IFLA Chinese Language Centre established!

Forwarding the latest news from IFLA Headquarters:

IFLA Chinese Language Centre established at the National Library of China, Beijing

In February 2009 the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the National Library of China (NLC) in Beijing signed a cooperation agreement by which NLC received a status of IFLA Chinese Language Centre. It can now be seen as a permanent representative of IFLA/HQ for the Chinese speaking community, as well as the other way around: it is hoped that IFLA/HQ will get improved access to Chinese speaking library and information professionals.
The IFLA Chinese Language Centre will promote IFLA, support IFLA’s Asia and Oceania Section as well as other relevant IFLA professional bodies and liaise with IFLA/HQ. Among the priorities of the Centre are:
1. Active membership recruitment. This will be conducted with the help of national or other association members and/or national libraries. Institutions and associations (including specialist and state associations) within the Chinese language community will be actively encouraged to join IFLA.
2. (Co-) organising regional IFLA events. These will be co-organised with IFLA/HQ, and/or with IFLA professional units (Sections and Core Activities). This activity includes seeking sources for funding of IFLA projects.
3. Seek involvement in local or regional professional events to gain support within the Chinese language community, trying to get IFLA “branding” of local or regional events.
4. Contribute to more effective communication within the Chinese language community and with the IFLA bodies involved. These activities include the publication of newsletters, translations of key IFLA documents and publications and the production of a Chinese translation of IFLA Express during IFLA’s annual congresses.
5. Representing IFLA in the Chinese language community, in a pursuit to make IFLA more visible in that community, promoting IFLA goals, principles and core values.
6. Translation of key IFLA documents, guidelines, press-releases, papers prepared for the Assembly Meetings etc.

For further information about the Centre and its activities please contact
Mr. Yan Xiangdong
Email address: interco@nlc.gov.cn
Fax +86-10-68419271
The Hague/Beijing, March 2009

NLC is planning the digital collection development for the year of 2009

Today, National Library of China held a meeting on the digital collection development in 2009. All department directors atttended the meeting. Some departments are responsible for the projects and others will provide supports.

NLC Staff Meeting Held Today

The Annual Staff Meeting of National Library of China was held today in NLC Concert Hall. About 1000 staff members attended the meeting. Dr. Furui Zhan, Director of the library, presented a report for the year of 2008 and a plan for the year of 2009. Mr. Heping Zhou, Vice-Minister of Culture, also attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the Chinese Acquisitions & Cataloging Department (I am the director of the department) received two awards respectively for the excellent services of the Online Library Cataloging Center and for the innovative services though the cooperation of Chinese bibliographic records uploaded to OCLC's WorldCat.

Meeting for Library Legislation Held in Beijing

Today, a meeting of the Study Group for the "Ancient Book Preservation Regulation" and "Public Library Law" is held in National Library of China, Beijing.
The results of the study will provide supporting materials for the drafting of the above-mentioned regulation and law in late this year.

NLC middle manager meeting held in Beijing

Semiannual meeting of middle managers of National Library of China is held in Fragrant Hill Hotel, Beijing, during February 17-19, 2009.
During the meeting, participants will discuss the work plan for the year 2009 and the future development strategies for the next five years.

NLC Staff Congress Held Today

The Congress of Staff Representatives of National Library of China was held today. The representatives reviewed NLC's 2008 Annual Report and 2009 Annual Plan, 2008 Financial Report and 2009 Annual Budget, and the report for the bills submitted during 2008.

National Library of China - Library of the Year 2008

Yesterday, I attend a ceremony in Kunlun Hotel to receive the "Library of the Year 2008" award on behalf of Dr. ZHAN Furui, Director of National Library of China.
The Annual Awards of Chinese Book Industry is co-sponsored by China Publishers and Sina Books, and includes awards for publishers, distributors, planners, authors, libraries and books.
Innovation is one of the most important criteria for the section of the candidates. National Library of China opened its new building in September 2008, and provides many new services throught the application of high technologies, such as wireless LAN, RFID, portable electronic reader, mobile phone service, etc.

NLC opens its East Entrance

National Library of China opened its East Entrance on January 1, 2009. The first phase (the old building) of National Library of China was completed in 1987, and had been using its South Entrance for the public since then, although the East Entrance is generally regarded as the main entrance. After the opening of the Phase II (the new building), the opening of the East Entrance of the old building bacame necessary.

