The Association of Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific: Constraints, Challenges, but Very Good Cooperation Among Its Members

The Association of Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific [APLAP] was founded in Seoul in 1990. It was initiated and guided by Ms Jane Anne Lindley from the Asia Foundation, a former staff member of the Congressional Reference Service [CRS] in Washington, DC.

The founding fathers and mothers numbered about 24 from 17 countries. The first President was Mr Joo Bong Kim from Korea, who is now attached to the Library of Congress in charge of the Korean collection.

The members of APLAP meet every two years, normally in May, at its biennial conference. Three biennial conferences have been held in a very warm and friendly atmosphere: the first in Seoul in 1990; the second in Islamabad in 1992; the third in Bangkok in 1994. The fourth APLAP conference will be held in Canberra, Australia, but because of the general election ,which resulted in a change of Government, it has had to be postponed till October. Invitations have now gone out from the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Canberra to the Presiding Officers of member libraries to the Fourth APLAP Conference to be held 20-24 October 1996.

At present, there are 24 member countries of APLAP, namely: Turkey, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tuvalu, Western Samoa, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Commonwealth of Australia and New South Wales.

APLAP is now a well-established regional organisation of parliamentary libraries. I want to speak now about the constraints and challenges that face APLAP, but also about the very good cooperation that exists among the members of APLAP.

Constraints

Most of the countries in the Asia Pacific region do not live on the same wave-length, because the standards of education differ so much, nor do they have the same affluence to conduct business as it ought to be done. I refer to the chronic shortage of the necessary funds.

Most of the librarians or subject specialists working in Parliamentary Libraries (if they have any) are the privileged few who were lucky enough to enjoy a good education, way above others in their respective countries, but this creates other constraints, as values and standards differ so much in our societies.

The adage that "information is power" has not yet penetrated most of our clientele, namely the Honourable Members of Parliament. So, libraries, be they run manually or electronically, are still far from being a priority issue. They are considered to be more of a luxury, rather than an urgent necessity.

In most of the APLAP countries, not many people are proficient in English, the accepted first global language for the social sciences, especially politics. So, whenever a member of staff has gained an adequate grasp of the English language, especially when working in the Parliamentary Library, he or she will be whisked away and transferred immediately to a "more urgent" job, like the Secretariat of the IPU, APO, AIPO, and so on, within the Parliament. Or the person will be bombarded with work and become overloaded with a totally unreasonable work-load, that will nevertheless be very difficult to refuse or avoid.

In this very high-tech age, the flow of information in developing countries, especially in Parliamentary Libraries, is still very poor, if it exists at all. As the result not only of a lack of funds, but also an inability to understand and recognise that they, the Members of Parliament, need speedy, correct and reliable information in order to be able to do their jobs well, especially in this era of the global network of information and consequent challenges.

Sound management in almost all fields is still at a very low level. Most of us are still a far cry from the merit system; the personal favourite system is still rife. And then people cannot understand why things do not run as smoothly as they would in the hands of able and trained managers, be they professional librarians or specialists in other subjects, but who understand the need of supplying and serving MPs with speedy, confidential and correct information - and how to do that with inadequate or very limited funds.

The shortage of funds is a real headache for most APLAP members. It is difficult enough to have to stretch the budget for essential things in the library, let alone to cover fares to attend conferences or seminars, where we can exchange views and learn from each other how to solve problems and, of course, to derive a wee little joy out of meeting friends and see new places. People think we are mad. So sponsors are the only way out, but it is not easy to get one though.

If top managers do not understand or try to find out how a good library should be run (let alone a modern one), then one will come across some "amusing " decisions, as, for example: it is enough to have an acquisitions and a lending department. All the work and processing must be divided there.

Challenges

Most of the Asia Pacific countries know the legend of the very clever, smart and wonderful deer-mouse, but at the same time, this very small animal has no weapons to protect itself, and solve the challenges it faces, except its wits. Well, one can say the same about the Parliamentary Librarians or Subject Specialists working in our Parliamentary Libraries. They have to use their wits and sense of humour to improve things, to maintain and develop the services as well as the good staff in the Parliamentary Library.

The clientele, the MPs, are mostly political personalities, or leaders in their respective communities. But again, one has to remember that most of them do not have the required good education demanded to serve the Nation well in this very fast moving and hard world.

So it is up to the Librarians or Library Directors to find ways of encouraging them to ask for information, if not come to the Library, if it is a manual or simple Library. If they are already at the stage of using databases or the Internet, they have to learn how to work their computers to obtain the information they seek. But again, how many MPs can "surf" the Internet to gain useful information? How many of the APLAP countries are even linked to the Internet?

In Indonesia, to help our MPs, language classes were given. Some organised seminars or invited experts to talk, but, except for the language courses, only a few attended those talks or seminars. So the road is uphill and long.

Due to the lack of understanding of the business of libraries, funds are very rarely increased to support the needs of the Library. Therefore, a Librarian has to have social contacts, must be willing to knock on the doors of foreign institutions for donations of books or to provide training for staff. But, as I said before, any well trained staff will usually be transferred to "more important" parts of Parliamentary activities. The challenge is: how do we out-wit them to let trained staff stay in the Library? The most crucial challenge we face is to try and make our top management understand the necessity of having good managers and staff in the Library.

Very good cooperation

This must be said about APLAP. We have very good cooperation and understanding among our members, perhaps because most of us face the same problems and challenges. These constraints have turned out to be a very strong tie that binds us together. It does not matter whether the call for help comes from a very needy country or from an affluent one: we always help each other. It may be that in the Oriental and the Pacific countries courtesy is very highly regarded. Snootiness and arrogance is abhorred. So this is an asset we have which will help us to move ahead.

As far as rules are concerned, exceptions to them are quite normal. But so far, cooperation and courtesy form the basis for communication in APLAP; for example, if we have to send messages or if important opportunities arise, we divide the task, so that one country will be responsible for relaying the message to four others, and so on. Thus the burden will not be shouldered solely by one of the Executive Committee members. This is a very pleasing tradition, and hopefully we shall continue to do so, in order to achieve more and help each other more.

Thank you.