| China Territories | ||
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| Speaking at the Southeast Asia library conference | The Macau University library (left) and a branch public library. Notice trilingual signage: English, Chinese and Portuguese | A sample of modern and user-friendly facilities in a Hong Kong library |
| Vietnam | ||
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| Presenting my training session to 80-plus librarians in Ho Chi Minh City | With U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, Michael W. Marine, at the U.S. Embassy's ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new materials center at a northern Vietnam university | A typical classification shelf sign: Dewey Decimal call number ranges, in Vietnamese |
| Laos and Cambodia | |
 Hickok at the National Library of Laos with some "book boxes" -- portable mini-libraries that the National Library, in cooperation with and funding from NGOs, fills with books and sends to the public schools. |
 An urban-rural contrast: At bototm, this urban Laos high school reflects the old-style Soviet concrete block architecture. At top, a rural Laos high school reflects very limited conditions. |
 Hickok with President Chea San Chanthan, president of Pannasastra University -- with whom Cal State Fullerton has a partnership. |
 Some challenges in academic libraries, include shelves that are mostly just filled with textbooks, and reference books that are inaccessible — such as behind these glass cases, not convenient for open browsing. |
| Myanmar | ||
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| Visiting the library at a Buddhist K-12 school. Many young apprentice monks, like the one next to me, enter the monkhood to get an education. Myanmar has one of the highest percentages of Buddhist monks in the world. | The Yangon University library. While this building dates to the 1920s, there are plans for future upgrades (computers, etc.) | A private, NGO library, run by volunteers. A couple cultural notes: the Myanmar writing, as you see in the sign, is quite stylistic. And the tradition of wearing the "longyi" (wraparound) instead of pants still dominates -- everyone wears them, both men and women. |
| Thailand | ||
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| Meeting with the president of the Thai Library Association. This longstanding librarian - now into her 70s - was an amazing treasure-house of information! I attended the Thai Library Association's annual conference. | "Boat commuting" to a library appointment. In my years at CSUF, I've commuted by car, carpool, bus and train. Now I can add "by boat" to my list! Here, I'm taking a commuter boat up Bangkok's river to get to one of my library appointments. | Bilingual Library of Congress Classification sign. (In the Thai script and English, posted in one of the university libraries) |
| Singapore and Malaysia | |
 Receiving a gift from a Malaysian library director (wonderful hospitality!) |
 The modern/high-tech lobby of one of the Singapore polytechnic libraries. |
 My visit to a Malaysian university library (note the Malaysian flag in background — while the red and white stripes and blue upper field bear some resemblance to the U.S. flag, the yellow crescent definitely sets it apart.) |
 Giving a presentation to the Singapore Library Association (SLA). I was invited to address them on "Current Trends In U.S. Academic Libraries." |
| Philippines | ||
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| Posing with a large class of undergraduate LIS students, whom I gave a guest lecture to. Do the students seem young? They are. In the Philippines, secondary education is two years shorter than in the U.S., so students enter universities at age 16! | A typical example of a middle-size university library. Note the many fans. While AC certainly does exist in many libraries, in other libraries, or in certain sections/rooms, it does not. So it makes studying tougher, with the warmth and humidity. | Visiting students at an elementary school library. Although my focus is academic libraries, in order to understand the IL skills students have upon entering universities, I've investigated the library facilities/services that exist at the elementary/secondary level too. |
| Indonesia | ||
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| Me next to a university “Perpustakaan” sign (Indonesian for “Library”). | Me with the library staff at an Islamic university in central Java. | Me with students at a university library, after giving an invited presentation on "U.S.-Indonesian library similarities/differences." |