Relive the SEA Librarians Summit 2023 in Surabaya!

Elsevier, Indonesia Library Association launches landmark regional Librarians Summit

Over 150 librarians from 75 Higher Education Institutions across 4 countries joined the launch of the inaugural Southeast Asian Librarians Summit at the Sheraton Surabaya Hotel and Towers last 30 May 2023 - marking a significant milestone in our mission to empower librarians in the digital era. Organized in partnership with Forum Perpustakaan Tinggi Indonesia (Indonesian Higher Education Library Forum), the Summit brought together librarians and experts from the library and information science fields to share the latest trends and forward-thinking data-driven strategies for collection development, management, and user experience.

With a focus on resilience and collaboration, the summit showcased the innovative approaches libraries from Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia have taken to adapt and thrive in challenging times. The interactive sessions fostered an atmosphere of engagement, encouraging participants to actively contribute to the discourse on the future of libraries.

One of the key highlights of the summit was a workshop on data-driven strategies in library collection development and management. Attendees had the opportunity to learn from the case studies and practice exercise shared by Elsevier’s very own Gwen Evans, VP for Global Library Engagement and Johan Jang, Customer Consultant for Indonesia, and Philippines.

"We are thrilled with the success of the inaugural SEA Librarians Summit," said Omar Malik, Regional Director, Elsevier Southeast Asia.

Gwen Evans

Vice President, Global Library Relations , Elsevier

Evans has over twenty years of experience working with libraries. She was previously the Executive Director of OhioLINK, Ohio’s academic library consortium and state agency under the Ohio Department of Higher Education. Her leadership at OhioLINK, helped deliver the creation of a statewide library-led initiative for affordable textbooks, focusing on a hybrid approach of supporting Open Educational Resources; library resources as no-cost-to-students textbook alternatives; and groundbreaking statewide price agreements with major commercial textbook publishers.

Mdm. Zaharah binti abd Samad

Chief Librarian, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

Mdm. Zaharah binti Abd Samad graduated from the International Islamic University Malaysia with a Master's degree in Library and Information Science.

She has over 30 years of experience as an academic librarian, with expertise in customer service, collection development, serials management, research librarian, and digital library.

As Chief Librarian of UTHM for more than 5 years, she was involved in the strategic planning of the university, particularly in managing KPI for research publications and research data to support the university's ranking and research activities.

Dhama Gustiar Baskoro

Vice Director Organization, Management and Information Technology, FPPTI Director of Library, Universitas Pelita Harapan

Baskoro serves as the Head of UPH one Library, the Head of UPH Press, the coordinator of the Information Literacy Training Program at UPH, and in addition, he is also a certified lecturer who is home-based at the UPH Faculty of Tourism and serves as a part-time lecturer at the UPH Faculty of Education.

In national organizations, he serves as the Vice Chairman of FPPTI (Indonesian Higher Education Library Forum), as well as a certified assessor for librarians’ certification from BNSP. He is also a researcher, speaker, trainer, and consultant for various national institutions.

Luki Wijayanti

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Library and Information Science, Universitas Indonesia

Luki Wijayanti is a Lecturer at the Department of Library and Information Science in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Indonesia. She holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Indonesia, as well as a Ph.D. in Culture and Media Studies and a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.

Luki's areas of expertise include Contemporary Issues in the Information Sector in Indonesia, Digital Library Management, Collections Management, Information Audit, and Information in Social and Cultural Contexts. She has published several studies on these topics in various scientific journals.

Dr Mohd Shahir Shamsir

Professor, Bioscience Department, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Professor Shahir formerly served as the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia between the years of 2020 and 2023. He also served as the Director of the Innovation and Commercialization Centre (ICC) between the years of 2016 and 2019, as well as the Deputy Director of Research University at the Research Management Centre (RMC) of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia between the years of 2012 and 2016. In the past, some of his responsibilities included monitoring the policy, management, and coordination in UTM and UTHM for the Innovation & Commercialization of Intellectual Properties, Consultancies, and Contract Research. His area of research is bioinformatics and computational biology where he began his research on the modeling and characterization of prions in the mad cow disease.

Puan Mazmin Mat Akhir

Chief Librarian, Universiti Malaysia Perlis

Mazmin Mat Akhir is a graduate of Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi MARA. She has been the Chief Librarian of Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Library, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, since 2014. Before joining Universiti Malaysia Perlis, she was a librarian at two prominent universities in Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). Mazmin is actively involved in the establishment committee of the Higher Education Electronic Resources Consortium, dealing with consortium subscriptions to scholarly e-resources for public universities in Malaysia.

Kimberly Ann O. Soria

Chief Librarian, Mapua University Library, Intramuros and Makati campus

As Chief Librarian, she is involved in leadership and management initiatives of the university. Ms. Soria leads research and community engagement projects in the library. She does train and orient the use of and to available research tools with the Mapua University community.

Ms. Soria is a certified Mendeley and Scopus librarian. She is also an ISO internal auditor in the Mapua University (2021 and 2023). Her research interest includes library ergonomics, social media management, information literacy, research data management, library marketing, and librarianship in the Philippines.

Mrs Lee Cheng Ean

Immediate Past University Librarian, Advisor and Head Global Relations , NATIONAL UNIVERISTY OF SINGAPORE LIBRARIES

Lee Cheng Ean is the Immediate Past University Librarian of the National University of Singapore Libraries. She started her career as a Trainee Librarian in 1981 and graduated with a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Loughborough University, UK in 1984. Over the years, she has held leadership positions such as Head of Serials, Technical Services, Deputy University Librarian before being appointed the University Librarian from March 2014 to June 2022.

Her vast experience gained from years of working in acquisitions, circulation, serials management, provided her with a strong foundation to build teams that practise continual process improvement and service excellence.