Source: School of Information Management
Written by: Yang Naiyi, Lin Qianli
Photo by: Luo Jinglin, Niu Yingbo
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On April 6-9, 2019, International Symposium of Children Reading, Learning and Empowering: professional, standards and collaboration, Professional Education Seminar on Children Library and Information Services, and Youth Scholars Seminar on Study of Children Reading were held at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) successfully. It was organized by National Institute of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Development, School of Information Management, Guangzhou Research Center of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Development in SYSU, and co-organized by Exchange & Cooperation Committee, Guangdong Library Society; Children Library Services Committee, Guangdong Library Society; Children Library Services Committee, Library Society of Guangzhou; Guangzhou Library; Guangzhou Children’s Library; and Foshan Library. Experts, scholars, and practitioners who were from Canada, the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and China attended the symposium.

On the morning of April 7, the symposium officially inaugurated. Director Wang Zhigeng, from Children’s Library in National Library of China; Ke Ping, Professor from Nankai University; Zheng Jianming, Deputy Director of Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee of Professional Education for Library Science, Professor from Nanjing University; Diane Beattie, Chair of IFLA Committee on Standards, from Library and Archives Canada; Joanne Plante, Chair of IFLA School Libraries Section, from Laval Public Library in Canada; Anne Goulding, Professor of Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand; Denise E. Agosto, Professor of Drexel University in the U.S.; Karen Gavigan, Professor from University of South Carolina in the U.S.; Fan Bingsi, Professor of East China Normal University; Zhang Zhiqiang, Professor of Nanjing University; Fang Jiazhong, Chairman of the Library Society of Guangzhou, Director of Guangzhou Library; He Wenping,　Chief of the Academy of Art　in the Office of Scientific Research & Development and Library Director of SYSU; Wang Cheng, Party Secretary of School of Information Management in SYSU; Cheng Huanwen, IFLA Governing Board Member, Vice Chairman of Library Society of China, and Dean of National Institute of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Development of SYSU, attended the symposium.
Professor Cheng Huanwen made a speech on behalf of the organizer. He combined the IFLA’s Public Library Manifesto and Global Vision Report with major strategies in China, such as building a culturally strong country with Chinese socialism, construction of modern public cultural service systems, and the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, etc., to emphasize the importance of the symposium’s theme. He also introduced efforts and achievements of SYSU’s National Institute of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Development in the field of public culture theory and policy, public cultural services and assessment, reorganization and preservation of documentary heritage, digital humanities and cultural sharing, conservation and utilization of intangible cultural heritage in recent years.

Professor Zhang Jing, chair of the symposium and deputy dean of School of Information Management in SYSU, hosted the opening ceremony. She specifically mentioned that during the preparations for this symposium, the Organizing Committee received nearly 500 applications from China and abroad. She also expressed the hope that there would be more opportunities to create exchange platforms for the communication of research and practice on children’s reading and learning in the future.

The four-day symposium was consisted of 8 academic forums, 36 academic reports, 2 poster sessions, 4 seminars and 4 practical visits. Professors from famous universities in China and abroad had brought a number of academic reports and experiences sharing on professional education; chairs and members from international professional organizations, including IFLA Committee on Standards, IFLA Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section, IFLA School Library Section, etc. and authors of international standards interpreted and discussed international standards; directors and librarians, who worked in national libraries, public libraries, children's libraries, and school libraries, from China and abroad, shared best practice of services for children. Students’ Poster Session and Best Practice Poster Session were specially arranged to strengthen contacts and exchanges got favorable appraisement.