The annual meeting and forum of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau University Library Alliance
The annual meeting and forum of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau University Library Alliance (GHMULA) were recently held at the University of Macau (UM) Library. 70 representatives from 30 university libraries in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao attended the meeting and exchanged ideas on the development of and cooperation between the libraries.
Fong Ka Kin, acting head of the Department of Higher Education of the Education and Youth Development Bureau of the Macao SAR government; Wu Jianzhong, university librarian of UM; He Wenping, university librarian of the Sun Yat-sen University; and Benjamin Meunier, university librarian of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. Loi Chi Pang, head of the Department of Public Library Management of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR government, and representatives of other member libraries of the alliance also attended the ceremony.
In his speech, Fong said that GHMULA had further deepened academic and professional exchanges and research collaboration among institutions in the three regions since its establishment and achieved fruitful results, adding that the alliance provides strong support for talent training in the era of innovation and knowledge-based economy. He expressed hope that the alliance would continue to integrate the strengths of university libraries in the three regions and contribute to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as well as the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
The theme of the forum was ‘Deepening Library Cooperation and Promoting Sustainable Development’. Speakers at the forum included Flora Ng, university librarian of the University of Hong Kong; Christopher Chan, university librarian of the Hong Kong Baptist University; Lily Ko and Leo Ma, heads of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library; Yang Tao, director of the South China Normal University Library; Wang Liping, associate university librarian of the South China University of Technology; Qian Guofu, associate university librarian of the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies; Wang Lei, associate university librarian of the Sun Yat-sen University; Yan Shilei, associate university librarian of the Macau University of Science and Technology; and Wu Jianzhong, university librarian of UM.
The meeting was the first face-to-face meeting among the alliance members since the pandemic. During the pandemic, the university libraries not only accumulated experience and developed new methods to create new service models, but also built up sufficient energy for the future. All participants in the event expressed hope that the meeting would further facilitate exchanges and cooperation among university libraries in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, thereby contributing to the development of arts and humanities in the Greater Bay Area.