Synopsis:
The Philippines hosted for the third time, the 13th CONSAL General Conference. The conference was preceded by two workshops held on 25 March 2006 at De La Salle University, Manila. The workshops were on “Digital Inclusion – Deploying and Managing Digital Collections to Remote Communities” and “Open Access Scholarly Databases”.

The Conference proper consisted of Plenary Sessions, Parallel Sessions and Avant Garde Sessions on Resource Sharing: Preservation Conservation and Copyright; Library Profession; Library Education and Training and Development. The three-day conference featured an excellent line-up of about 39 paper presenters/speakers, which was dominated by experts from the region. The topics and areas of discussion dealt mostly with regional issues and concerns in response to the Conference banner theme “CONSAL at the Crossroads: Challenges for Greater Regional Cooperation.”

CONSAL XIII was unprecedented in terms of its attendance: 1,200 delegates joined the conference. The highlights of the Conference consisted of the Opening Ceremonies, Bookfair and Exhibits, Gala Night, CONSAL Outstanding Librarian Award Presentation, Cultural and Library Visits and Fare/Closing Ceremonies.

CONSAL XII
Theme: " Information Empowerment: Enhancing Knowledge Heritage
Location: Main Conference Hall, International Convention Centre, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam
Date: 20 to 23 October 2003

Synopsis:
The four day conference kicked-off with a series of pre-conference workshops on ISBN, SEA Cataloguing Roundtable, Information Literacy, Meta Data, a CAL (Council of Chief Academic Librarians) Forum, a Library Fair, book launching events, a children’s corner and a poster session on avant-garde library developments. Thirty six eminent local, regional and foreign speakers presented papers on information empowerment and the challenges posed by advancements in IT, digital renaissance and its full impact on libraries in Southeast Asia. The CONSAL Regional Digitisation Project on Medicinal Plants and Street Names led by Brunei Darussalam was launched during the Opening Ceremony which also witnessed the presentation of the CONSAL Outstanding Librarian Award 2003. It was the first time the regional CONSAL Conference was held on the island of Borneo which was attended by 419 participants with a strong presence of librarians from Borneo.

CONSAL XI
Theme: " Stepping into the New Millennium " : Challenges for Library and Information Professionals
Location: Suntec City, Singapore
Date: 26th - 28th April 2000

Synopsis:
The 3-day event held in conjunction with the Asian International Book Fair and the International Library Expo, featured papers and discussions on topics with a regional focus. The conference helped CONSAL to take stock and position the organisation to play a vital and relevant role in the new millennium and to address major issues of concerns. The formation of the CONSAL Secretariat was announced to collectively meet the needs of the region and work towards sharing and tapping expertise and resources. Singapore announced a cooperation programme to assist second tier management of the regional libraries to attend annual training programmes under the auspices of CONSAL. The conference attracted a total of 600 participants.