Feeling of Spring in Beijing

After moving into my new office near the Black Bamboo Park in early January, I have been unable to take an outdoor walk in the daytime until today during the afternoon break. I enjoy the feeling of spring, which is usually very short in Beijing. I walked along the Sorghum River flowing through the park, and breathed under the warm sunshine. The river has melted and trees are becoming green.

I announced the appointment of 16 new section chiefs under my department, and began to consider the work of the next stage.

Oman Librarian Visited National Library of China

Mr. Moosa S. Al-Kindy from Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, visited the Chinese Acquisitions & Cataloging Department of the National Library of China during February 28-29, 2008. Librarians from the Chinese Monograph Acquisitions Section, Chinese Monograph Bibliographic Data Section and Chinese Periodicals Acquisitions & Cataloging Section introduced him related work processes in NLC.

NLC staff meeting held today

The staff meeting of the National Library of China was held today. About 1000 staff members of the library attended the meeting.

During the meeting, prizes respectively for excellent services and innovative services and the Director's Special Prize were announced. As the director of the former Acquisitions & Cataloging Department / Online Library Cataloging Center, I received a third-prize certificate from Dr. CHEN Li, Deputy Director, for the innovative services of the Online Library Cataloging Center in the year of 2007.

Mr. YAN Xiangdong, Director of the Division of International Cooperation, received the certificate of the Director's Special Prize for the Chinese Language Working Group of the 73rd IFLA General Conference. There were 8 staff members in the working group, and I was the coordinator of five simultaneous interpreters (including one from Shanghai Library) in the group.

Dr. ZHAN Furui, National Librarian, summarized the achievements in the 2007, pointed out major tasks to be done in the year 2008, and called on all the staff members to cooperatively make efforts for the successful opening of the new building on July 28, 2008.

Consolidated ISBD online

The consolidated edition of the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) is now available online. The PDF file can be found at:

http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/pubs/cat-isbd.htm

The direct downloading address is:

http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/pubs/ISBD_consolidated_2007.pdf

(320 pages, 1.73 MB)

Mr. WU Longtao passed away

Mr. WU Longtao passed away on February 13, 2008.

Mr. Wu was born in Haining, Zhejiang Province, in 1930. He used to be the Deputy Director of Shanghai Library. He is a well-known expert in cataloging rules and in serials management. He is also one of the Chinese translators of AACR2 and ISBD(S). I met Mr. Wu in 2003 during the meeting for the revision of the Chinese Cataloging Rules.

YE Fensheng, Mr. Wu's wife, is also an expert in library cataloging.

Users are always right

Yesterday, I received a book Users are always right by Dr. Cheng Huanwen. The book collects all blog posts by Dr. Cheng about the theorem "Users are always right" and related blog posts by library scholars and librarians in China. Because the book also includes one of my blog posts at Sina blog (Bookworm: http://blog.sina.com.cn/guben), Dr. Cheng sent me three copies for my own collection and for the collection of the National Library of China. I think the book is interesting, not only because of the new topics, but also because it is very new in China to publish a collection of blog posts.

Exchange Librarians from Queens Library

Today, I happened to read the blog of Barry Ernst, who visited the National Library of China as an exchange librarian last year. He wrote his interesting experiences in his blog:

http://barryernst.blogspot.com/

especially the last post:

http://barryernst.blogspot.com/2007/12/epilogue.html

I have posted them to the internal BBS in the National Library of China.

National Library of China cuts service fees

Here are links to two news reports about the new service policy of the National Library of China. The policy began to be implemented on February 7 (January 1 of the Lunar Calendar), 2008. It will bring many changes in public library services in China.

http://www.lisnews.org/node/29110
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/08/content_7582295.htm

Chinese Library Classification to Be Revised

The office of the Chinese Library Classification held a new year party on January 25, 2008. About 10 members of the editorial board and other 5 guests from the publisher and from the National Library of China attended the party.

The first edition of CLC was published in 1975, and the fourth edition was published in 1999. The fifth edition is expected to be published in 2009.

The participants talked about the recent revision advances, and proposed suggestions for CLC-related issues.

After the restructuring of the National Library of China at the end of 2007, the office of CLC has become a section of the Chinese Acquisitions & Cataloging Department. That is why I chaired the new year party, although I am not a member of the editorial board.

New Year Greetings of NLC

On February 7 (January 1 of the Chinese Lunar Calendar), Dr. Furui Zhan, National Librarian of China and some middle managers of the National Library of China greeted first readers of the new year.

My English Blog at Blogger Buzz blog

I created my account at the Blogger Buzz blog in September 2008, but I cannot access it in China. Today (January 4 of the Chinese Lunar Year), I decided to use this blog to write in English. I think everyone outside China can view this blog. However, I myself cannot view it and do not know how it looks like.

Mr. Zhenxi BAO passed away

Mr. Zhenxi BAO passed away on February 4, 2008 at his age of 79. Mr. Bao used to be the Deputy Director of the National Library of China, Vice-Director of the Department of Library Management, Ministry of Culture, People's Republic of China.

Chinese Translation of FRBR Completed

Chinese translation of FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) has been completed and will be posted on the IFLA site (http://www.ifla.org) very soon.