Znt. Libr. Rev. (1978) 10, 109-l 18

“All For Reconstruction”: Library Service in a Reunified Vietnam* GEORGE MILLER?

Libraries in Vietnam, like the country as a whole, have, during the past few years, undergone a major shift in emphasis as they seek to provide a service not required to contribute to a major war effort but geared to economic development, particularly in the fields of agriculture and industry. Vietnamese librarians are very conscious of the contribution they can make and the responsibility they have to the developing Vietnamese society. As in the recent history when librarians were aware of the part they had to play in the struggle for independence, they are now motivated by the task of providing technical, scientific and economic information for the equally awesome national tasks of social reconstruction and the development of a sound and balanced economy.

This national socio-political task of the librarians will be achieved by the particular structure of the library system in Vietnam. Public libraries are organized in a highly centralized network with the National Library in Hanoi at the head, and uniform procedures penetrate downward from this focal point.1

The National Library has always been and is at present housed in an attractive but basically inadequate building in the centre of Hanoi at 3 1 Trang Thi, an edifice built by the French in 1898 and at one time the colonial residence of the Viceroy. A new library building is planned, but no definite date has been decided for its construction. The Library was

* This article is based on information collected during a brief visit to Vietnam in April 1977. The visit was made possible by the generosity of the James Cook Bicentenary Scholar- ship Committee (Australia) and the Ministry of Culture, Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The views expressed are those of the author alone. The information is based only on an empirical study of the institutions visited. At the risk of conveying misleading generalizations, it seems preferable to publish these observations to counter the almost total lack of knowledge in the West about contemporary Vietnamese libraries.

t Senior Librarian, Southeast Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T., 2600, Australia.

1 The public libraries: twenty years’ activities. Vi&mnCourierNo. 57, February 1977,2&22.

0020-7837/78/0102-0109 $02.00/O 0 1978 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

110 G. MILLER

established in 1917 and from 1922 it had the legal right to receive publications from throughout the whole of French Indochina and the Southern part of China, then a French concession.

Following the declaration of Vietnamese independence the position of the National Library as the legal depository for publications was confirmed by a decree issued by President Ho Chi Minh in January 1946. After reunification of the country in April 1975, a new decree was issued by Premier Pham Van Dong on 9 October 1976 which redefined the status of the National Library in Hanoi as the national library for the whole country with the official title of National Library of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.1

The seven functions of the National Library are spelled out in the 9 October decree. The first is to contribute to production, scientific research and education according to Socialist theory and within the guidelines of the Worker’s Party and the government. The other duties relating to collection and preservation of Vietnamese material, biblio- graphical services, training facilities and co-ordination with other libraries throughout the country, are elucidated.

The National Library collection is one mainly of French and Viet- namese material, strongest in material published from the end of the 19th century. The bookstock has remained virtually undamaged over the years. During the periods of heaviest bombing the collection was moved to a depository 60 km from Hanoi, and many serial runs which cannot be accommodated in the Hanoi building through lack of space are still housed there today. The collection now totals about 1 million monographs with about 60 000 volumes of bound periodicals. It also contains 2000 Vietnamese manuscripts in Han (Chinese) and Nom (Sino-Vietnamese) scripts.

The National Library is the focal point of the public library system in Vietnam and, as part of its role in reconstruction, has the responsibility to develop technical efficiency in libraries at provincial, district and village level. While the Department of Mass Culture of the Ministry of Culture authorizes the establishment of libraries, surveys their needs and staffing, the National Library has the task of selecting and provisioning the books and of providing cataloguing data. One of the most significant services of the National Library is the central distribution of catalogue cards for Vietnamese publications. Libraries find that the service is fast; cards are supplied from Hanoi within two months of the receipt of a book. The actual cataloguing and card production are both done in the National Library and the whole service results in uniform cataloguing practice throughout the country,

1 A translation of the decree follows as Appendix 1.

LIBRARY SERVICE IN A REUNIFIED VIETNAM 111

The classification scheme currently used in Vietnam is described as “a modified U.D.C.“. It is chiefly intended for card arrangement within the systematic catalogues found in most libraries and not for the arrangement of the books on the shelf. Even in public libraries, libraries appear to have closed access and the books are arranged on the shelf according to language, size and a running number.

