Seminar-Workshop on Asia-Pacific Forum for Library and Achives Management Training
Bangalore, India, UTC- June 18, 2004

The Origin of Khmer
The original Khmer tribes were closely related to the Mon tribe.
The Khmer tribes gradually left their inhospitable places in eastern Tibet and southern Yunnan and descended into the Mekong valley and delta.
The development of Neolithic and early Bronze-iron cultures was in areas which later became Cambodia.

The Origin of Khmer
With the later unification of the old kingdom of Funan, situated on the southern coast-line, with Chenla in the north, the people of these two states merged. They formed the great Cambodian family.

Indianization
The Cambodian Country became a strong center of very early civilization in South-East Asia. It was a civilization essentially based on ancient Indian culture and philosophy.
Indian learning and culture were adopted for administration, law, commerce, religions, architecture and language. However, the inherent values of the original people were not discarded.
Angkor Wat is real evidence of indianization.

Elements of Indian culture were absorbed or chosen by the Cambodian people in a process that lasted for more than a thousand years. For example, in the nineteenth century Cambodian peasants still wore recognizably Indian costumes, and in many ways behaved more like Indians than like their closest neighbors, the Vietnamese.

Archives Management in the Hand of France
Archives Management belong to Cambodia 1953-1975
Archives Management?
No Archives1975-1979
He attempted to create an agrarian utopia. A utopia without money or property. He initiated Cambodia's destruction by abolishing schools, religion, and family life - murdering those he thought were a threat. These included the educated, artists, technicians, former government officials, monks, and tribal minority groups.
Archives Management in the hand of Vietnam & Russia 1979-1989
Paris Peace Accord (1991)
The UN brought the 4 fighting factions together to talk about peace and set up the framework for the 1993 election.
Building Up Stage (1993- now)
-The country
-Human Resources

Archives Management since 1993 until Now
Catholic Missions to Cambodia
In 1515 the Khmer king Ang Chan the First contacted the Portuguese in order to obtain weapons to fight the Siamese army.

Gaspar da Cruz could not have any converter because of the deep foundation of Ankor culture. He left Cambodia in 1557 for China.
The kings and their people hardly changed their attitude toward religion.
King Satha II reportedly asked Father Rist to baptize him but only on his deathbed, in 1736, fearing that his conversion to Christianity would cause a revolution in his kingdom. He might be afraid losing his throne.

Evangelical Mission
The Christian & Missionary Alliance (CMA) denomination entered in Cambodia in 1923 as the first Evangelical Missionaries since the Nestorian church.

The Bible translation was completed in 1934 (NT) and 1940 (OT). It was translated straightly from the KJV English to the Khmer language at the time.

III. Library System
Classification - Dewey System
Database - Microsoft Access

IV. Library Resources
More than 3,000 books for English
More than 500 books for Khmer
Developing resources on CD-Rom, CD-Video, audio CD, Video tape and audio - cassettes
A full time librarian assistant

V. Future Plan
Currently seeking accreditation with ATESEA & ATA.
Computer laboratory for students so they can type assignments in Khmer.
Providing a suitable means of categorizing Khmer books
Expanding current building to accommodate growth of book collections & student body.
Improve library database

Hun Sen Libraryof the Royal University of Phnom Penh
I. Founded
Prime Minister Hun Sen
Opening on 7 January 1997 by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

II. Goals
Serving the students and faculty members doing their research
Serving broader community and public.
Every academic year, the library provides a Library Orientation Program to the first year students on “Using Library Resource”.

III. Library System
Use ALEPH-500 Software installation, (generous donation of Ex- Libris Company in Israel in 1999).

IV. Library Resources
Stock of 45,000 books
62% English , 22% Khmer , 15% French,1% Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai.
an extensive reference collection and a comprehensive loan collection .
270 serial titles including 47 regular titles .
a small video, audio-visual Cassette, CD-ROM Collections.
Internet, E-mail, & Photocopy Service.

V. Future Plan
ALEPH extensions.
To develop the technical knowledge of the librarians.
Finding support for development of library (within and outside Cambodia).
Request to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports for construction of a new library building.