About ASEAN Infonet

Introduction
ASEAN Infonet is a hosted web-based service that facilitates access to the digitised copy of the depository and manuscript collections of the National Libraries and memory institutions of ASEAN member countries. It is essentially a collective regional digital library, containing e-books on ASEAN culture and literary heritage. This collective literary heritage represents a great research asset of immense value to not only ASEAN members but countries outside of ASEAN. Asean Infonet is the product of the Digitisation of Legal Deposit Catalogues in ASEAN National Libraries Project under the auspices of the ASEAN Committee On Culture and Information (ASEAN COCI) . The aim of this newly established service is the promotion of ASEAN culture and heritage. This effort has been made possible by the mutual agreement of member countries on the sharing of depository materials and local manuscripts.

Collection
The collection of Asean Infonet covers a variety of resources, including books, articles, speeches, presentation materials, photographs and pictures.  The subject spans from arts, culture, language, literature, health, history, politics, to war in the ASEAN region. Sources of information such as bibliographies and catalogues are also included. The collection displays the richness of ASEAN literary heritage as represented by vernacular publications. Among the languages covered are English, Malay, Indonesian, Cambodian, Tagalog, Dutch and French. The  earliest ebook in the ASEAN Infonet was published in 1880 whilst the most current dated 2005.

Access
The ebooks on the ASEAN Infonet are accessible by the country of origin and are searchable by keyword through a search facility. Should users require consulting alternative formats of the ebooks, they may direct their requests to the owning National Library or Memory Institutions.

Copyright
Users can view the ebooks online. Some of the materials have copyrights that are held by their respective owners. To avoid copyright infringement, copy and print functionalities have been disabled in the ebooks.  Users are encouraged to contact respective libraries for document delivery or copyright clearance.

Audiences
The target audience of the ASEAN Infonet includes scholars, researchers, librarians and students. The ASEAN Infonet may also be of interest to other audiences such as teachers, business, government & non-governmental organizations (NGO's), cultural institutions (eg. museums, cultural centres), news agencies and others in the media.

Mr Johnson Paul
Project Coordinator
ASEAN COCI Regional Digitisation Programme

Digitisation of Legal Deposit Catalogues in ASEAN National Libraries Project

The heritage and depository collections (including manuscripts) of the National Libraries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) make up the most comprehensive cultural and literary heritage of the region. A regional digitization project  - "Shared Knowledge, Shared Heritage" was proposed as a response to the growing interest of Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL) member countries to promote and share publications of cultural and literary heritage with each other. In 2001, an agreement was reached among the regional library directors for public access of depository materials and local manuscripts for research and promotion of greater understanding among citizens in ASEAN. This eventually led to the Digitisation of Legal Deposit Catalogues in ASEAN National Libraries Project that was partially funded by ASEAN COCI Regional Digitisation Programme. 

The Digitisation project was created with the following objectives:

• Establish a system that would facilitate access to the depository and manuscript collections in ASEAN National Libraries and memory institutions
• Facilitate exchange and inter-library loan of materials 
• Promote greater understanding among ASEAN countries and other parts of the worldThe project is managed by an appointed project coordinator whose project center is located at the National Library Board, Singapore.

With the funds provided by the ASEAN COCI for the project, the images of the materials have been stitched into e-books, the titles catalogued and incorporated in the ebooks management system. The ebooks are made accessible through a web-based hosted service for a period of three years.

Mr Johnson Paul
Project Coordinator
ASEAN COCI Regional Digitisation Programme