Ho Chi Minh City and an International Conference
02/21/2009
I flew to Ho Chi Minh City Thursday afternoon to attend an international conference entitled "The Standardization of Library and Information Science Educating." I was treated very well as a guest of Saigon University--met at the airport, put up in a comfortable hotel, and warmly welcomed at the conference. On Friday morning an honor guard of students dressed in red skirts and white blouses greeted us as we entered the conference hall. Our hosts seated us in the front row according to our name plates (mine is pictured here).
The letters before my name stand for Dr. Professor, and the words "Dai Hoc" before Indiana East stand for University. This conference was unlike any I have ever attended. People filtered into the hall for the next 45 minutes, exchanging greetings and business cards as we listened to pre-recorded music coming over loudspeakers. At 9 am, a young man and woman in traditional costumes welcomed us in both English and Vietnamese, and then introduced the first of several musical performances. The opening chorus was absolutely lovely and the ao dais worn by the young women were gorgeous. After performances by some members of the Art faculty, the conference convened.
The conference organizers thoughtfully provided translation (heard through headsets) for those of us who cannot speak or understand Vietnamese (unfortunately, it was still a bit difficult to understand everything). Wendy Simmons, the Information Resources Officer from the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, delivered the keynote address on American academic library trends.
I sat next to another speaker, Professor Vinh-The Lam, who was one of the founders of the Vietnamese Library Association in 1974. He earned his M.L.S. degree at Syracuse in 1973, and returned to Vietnam. When the war ended anyone who had associated with the Americans underwent a re-education process, only his occurred on the job. His story is fascinating, and if you'd like to read more take a look at this website for the Syracuse University alumni magazine: http://ischool.syr.edu/alumni/profiles/LIS/vin_lam.aspx
At 10:30 or so we paused for a "tea" break of Vietnamese coffee, meat pastries, and Vietnamese wedding cakes (made of sticky rice and sesame seeds--they are supposed to represent both male and female). My remarks were near the end of the conference. I began with a feeble attempt to speak Vietnamese (at which the audience smiled politely), then shared some historical and comparative observations about Vietnamese and American library education. Dr. John Celli, who is associated with a program called LEAF (Library Education Assistance Foundation), made a strong case for knowing the history and mission of this unique cultural institution that we call "library" and reminded us that preoccupation with details limits vision.
Even though I couldn't understand everything that was said at the conference, I left with a greater appreciation for Vietnamese efforts to have their library education programs meet international standards. Despite growing interest in the field as a career choice, however, there remains a lack of trained librarians, physical facilities, material resources, and standardized software. Databases published in the west are prohibitively expensive and often in English, which leads some Vietnamese librarians to push for the development of Vietnamese-language databases.
On Saturday morning, John (from LEAF) arrived on a motorbike to give me a tour of some highlights of the center city. I can't believe I actually rode on a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City! Over breakfast he talked about how the motorbike has given Vietnamese women greater freedom. Supposedly the government wanted to enact a law that would minimize the number of motorbikes on the streets by specifying minimum height, weight, and bust measurements. It seems a little far-fetched, so I don't know how true this is.
At the airport waiting for my return flight to Nha Trang, I met two women from Kansas (where my mother was born). I love how you can form a bond with someone on the basis of such a simple thing as that. We shared a cab into Nha Trang and I helped them find a hotel. Later in the evening they called and invited me to breakfast tomorrow morniing. One of the things I like about Vietnam is that every day seems to hold something new and different.
