| Abdul Hakiim Yakof |
THE opening of the ‘Libraries Transform: Unlocking Your Potential as Librarians’ conference was yesterday held at Universiti Teknologi Brunei, with Minister of Education Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman as guest of honour.
Organised by the Brunei Darussalam Library Association (BLA) in collaboration with Universiti Teknologi Brunei, the conference is held in celebration of the 30th anniversary of BLA.
In her welcoming remarks, BLA President Nellie binti Dato Paduka Haji Sunny noted that BLA has managed to sustain and build a stronger library association thanks to the strong teamwork, dedication and commitment of members.
“Our association is in regular consultation with relevant agencies to upgrade the professionalism of our librarians in order to rise to the challenges of information seekers, which is of paramount importance to us.
“We are librarians first and also teachers, for we continue to teach our users, big and small, young and old, on the ways to access information. Information is our core business. We are a trained and skilled workforce to connect users and non-users to libraries as the nation’s leading repository of knowledge, culture and scholarship,” she said.
After an opening address by the Minister of Education, the announcement of awardees for the BLA Award ceremony was carried out by Dr Haji Abu Bakar bin Haji Zainal, senior member of the Executive Committee of BLA.
Photos above and below show Minister of Education Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman presenting BLA award certificates and medals to recipients.
Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi takes a closer look at the newly launched books with BLA President Nellie binti Dato Paduka Haji Sunny. – PHOTOS: BAHYIAH BAKIR
The Meritorious Award went to Haji Abdul Latip bin Haji Tassim, former Assitant Head of Library at the Language and Literature Bureau and former teaching staff for the Librarian Course in MTSSR.
The Promising Young Librarian Award went to Noralizah binti Mohammad, who is currently the Honorary Secretary at BLA and a Librarian in the Class 64 Library of Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien College.
The ceremony continued with the launch of six new books – ‘BLA Handbook’, ‘Secretary’s Report’, ‘online articles on BLA’, ‘Register of Brunei Professional Librarians’, ‘Index Wadah Perpustakaan’ and the ‘Buku Kenang-Kenangan Mesyuarat Agung ke-13’ – by the guest of honour.
The conference was attended by over 100 librarians from schools, universities, public libraries and government departments as well as a group of Library and Information Science students from IBTE Sultan Saiful Rijal Campus and Politeknik Brunei.
A pre-conference Leadership for Librarians conference concluded a day before the opening ceremony, and the conference is set to run until September 22.
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