Thư viện trường Đại học California  State University, Fullerton, Hoa Kỳ đã có chuyến nghiên cứu và khảo sát các thư viện Đại học và nghiên cứu của Việt Nam. Chuyến đi này được John đánh giá là rất bổ ích, nhất là ở sự hiếu khách và nhiệt tình của các cán bộ Thư viện Việt Nam từ Bắc chí Nam. Những kết quả từ chuyến nghiên cứu này được anh đúc kết trong một bài thuyết trình rất ấn tượng tại Đại hội Cán bộ Thư viện Đông Nam Á lần thứ 13 tại Manila, Philippines tháng 3/2006. Được sự đồng ý của John Hickok, Mạng TT-TV Việt Nam xin đăng lại toàn văn những nhận xét của anh - một cán bộ thư viện nước ngoài - về những cơ hội và thách thức hiện nay của các Thư viện Đại học Việt Nam.

 

Greetings Vietnam Academic Library Directors & Librarians,

The month of February is now past, and with it my visit to your libraries in Vietnam.  What a valuable and informative trip it was.  I had the opportunity to visit many libraries and meet with many people-directors, librarians, and students-during my stay.  Consequently, I gained an insightful perspective of the library environment in Vietnam-a good overview of common characteristics, challenges, and opportunities.

Below is a summary of my observations and suggestions for libraries in Vietnam.  My apologies for the delay; my emailing it to you was interrupted by my travel to the CONSAL conference in the Philippines to present this research.  While there, I met with Pham The Khang and the delegation from Vietnam.  What a nice time!  (See attached photo).  It will be exciting when Vietnam hosts the next CONSAL in 2009.

Please note that this report is only a summary of observations, and not all conditions/trends are necessarily reflected at each of your particular libraries.  While there are commonalities among university libraries in Vietnam, each one of yours has its own unique characteristics and challenges.

It was a pleasure meeting each of you, and seeing all your wonderful progress.  I welcome your feedback-comments, suggestions, corrections, etc.-any time.

Kind regards to you, and all the best in your continued library endeavors.

Very sincerely,

John Hickok,  M.L.I.S., M.A.

Librarian / Instructor

California  State University, Fullerton

 

Some common characteristics/strengths:

• An increasing use of technology-i.e., online catalogs are widespread, and databases are increasing as well (quantity/quality depending on budget) . 
• Well established cataloging & acquisitions services-very systematic procedures in place for building collections.
• A widespread construction effort-many grants for spacious and modern new facilities.
• Innovations in services-most often due to the proactive efforts of the library director (rising above the "status quo", even with challenges like limited budgets).

Some common challenges:

• Limited Reference service.  In many of the libraries visited, high-level reference service is not really expected or offered.  From student interviews, the common perception of librarians is that of "just workers who check out books or look up a title"...not information experts/research consultants.  Similarly, several librarians acknowledged they and/or their assistants don't really provide advanced research assistance beyond locating the books in the collection.  In one interview, it was mentioned that 90% of reference desk questions handled were merely "do you have this book?" and only 10% being advanced research-based reference questions.
• Limited user education.  Nearly every library I visited does offer some form of orientation training, such as tours, PowerPoint presentations, etc.  But continual user education (e.g., open workshops throughout the year, ongoing instruction sessions for lecturers' classes, training tutorials on the Web, etc.) are not as frequent.  And they are much needed, since the 3rd and 4th year students are more likely to be using the library for research.
• The nature/culture of Vietnamese education.  As many of you reported, typical Vietnamese education is heavy on standardized testing-that is, just memorizing textbooks or lecture notes and taking exams.  In-depth, independent research does not commonly exist at the high school or early university years (exception: at least one private university is requiring it).    This then becomes a challenge for libraries-to motivate students to learn library & research skills when they have few assignments requiring such.  It also creates a student culture of just getting easy "copy & paste" information from friends, textbooks, or the Internet, rather than in-depth academic resources. 
• A lack of libraries at the pre- university level.  I observed Vietnamese high schools that had either no library, or merely a storeroom of textbooks as the library.  This then becomes a challenge for university libraries: receiving students with little/no library experience, rather than receiving students who already have somewhat of a library foundation.
• Needed reforms in LIS curriculum.  Many of you expressed concerns that the current LIS curriculum in Vietnam is not sufficiently preparing new librarians with new & technical skills to meet modern library demands.  Similarly, the policy of requiring a BLIS to earn a MLIS potentially excludes many talented subject-specialists from becoming librarians.

Some opportunities:

The above challenges can also be viewed as opportunities.