Events(Vol.51 No.2)

In an effort to expand the international vision of librarians at county and city public libraries, and to promote the exchange of expertise, National Central Library held a 2019 Achievement Report for the Projects ''Strengthening the Operational System of City and County Libraries'' and ''Promoting a System of Main and Branch Public Libraries'' & the International Library Benchmarking and Learning Visit in Finland Report on January 21, 2020. Director-General Shu-hsien Tseng mentioned in her opening remarks that in 2019 a total of six counties and cities received funding from the Ministry of Education's ''Constructing a Public Library System for Mid- and Long-term Collaboration and Sharing Project,'' including New Taipei City, Tainan City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Hualien County, and Taitung County. This was to be used for improving the operations in main and branch libraries throughout the county or city. After one year of effort, we can look back and see the results of these efforts. We can also look to the future and provide valuable experiences that future libraries can learn from. In addition, to better understand the current conditions and experiences of target city libraries overseas in terms of operational development, in 2019 a delegation from Taiwan public libraries traveled to Helsinki, Finland to visit the benchmark libraries there. What was learned in terms of operations development, public lending rights, service quality, development projects, and other topics will provide valuable insight into Taiwan's situation.