Use of the actual card catalogues in the National Library would appear to be complicated by the existence of many sequences. Earlier sequences have been closed; e.g. one foreign book, author catalogue was closed in 1960 and another commenced, andin addition there aresequences according to the languages of the books. For the period 1954-60 there was a subject catalogue using Vietnamese terms. This is no longer used. At the present time there are separate author and systematic catalogues for foreign and vernacular material. Within the systematic sequence for foreign material, cards are further subdivided by language; Russian cards are arranged first, followed by Chinese, English and French.

The reading room, like the library as a whole, is rather cramped. It seats 200 readers and is well patronized. Because of lack of space, it is necessary to limit readers to university students and staff and serious research workers. An excellent stack and reference service is provided from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. during winter months, and between 7 a.m. and 9.30 p.m. in summer. The Serials section of the National Library has a separate reading room which accommodates 25 people.

In addition to the provision of cataloguing data, another central task of the National Library is the compilation of the National Bibliography (Thu’ rnyc quac gia Viet Nam) published in monthly and yearly editions. The National Bibliography includes such government publica- tions as are distributed by departments. If government publications are for internal use the National Library does not receive the 10 copies which it is mandatory to deposit in the Library, and the works do not, therefore, appear in the National Bibliography. Titles of new serials are included in the annual cumulation of the National Bibliography. The Vietnamese National Bibliography has been published consistently since 1957 and is, therefore, the longest-running, current National Bibliography in Southeast Asia. (A National Bibliography was pub- lished by the South Vietnam National Library between 1967 and sometime in the early 1970s.)

As centralized as the library system is in Vietnam, it is surprising to find that there is no National Union Catalogue of monographs or a National Union List of Serials. Inter-library lending is, however, said to be active.

The National Library is implementing a project for the central

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acquisitioning of foreign material for all Vietnamese libraries. Because of the shortage of foreign exchange available to libraries the volume of foreign (particularly Western) material acquired is limited. The bulk of foreign material is still acquired by exchange. At present the National Library has exchange arrangements with 124 libraries throughout the world and this aspect of the service is increasing. The majority of Western language books received are in French.

There is a great eagerness on the part of the National Library to expand its co-operation with libraries in Western countries. The services and exchanges it can offer have been found by libraries in the West to be generous and efficient. For its part, the National Library does not belittle the fact that they have problems with respect to Western publications and would appreciate receiving material in all subjects, especially in the fields of medicine, agriculture (especially tropical agriculture), animal husbandry, science and technology from exchange partners in any country, irrespective of that country’s political colouring or of its past or present official attitude towards the government in Hanoi.

The administrative structure of the National Library is headed by a Director and two Deputy Directors. The Director is responsible to the Minister of Culture and has the status of a Department Head. The administration of the Library is divided into eight sections consisting of Reading Room (Reader Services?), Periodicals, Acquisitions and Foreign Exchange, Cataloguing, Bibliography, Legal Deposit, Library Technical Guidance and finally, Administration. The staff amounts to 120 librarians and assistant librarians, half of whom have university degrees. Some librarians have received library training abroad, chiefly in the Soviet Union.

One body within the National Library whose influence on Viet- namese librarianship is extensive and profound is the Scientific Council. It comprises mainly the Heads of Sections of the National Library and meets to decide matters of a technical nature. Rules and regulations for all problems dealing with the processing of material are drawn up to be applied in libraries throughout the whole country.

