(19 Mar 2021) Visits to public libraries in Taiwan dropped over 30 percent in 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak, but the number of e-books borrowed surged more than 40 percent for the second year, according to an annual report published on Friday. A total of 79.69 million visits to public libraries were recorded last year,…
(7 Apr 2021) The French Embassy in Vietnam and the National Library of Vietnam on April 7 unveiled a digital library at https://heritage.bnf.fr/france-vietnam. (available in French and Vietnamese) It is considered a “Common Heritage” collection, consisting of more than 2,000 documents from the collections of the two national libraries and partners. The digital…
(1 Apr 2021) Australia’s leading research universities have played down calls to ramp up their presence in the crowded field of online education, saying studying in Australia is the main drawcard for many international students. Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson said the coronavirus pandemic had given universities a “proof of concept” that…
By Ruth A. Pagell* (7 Apr 2021) It is worth checking the updated rankings for changes in methodology or in top universities. Major changes at the top rarely happen as is the case with the updates from QS subject rankings, THE’s Emerging Economies, the student-focused Japanese Universities, and Nature Index Asia Pacific. Look away…
(26 Mar 2021) Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) just release the “2020 White Paper of ICT on Education in Korea”, which outlines the ICT on all levels of education in Korea. Table of Contents: Chapter 1: ICT in primary and secondary education Chapter 2: ICT in educational administrative and financial services Chapter…
(31 Mar 2021) This fourteenth iteration of the International Survey of Library Automation was conducted during an extremely challenging period for libraries. The global COVID-19 pandemic imposed widespread disruption. Libraries abruptly closed their physical facilities and expanded their digital offerings. It is not a surprise that the number of responses to the Library Automation Survey…
The purpose of play — for children, monkeys, rats or meerkats — has proved surprisingly hard to pin down. Scientists continue to toss around ideas. (30 Mar 2021, feed from Knowable Magazine) Anyone who has ever chucked a tennis ball in the general vicinity of a border collie knows that some animals take play…
(3 Apr 2021) Growing numbers of Chinese universities are dropping the requirement for PhD students to publish papers in journals in order to graduate. It has already been dropped from graduation requirements at the country’s pre-eminent institutions, Tsinghua and Peking universities, as well as the Chinese Academy of Sciences. And now there is pressure for…
(31 Mar 2021) University presidents from 30 countries have signed a ‘Joint Statement of Global University Leaders on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, witnessed by United Nations officials. At what was described as the first global online forum for university presidents on the ‘Role of Universities in the 2030 Agenda’, hosted by Zhejiang…
(1 Apr 2021) National Diet Library, Japan is announcing its new vision which will set the policy for the next five years, “National Diet Library Vision 2021–2025: The Digital Shift at the National Diet Library.” Seven initiatives that are intended over the next five years to better connect information resources with intellectual activities under the…