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LIBRARY @ SCHOOL CONFERENCE

1. Along with dramatic changes in the information landscape and their impact on teaching and learning, schools need to reposition the service provided by school libraries. The Library@School conference to be held on 23 Sep 99 is jointly organised by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the National Library Board (NLB) with a view to helping schools to enrich their libraries and to expand their service.

2. The theme of the Library@School Conference is 'Information Services and Management in the New Millennium'. The conference provides a good platform for practitioners from schools and the National Library Board to exchange ideas and strategies that a school library can adopt to develop itself into an information-rich, borderless library of the next millennium.

3. "School libraries are undergoing a transformation. Today, the collection in our school libraries goes beyond books and includes a wide array of digital and IT resources such as CD-ROMs. As the IT infrastructure is put in place in schools, Internet access will be readily available in all school libraries. Therefore the service provided by school libraries today goes beyond its traditional scope of service when libraries only had print collections. This is in support of the Thinking Schools, Learning Nation vision, and complements today’s school programmes," said Tan Yap Kwang, Director, Educational Technology, Ministry of Education, Singapore.

4. Examples of how IT has been harnessed to provide better library service for students and teachers include the ‘MOE Integrated Library Network System’ (MERLIN). By October 99, all Singapore school libraries will be linked electronically through MERLIN. MERLIN will enable users to enlarge their resource base. When MERLIN is linked to the National Library Board, pupils will be able to tap NLB’s databases. Another useful IT resource for schools is the Students’ Virtual Community (SVC). Developed by NLB, SVC provides topic-specific information and comprises a series of web-based tools for students to create projects in a web environment. More information on MERLIN and SVC is provided in Annexes A and B.

5. "This collaboration between two of the forerunners in the areas of education and learning in Singapore supports the national movement of lifelong learning and the development of a knowledge-based economy. On a larger scale, NLB will have a strategic and value-added role in enhancing the library and information services in Singapore schools, sharing ideas for library promotional programmes with schools and providing relevant infrastructure such as electronic library services to create a closer network among the teaching and the student communities. The Library@School Conference is a tangible manifestation of the natural partnership between MOE and NLB. It is a start to many other collaborations between the two organisations," said Dr Christopher Chia, Chief Executive, National Library Board.

6. Among the Conference activities are keynote addresses by leading professionals, a practitioners’ platform, and a plenary session on 'Information Services and Management in the New Millennium'. There will also be an exhibition by library industry suppliers, post-conference workshops on 'Promoting your Media Resource Library' and a tour of the newly renovated Toa Payoh Community Library.