In Vietnam, there is a Library Council whose membership consists of a representative, usually the Head, of every major library in the country. It meets irregularly, two, three or sometimes four times a year, and is constituted to recommend broad policy matters for library service for the country as a whole. It is only advisory however, and may only recommend to the Minister of Culture (who in theory is the Chairman of the Council itself) plans for the development of the service. It has an executive secretary who is in principle the Deputy Minister of Culture (one of four such persons) in charge of libraries. The Director of the

LIBRARY SERVICE IN A REUNIFIED VIETNAM 113

National Library is an ordinary member of this Council. Despite the high status of this Council, one is left with the impression that in matters of substance, the deliberations and decisions of the Scientific Council of the National Library itself were at least of equal, and possibly of greater importance for most librarians.

Also located in the centre of the national capital is the Hanoi People’s Library, in essence the public library for the city and financed by the Hanoi City Council. It too is housed in a building not designed as a library and the problems arising from the shortage ofspace are acute. There are however, provisions within the current five-year plan for a new five-storey building to be commenced in 1978 and completed by 1980.

In the 1950s the Hanoi People’s Library had an active role in the national literacy campaign, now its emphasis has shifted to one of fostering higher standards of education throughout the community. In addition to the main library, there are four branches serving the out- skirts of Hanoi, as well as small collections located in centres of dense population. These may be, for example, in factories or industrial conglomerations.

By most standards the staff of the Hanoi People’s Library is small for a city the size of Hanoi (640 000). The main library has a staff of 21 (all of whom have library qualifications or a University degree), each branch has two staff members, while the small depositories of books have a single librarian. The collection itself is quite extensive with 300 000 volumes in the whole system, 120 000 of which are located in the central library. Most of these are in Vietnamese but there is a small volume of Russian, French and English works. Every year approximately 40 000 new volumes are added to the system. There are multiple copies of popular titles.

The clientkle of the library is mostly students and cadres (= public servants), together with a small number of research workers. It is open to all, is free, and there is no fine system for overdue books. There are about 1500 registered readers, with about 1400 registered borrowers. About 100 readers a day use the library. Libraries in Vietnam appear to all have closed access to the stacks. The Hanoi People’s Library is no exception to this rule and stack requests usually reached between 200 and 300 per day. Only a part of the overall collection is available for loan-usually where the library has more than one copy of a work.

Because of the central cataloguing service provided by the National Library, the Hanoi People’s Library does no original cataloguing but receives sets of printed catalogue cards, at the latest a few months after books are acquired.

The Hanoi People’s Library provides special services appropriate to

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its role as the senior public library for the capital city. It has a special collection devoted to the history and growth of Hanoi and undertakes bibliographical tasks concerning the life of the city. As a public library it arranges special exhibitions and activities to coincide with traditional ceremonies, anniversaries, and on dates of national, historical and political significance such as the birthday of Ho Chi Minh. Lectures by well-known authors are held twice a week.

The children’s section at the main library in the city centre is lightly used (about 50 loans per day) but the demand is said to be heavier in the outlying branches. One interesting feature is the closed access of the children’s collection: children too are taught to locate a book by use of the catalogues. Story times, retelling sessions and other activities are held regularly, more frequently in vacation periods.

The former National Library of the Republic of (South) Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) has also been incorporated into the public library system of Vietnam. While the Hanoi National Library has been officially designated as the National Library for the whole of the reunited Vietnam, the position of the Saigon National Library remains as yet undecided. For the time being, it is being officially described as the “National Library No. 2 Ho Chi Minh City”.

Though it retains a research collection on (South) Vietnam, possibly second only to the Bibliotheque Nationale, it has abrogated many of its national library functions and to a large extent serves now as the major public library for Ho Chi Minh City. The National Bibliography produced in Hanoi now includes the publications from the southern provinces. There is no indexing of periodicals in the south and central cataloguing and card production are done in Hanoi.

The library continues to occupy the impressive 14~storey building of the former National Library built by UNESCO and opened in 197 1.1 It is heavily used and at present the seating capacity is obviously in- adequate. It is free to all, but the majority of readers are students. While the leadership of the National Library No. 2 has changed since 1975, it was emphasised that most of the staff of 110 had been there before the change of government in April of that year. Fifty percent of the staff are professionals and at least 10 had received training overseas.2

1 La Bibliotheque Nationale de la Republique du Vietnam (1972). Bulletin de la &xi&! des Etudes Indochinoises, XLVII, 5OfS9.

