Tina

Dear Colleagues,

It is an honour to be the new Chair of the IFLA Regional Standing Committee for Asia and Oceania  (RSCAO) for 2019-2021.

I came to know of IFLA as the most prestigious international federation in the library field when I was still a library school student. My passion to get involved in IFLA has grown steadily since my first IFLA Conference in 2010 in Gothenburg, Sweden. As a librarian, I have lived in mainland China, Australia and now work in Hong Kong. There is no other Section in IFLA that is closer to my heart than RSCAO.

Thanks to the encouragement of Dr Dan Dorner, the then RSCAO Chair, I became a member of RSCAO in 2011. When my first term ended in 2015, I took a break and later returned as the RSCAO Secretary for 2017–2019. I was amazed how much RSCAO chaired by Jayshree Mamtora, a name well known to many of us in the region, had developed during those two years of my absence. We now have the well-documented Asia and Oceania Section Handbook to help guide us to carry out our work in a more systematic and consistent way. The sub-committees and sub-regional conveners have also been set up to enable and engage our committee members. The last two years as the RSCAO Secretary afforded me the opportunity to deepen my knowledge of IFLA and its functions. Together with Sanjay, the immediate past Chair and committee members, we actively participated in the IFLA Global Vision discussions and contributed to the biggest ideas store for actions, that became the IFLA Strategy 2019–2024.

The IFLA Strategy provides a framework for actions. The four focus areas of the new action plan for the coming years aimed to inspire, engage, enable and connect libraries in and beyond our region. We will also share our success stories in the IFLA Library Map of the World to demonstrate how libraries in our region can contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Finally, our work could not have been successful without the support of the Regional Office. The strategic position of the Regional Office in connecting IFLA and our region can never be overestimated. This e-newsletter is just one of the many endeavours of the Regional Office to improve communication in our region.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to those who working with me and to extend my warm welcome to new members.

Let us work together to make a difference!

Best wishes,

Tina Yang

Chair, IFLA Regional Standing Committee of Asia and Oceania