As a session of the 2013 Annual Conference of the China Society for Library Science, the International Symposium on Library Multicultural Services and the Ninth International Symposium on Sino-Japanese Libraries jointly organized by the Shanghai Library Association, Japan Library Research Council and Pudong Library was held on November 7, 2013 in Shanghai. The symposium's theme is "Multiculture, People and Library Services". The meeting was chaired by Mr. Zhou Deming, Chairman of the Shanghai Library Society and Deputy Director of the Shanghai Library. Ms. NGIAN Lek Choh, a member of IFLA Governing Board and Vice President of the Singapore National Library Board attended the meeting.

At the symposium, Dr. Wu Jianzhong, Vice Chairman of the Trustees, China Society for Library Science and Director of the Shanghai Library, Yoshitaka Kawasaki, Chairman of Japan Library Research Institute and professor of Education Studies Department, Kyoto University, and Ms Tay Ai Cheng, Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Librarian, Public Library Services Group, National Library Board of Singapore gave keynote speeches respectively on the topics of "Urban Development and Multicultural Libraries", "Library as a Reading Space Past and Present" and "Singapore Public Library Multicultural Services", followed by the speeches of Kazuko Kuno from the Aichi Gakusen Junior College, Wang Ren, Secretary-General of Shanghai Pudong New Area Library Association and Deputy Director of the Pudong Library, Mr. Hisamitsu Akazawa from the Kyoto University Library, Miss Guo Minfen, Deputy Director of the Changning District Library and other representatives. Library professionals from China, Japan and Singapore gathered together to have discussions on multicultural library services. The conference room was fully packed, and even the aisles and entrances were filled listeners.

This symposium conducted reflections, studies and discussions on many issues, including how libraries as important social and cultural institutions, can adapt to the requirements of urban population structure and social development, how to offer information and cultural services with no difference in multicultural regions, and how to create an urban public cultural service system meeting the needs of immigrant cultures. The symposium will have a positive and far-reaching significance on promoting the integration of multicultural library service theoretical research and practical work and promoting multicultural library service innovation.