2 No Director of the National Library No. 2 had yet been appointed as at April 1977, though two Deputy Directors have taken up positions. One, Mrs Hanh, originally a southerner, had been a conservateur in the Social Sciences Library in Hanoi until 1975, and had at times served with the N.L.F. Mrs Hanh appeared to be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the National Library No. 2. The other Deputy Director was Mr Thanh Nghi, a member of the Central Committee of the Fatherland Front who had been a Deputy Minister for Educa- tion and Youth in the Provisional Revolutionary Government.

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The collection of the National Library No. 2 is approximately 300 000. In April 1975 it was in the vicinity of 200 000. The prompt addition of 100 000 volumes to the collection is a remarkable example of an expeditious library move and bears relating. Since 1960, libraries in the North had been developing collections for “twin” institutions in the South-part of a nation-wide province-to-province assistance scheme. Within weeks of the change of government in Saigon, the waiting collection was trucked to Haiphong, shipped South on a small vessel hired for the purpose, and shelved in the National Library together with complete sets of catalogue cards and accession registers. Within four months the collection was available for use.

The collection of the former Saigon National Library was not damaged during hostilities and has been kept intact. Material from it on technology and the pure sciences has been incorporated into the current collection now available to the public. Material in the social sciences and humanities from the former collection is of limited access but is available to serious, mature researchers on application to the Deputy Director.

The acquisitions of the National Library No. 2 are considerable- there is no restriction on the book vote for Vietnamese publications and acquisition is limited only by the number of titles published in Vietnam each year. The acquisition of foreign publications is, as in the case of the National Library Hanoi, limited by the lack of foreign exchange avail- able. Subscriptions for Western serials taken out under the former government have lapsed. The bulk of foreign monographs and serials come on exchange from Socialist countries.

The National Library No. 2 has developed a special collection on Saigon. It has valuable microfilm sets such as the Vietnamese news- papers from the 1920s and 19OOs, a gift from the Bibliotheque Nationale, and in so far as the supply of film permits, undertakes a programme of filming valuable old material. It is able to provide microfilm copies of works when requested by other libraries.

One leading research library in Ho Chi Minh City is the Social Sciences Library, formerly the Archaeology Institute Library and before that the library of the Ecole Francaise Extreme Orient, situated at 34 Ly Tu Trong. It covers both social sciences and humanities and is under the authority of Social Sciences Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. It has 80 000 volumes and is especially rich in older material. Since 1975 it has not received books or serials from Western countries as it too faces foreign exchange difficulties similar to other libraries, but the collection has been supplemented in recent years by (North) Vietnamese and East European publications relevant to its fields ofinterest.

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With respect to the education and training of librarians in Vietnam, there are three facilities available in Hanoi. There has been a School of Librarianship within the Faculty of History of the University of Hanoi since 1913. Available there is a four-year undergraduate course to which students are admitted straight from High School after matricula- tion. The department has 10 full-time staff members. Students follow general subjects, at the same time reading special courses to qualify them for a career in librarianship. An alternative is a one-year course organised by the National Library. It is rather like an in-service training course and is usually only open to university graduates who have worked in a library for at least three years. The course is not necessarily conducted within the National Library. No formal award is presented for passing this course but it does qualify a person as a professional librarian. A third course at the College of Culture and Art trains library assistants at secondary-school level.

For a Master’s degree in Librarianship students have to go abroad, most commonly to the Soviet Union. Such courses usually entail a three-year visit, one year for language training and two years for a Master’s degree. There is no professional association in Vietnam, though some librarians would like to see one established and take as their model, associations in the professions of architecture and teaching.

In general, the public library network in Vietnam is most interesting because of its high degree of centralization in respect both to determina- tion of policy, administration and organization, and technical process- ing methods. The National Library in Hanoi has a vital role as the major collection of the country upon which other libraries rely for the provision of scarce publications and articles. It has a unique role in the provision of processing tools, establishing rules to be followed through- out the country, and in the provision of actual cataloguing data and cards.

