NLB Professional Talks: Driver or Passenger - Responding to Changes

Here is some backgroup of the Professional Talk series and brief information on the talk:

Source of information: 28 Sept 2009 email from Petrina_ANG@nlb.gov.sg
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NLB's Professional and International Relations (PIR) is expanding their Professional Talks to include prominent local library and information professionals in addition to the current overseas speakers.

The speakers will share with us best practices and their respective areas of expertise and specialisation.

We seek to engage the various libraries across Singapore through these sharing sessions which will serve as excellent platforms for networking and bonding within the local library community.

In addition, NLB staff and LAS members will benefit from the sharing and imparting of knowledge during the talks.

PROFESSIONAL TALKS

Topic : Driver or Passenger - Responding to Changes - NTU Library

Speaker : Mr Choy Fatt Cheong, University Librarian, Nanyang Technological University Library

Date : 22 October 2009 (Thursday)

Time : 4.00pm - 5.30pm

Venue : Imagination Room, Level 5, National Library Building


LAS Professional Development Scheme (PDS) Points:

46 (Applicable only to librarians who are participants of PDS)


Summary of the talk by the speaker:

"Libraries today exist in an environment that is bubbling with rapid and often disruptive changes in the technological, social and cultural dimensions.

These changes have and will continue to alter the nature of many of the core functions of libraries and perhaps create new roles for librarians.

The biggest challenge for libraries is to find ways to respond to these disruptive changes, which by definition cannot be predicted or anticipated.

I believe the key lies in how we prepare our staff and how we organize our libraries to meet these challenges successfully as and when they come.

These thoughts were very much on our mind when NTU Library reorganized itself four years ago. This talk reflects on some of the major initiatives we undertook and discuss some problems and issues we encountered in our attempt to respond successfully to the challenging environment. "


About the speaker:

Choy Fatt Cheong is University Librarian at Nanyang Technological University.

He started his career in librarianship at NUS Library in 1984. Since then he has worked in MINDEF to set up the SAFTI Military Institute Library, at Temasek Polytechnic to set up two diploma courses as Course Manager and Principal Lecturer and finally ran his own consultancy company for four years before joining NTU in 2004.

He had served as the President of the Library Association of Singapore (LAS) from 1997 to 2005 and also as Board member of the National Library Board for six years until 2003. He contributes actively to the profession and recently helped to initiate the LAS Professional Development Scheme as Chairman of the Working Committee.

Currently, he is also a Board member of the International Association of Scientific & Technological University Libraries (IATUL).

Source of information: 28 Sept 2009 email from Petrina_ANG@nlb.gov.sg