When Nations Remember: an International Conference on Memory

11-12 Oct 2010, Carlton Hotel, Singapore

When Nations Remember: an International Conference on Memory, is organised by National Library Singapore and supported by International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and Institutions & Library Association of Singapore (LAS).

The programme I attended today are as follows:

Monday 11 October 2010
Conference Day One

8.30am – 9.00am Registration for Conference Delegates @ Carlton Hotel Singapore

9.00am – 9.15am Opening Address by Mrs Phoon Chew Ping, Chief Executive, National Library Board

9.15am – 10.00am Keynote Address "American Memory and the Evolution of the World Digital Library" by John van Oudenaren, Director, World Digital Library


10.00am – 10.30am "When Nations Remember – Delivering a New Generation National Library of New Zealand: A Practical Perspective" by Ms Penny Carnaby, Chief Executive / National Librarian from National Library of New Zealand

10.30am – 11.00am "The Memory of the Netherlands: Towards a National Infrastructure" by Dr J.S.M (Bas) Savenije, Director General from Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of Netherlands)

11.00am – 11.15am Tea Break

11.15am – 11.45am "UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme: Global Approach to preserving and accessing documentary heritage" by Ms Joie Springer, Senior Programme Specialist, Memory of the World Programme from UNESCO

11.45am – 12.15pm "Presentation on Singapore Memory Project" by Mr Gene Tan, Programme Director, Singapore Memory Project

Personally, I am very impressed with Gene's light-hearted way of presenting "The Singapore Memory Project (SMP)".

A national project to tell the "Singapore Story" and to collect, preserve and access Singapore’s knowledge assets can be very "Heavy" to listen, yet his choice of words and his humourous ways of translating what is in his and our minds have turn the session to be the most memorable one for many participants.

"The Singapore Memory Project (SMP)" is a national knowledge initiative to collect, organise, preserve our cultural and intellectual memory for research and discovery.

After I listen to his presentation, I think "Singapore Memory Project" are now linked in my heart with two keywords: "Love" and "Soul", I think with the love one has for our family, our neighbourhood, our community our country, Singaporean will be able to answer the question: What is the Soul of Singapore?

I think "Singapore Memory Project" will create a truly proliferative movement and move the nation to build the project in that direction.

With that in my mind, I think

"Singapore Memory Project: a whole-of-nation collaborative initiative facilitated by the National Library Singapore and in strong partnership with heritage, academic and research institutions, government institutions, people agencies, companies, NGOs and a host of enthusiastic Singaporeans all eager to share their Singapore Memory"

is not just an official statement in print.


12.35pm – 1.15pm Q & A
1.15pm – 2.30pm Lunch

Session B – Experiences

■Mad About Singapore Buses

If you missed the tour, just follow the youtube programme and all the links to have some ideas of the groups' work and their intest in Singapore Buses:



We were lead by James Lee and the group for the tour of Bus Depot, Interchange and many interesting sites related to buses in the 1970's, 1980's. 1990's and the current decades. I took some videorecordings for the tour and download them to conference organiser's computer for their selection. Hopefully, some clips maybe selected for future use!