Vietnamese librarians speak more about the social, political, economic and ideological role which they believe they have the duty of fulfilling in their country than do their colleagues in the West. In a developing, revolutionary society it is perhaps easier to discern the contribution and the immediate relevance of one’s everyday tasks to the social progress of the nation as a whole. At the same time, Vietnamese librarians are essentially pragmatists who frankly admit to the rudimentary and un- sophisticated (while basically sound) state of their library service. They are eager to establish contacts with their professional colleagues in all parts of the world to enable their profession to develop and provide a better service to their country and to the international community. They would welcome professional assistance and enquiries.

LIBRARY SERVICE IN A REUNIFIED VIETNAM 117

APPENDIX I

Su@lement to the Vietnamese Government Gazette, no. 6 1976

The Prime Minister’s decision, no. 401-TTg dated 9 October 1976 on the functions, duties and responsibilities of the National Library of Vietnam

The Prime Minister, --On the basis of the law on the organisation of the Government Council dated 14 July 1960;

----On the basis of the resolution of the Government Council no. 135 CP dated 29 September 1961 on the duties, competancy and structure of the Ministry of Culture; ---On the basis of the decree by the Government Council no. 185 CP dated 3 October 1970 on the organisation of the structure of the Ministry of Culture; -On the basis of the decision by the Government Council no. 178 CP dated 16 September 1970 on Library Service; ----and acting on the proposal of the Minister of Culture

hereby resolves that Article 1. The National Library is the central library of the Socialist Republic of

Vietnam and accordingly, is the most important in the Library System of the Ministry of Culture. With its stock of newspapers, documents and its activities, the National Library is to make its contribution to the dissemination of Marxism-Leninism, spreading the guidelines and policies of the Worker’s Party and the Government, and in the service of production, scientific research, teaching and study.

,4rticle 2. The National Library has the following duties and rights : (i) Collecting and preserving publications by and on the nation by means of

gathering current publications, as stated in the decree no. 18 18-SL dated 31 January 1946; collecting and preserving copies of Ph.D., M.A. theses and patents by Viet- namese; seeking-out and collecting foreign publications on Vietnam, and works by Vietnamese citizens living abroad; acquiring copies of papers by other Vietnamese people; gathering papers and books on science to meet the requirements of research in the country.

(ii) Through the library system of the Ministry of Culture, circulating books, papers and documents on Vietnam and foreign countries to serve the population in different localities.

(iii) Sorting and listing publications for bibliographies, for a comprehensive Vietnamese bibliography and for subject bibliographies in order to serve scientific communication, book lists to encourage and guide reading in library systems, biblio- graphies for the dissemination of publications to serve scientific research and adminis- tering book deployment throughout the country’s library system to develop it into a national network.

(iv) Guiding the members of the library systems of the country in their work initially within the library structure of the Ministry of Culture, developing the experience of staff, participating in teaching and training of librarians, actively co- operating with other libraries in the study of the theory and principles of librarianship and establishing courses in education for librarianship.

(v) Co-ordinating with other main libraries in activities such as establishing a

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comprehensive bibliography, the acquisition of additional foreign publications and exchanging, borrowing and lending publications between libraries.

(vi) Exchanging publications and bibliographies with foreign countries co- ordinating the borrowing and lending of publications with foreign countries in order to serve scientific research in this country and to introduce Vietnamese culture abroad.

(vii) Activating the spread of information on the sciences, culture and the arts.

Article 3. In charge of the National Library is a Director, to be supported by a number of Deputy Directors and Secretaries. All are under the immediate direction of the Ministry of Culture.

Article 4. Specific stipulations on duties, functions and the systematic structure of the National Library will be decided by the Ministry of Culture.

Article 5. The Minister of Culture is responsible for implementing this decision. (Dated) Hanoi, 9 October 1976.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Duy Trinh.

(Unojicial translation by The i’i i i Hoi)