Requirements for establishment of university libraries under the law in Vietnam

Requirements for establishment of university libraries under the law in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is library?

According to Clause 1, Article 3 of the Library Law 2019, library means an institution of culture, information, education and science that develops, processes, stores, preserves and provides information resources for its users.

2. Requirements for establishment of university libraries in Vietnam

Requirements for establishment of university libraries are specified in Article 16 of Decree 93/2020/ND-CP, specifically as follows:

- Setting the goals of organizing and operating a library which are appropriate and fit into the functions and tasks specified in Article 14 in the Library Law 2019; accepting target users, including teachers, learners and employees of education institutions and other persons, wishing to use libraries according to library's rules and regulations.

- Having information resources, including textbooks, teaching materials, reference materials, newspapers, magazines relevant to each training major of an educational institution, which are processed according to the library's operational rules, meeting the requirements concerning the capacity to serve at least 60% of learners and teachers.

- Having library facilities and amenities conforming to the following requirements:

+ Being located at the center of an educational institution, providing facilitation for users, especially people with disabilities;

+ Having enough space for storing information resources, service areas, working zones for librarians and meeting other needs concerning processing of other library-related services;

+ Ensuring that the reading spaces, including general-purpose and other reading rooms for library users cover an area of at least 200 m2;

+ Ensuring that information technology infrastructure, network connection equipment, security equipment, peripheral and auxiliary equipment, local area network, and wide area network can meet the professional and operational needs of librarians and serve library’s users; implementing library interconnection, providing online and related services;

+ Ensuring the installation of specialized equipment and means designed for information resources preservation, security, fire safety and prevention purposes.

- Librarians must satisfy the following requirements:

+ Having professional information - library qualification according to the standards of their work positions as prescribed by law;

+ Having at least 70% of librarians who have already held at least associate degrees in information - library or other majors provided that they manage to obtain certificates of completion of information – library professional training courses issued by competent authorities or organizations;

+ Having the capability of applying information technology to library operations or services, having the competence in supporting learners and teachers to search, exploit and use information resources inside and outside of a library.

- Libraries of national universities, in addition to meeting the conditions specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Article 16 of Decree 93/2020/ND-CP, must satisfy the conditions specified in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of Article 3 of Decree 93/2020/ND-CP.

3. Library interconnection principles in Vietnam

Library interconnection principles include:

- Ensuring the efficient use of investment resources of the State, organizations and individuals for library activities.

- Meeting user’s needs for information resources, information products and library services.

- Ensuring that the interconnection must be made on a basis of voluntariness and cooperation associated with agreement, task allocation or coordination amongst libraries.

- Sharing and linking databases and information resources of which the development is funded by the state budget in accordance with regulations.

- Complying with laws on intellectual property, science and technology, information technology, cybersecurity and other relevant laws.

- Guaranteeing the management and use of information resources for the right purposes, effectively and in accordance with the regulations on interconnection.

(Article 24 of the Library Law 2019)

Thanh Rin

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