CDNLAO Newsletter
No. 68, July 2010
Photo: East Asian Librarian Training Program
I) Introduction
In order to enhance NCL librarians' new knowledge of library management and services, "National Central Library Program for Inviting Overseas LIS Professionals for Exchange (2007-2009)" was developed in consultation with international experts and approved for implementation. The program aims to actualize a system of exchange activities with members of overseas exchange divisions (including lectures and collaborative research), strengthen mutual understanding, promote operations development, and increase the level of cooperation.
Over the years, NCL has received a number of guests from Europe, North America and East Asia, from whom it has learned a great deal about the needs for materials related to Chinese studies and the utilization of relevant resources. In order to respond to the needs of East Asian Library Professionals, NCL and the Center for Chinese Studies (CCS), with assistance from the Library Association of the R.O.C., hosted the "Workshop for Professional Librarians from Abroad: Sinological Resource Applications and Services," from 11-19 October 2009. This workshop included twenty-three participants from abroad, coming from the USA, Canada, Britain, Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other countries.
II) Content of the Workshop
The workshop opened with experts from Academica Sinica and the CCS. On the first day of the workshop, Dr. Wang Fan-sen of Academia Sinica came to give an opening address. Dr. Wang introduced the origins of the "National Digital Archives Program" and the "Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program" relying on his personal knowledge of the subject. Dr. Wang also introduced the participants to NCL's diligent efforts to promote cooperation vis-à-vis Chinese studies and international exchange, undertaken so as to advance exchange between domestic and international scholars and experts, and ultimately achieve the larger objective of mutual sharing among world cultures.
The main mission of the Center for Chinese Studies (CCS) includes surveying and collecting Chinese studies materials, providing reference services, reporting on events in Chinese studies, compiling all sorts of publication indexes, promoting research projects on specific topics, publishing Chinese studies research, and aiding scholars to come to Taiwan to engage in all sorts of academic activities. NCL's exchange and cooperation programs aim primarily to open up new avenues for activities that encourage exchange of expertise, augment NCL's international visibility and influence, and advance international cooperation on expansion of resources for ancient books and documents. NCL also strives to actively participate in international cooperative projects, enhance the global outlook and professional expertise of NCL librarians, promote the internationalization of Chinese language publications and strategically design international cultural and educational events. Additionally, since 2009, NCL has been actively increasing the humanities and social sciences collection resources and forming "Chinese Studies Library" 'branches' and cooperative alliances with every university. NCL also is enabling more complete utilization of its information resources by linking up in international cooperative partnerships, and promoting an international wave of Chinese studies research.
The course was divided into several main sections, presented below, including lectures on specialized topics, domestic lecture courses, and visiting tours.
A) Lectures on Specialized Topics
The workshop invited scholars and experts from Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Mongolia to lecture on special topics. Academia Sinica Institute of History and Philology research fellow Dr. FAN I-chun was invited to introduce the integration of spatio-temporal information with interdisciplinary research.
The Japanese scholar, Prof. TAKATA Tokio, introduced a Chinese ancient book database project implemented by Japan starting in 2001, which had already accumulated fifty-five participating library partners and a total of 748,585 items as of May 2008.
Korean scholar HA Hye-jung introduced Chinese books in Korean collections and the current state of database utilization in Korea. Starting in 1990, the Korean government and citizens began striving to construct catalog databases for ancient and rare books.
Prof. Lubsanvandan MANALJAV of Mongolia started by introducing the history and development of the National Library of Mongolia, with a focal explanation of Mongolia's Chinese Studies resources.
Vietnamese scholar Director-general Mrs. CHU Tuyet Lan introduced the history and origin of Chinese studies in Vietnam, as well as the current state of work on the organization and digitization of Chinese book collections.
B) Domestic Lecture Courses
1) National Central Library
The course included: introduction to digital databases developed and managed by CCS; the Rare Books Image Search System, the Metal and Stone Inscription Rubbing Database and the Chinese Rare Book Catalog, the Periopath Chinese language periodical catalog search, the Electronic Theses and Dissertations System, NCL Gazettes Online; introduction to sources of government reports, the process of government publication digitization, and the use of digitized government information resources.
2) Academia Sinica Institute of History and Philology
The courses included: introduction to digital collection databases, including the Scripta Sinica Database, Digital Archives of Archaeological Data, Digital Archive of Rubbing Data, Digital Archives System of Fu Ssu-Nien Library, Digital Database of Fieldwork Images of Minority Peoples from Western and Southern China, Grand Secretariat Archives Project, the Online Public Access Catalog for the Digital Resources of the Institute of History and Philology, and others.
3) National Palace Museum
The course included: introduction to the progress and results of digital archiving at the National Palace Museum (NPM), including the system of collection management at NPL, the Digital Archives Search System for Chinese Antiquities, the Digital Archives Search System for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, Database of the Collection of Books and Documents in the National Palace Museum, the Digitized Search System of the Collection of Rare Books in the National Palace Museum, the Ming and Qing Dynasty Maps and Diagrams Database, and other systems.
4) National Taichung Library
The course included: introduction to digital databases, including their planning and management, and The Digital Archive Service Web (includes local documents, books in classical Chinese, historic era newspapers, and Japanese historic books).
5) National Taiwan Library
The course included: introduction to the Full-text Digital Database of Documents from the Period of Japanese Rule on Taiwan, the Full-text Digital Database of Periodicals from the Period of Japanese Rule on Taiwan, the Full-text Digital Database of Books from the Period of Japanese Rule on Taiwan, and a digital database of maps.
6) National Taiwan University Library
The course included: introduction to the Chinese studies databases in implementation, including the digitization of the physical archive, such as the Tan-Hsin Digital Archive, ancient tablet inscription rubbings, songbooks, the Tashiro manuscripts and so on.
7) Academia Historica
The course included: introduction to the Academia Historica Collections Online Search Service, including the establishment and development of the system.
8) Chinese Taipei Film Archive
The course included: introduction to the digital archiving and promotion of Taiwanese films, and the content of the archive (e.g. Chinese language films, posters and stills from the films, film equipment and materials, film-related artifacts), promotional series, and actual examples for appreciation.
C) Visiting Tours
In order to enable the participating scholars a deeper understanding and firsthand experience of the relevant research organizations, in addition to touring the services at NCL, arrangements were made for the participants to visit other institutions, such as the National Taiwan University Library, the National Palace Museum, the Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica), the Taipei Public Library's Beitou Branch, and the Beitou Hot Springs Museum.
IV) Conclusion
In sum, participants in the workshop all remarked on its depth and diversity, and felt the experience to be abundantly rewarding; the participants also recommended that NCL continue to provide this type of training. The workshop's participating scholars and experts were not only grateful to NCL—moreover, they expressed a deep respect for the Taiwanese organizations that collaborated with NCL in organizing this extremely successful event.
Copyright (C) 2010 National Central Library