NLC Records Displayed in WorldCat.org

National Library of China (NLC) submitted automatically converted MARC21 records of all its holdings of monographs to OCLC early this month. Today, I realized that some records (of the year of 2007) have been uploaded to WorldCat.org, such as:
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/288942397&tab=holdings?loc=china
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/181359658&tab=holdings?loc=china

Fu Lei's Manuscripts donated to National Library of China

All the manuscripts of Fu Lei (1908-1966), one of the greatest literary translators of contemporary China, were donated to National Library of China last week by his sons Fu Cong and Fu Min.
Fu Lei was born near Shanghai, studied art and art theory in France during 1928–1932. Upon his return to China, he taught in Shanghai and worked as a journalist and art critic until he took up translating. His translations, which remain highly regarded, include Voltaire, Balzac and Romain Rolland. He developed his own style, the "Fu Lei style", and his own translation theory. His family letters to his son Fu Cong, a world-renowned pianist, were published posthumously and have become a bestseller in China to this day.
When I was an university student, I read quite a lot of books translated by Fu Lei, including Romain Rolland's Jean Christophe and Les Trois Vies (Vie de Tolstoï, Vie de Michelange and Vie de Beethoven), and was deeply impressed by them.
National Library of China has a special collection of contemporary notable authors. There was an exhibition of Fu Lei's manuscripts upon the donation ceremony.
Fu Lei dedicated himself to literary translation with a kind of religious passion, which is very rare in contemporary China. At the exhibition, I see even 3-4 versions of manuscripts for one title during his translation, and all the manuscripts were written carefully with pens or Chinese writing brushes. The manuscripts themselves are models of Chinese calligraphy.

VR Experience in NLC Phase II

In the Phase II (new building) of National Library of China (NLC), there is a Virtual Reality Experience Area beside the OPAC area. Readers can have a VR tour and try the VR reading station. The VR systems are controlled by user's hands through video cameras.

ISSN China Centre begins to provide records to Ulrich

National Library of China (NLC) has just signed an agreement with ProQuest to provide bibliographic records of Chinese periodicals for inclusion in ProQuest's Ulrichsweb.com and in the Ulrich's Periodical Directory. The ISSN China Centre in NLC will submit about 12,000 records this year, and will submit about 1,000 new and updated records every year since 2008.

The cooperation between NLC and ProQuest will promote the internationalization of both Chinese periodicals publishing and Chinese library cataloging.

NLC new building to be opened on September 9, 2008

The new building (Phase II) of NLC (National Library of China) is ready to be opened on September 9, 2008, at 9 o'clock (090909). Administrative offices will be moved into the new building, and major reading rooms for Chinese materials will also be located in the new building. Some VIP guests will attend the opening ceremony in the morning of September 9.

September 9 of this year is the 99th anniversary of NLC, and there will be a ceremony for the Centenary on September 9 of the next year (2009).

Chief Experts's Middle-Term Reports in NLC

Today, chief experts of National Library of China reported their work and researches during January 2007-July 2008. In January 2007, National Library of China began its innovative talent project, selected five chief experts in major fields in library science, and signed contracts with them for the period of three years (January 2007-December 2009). The contracts require these experts to do work in research projects, staff training, international conferences, international and national associations, and monograph and article publcation.

As one of the experts, I reported my work in researches, IFLA activities and publications related to library cataloging and acquisitions.

NLC middle manager meeting held in Beijing

Today, the semiannual meeting of NLC middle managers is held in Beijing. This meeting focuses on the preparation work for the NLC new building (Phase II) to be opened in September 9. The first day is for discussions in four groups, and second day is for reports of 8 speakers selected from the 4 groups.

Chinese records for OCLC under final test

Today, I read an article "National Library of China to add its records to OCLC WorldCat" (more information at: http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/20085.htm), in Nextspace, No. 9, published by OCLC. Since the later part of the last year, there have been many discussions about the cooperation between NLC and OCLC. The cooperation was first announced in August 2007 during the WLIC in Durban, and the agreement was signed at the beginning of 2008.

However, we have submitted several batches of test records to OCLC until the end of July. I think the last test file is about to be passed, and we will submit our full records to OCLC in the next couple of months.

Ready to move into the new building

Yesterday, I went to the new building (Phase II) of the National Library of China to examine the rooms for offices of some of my colleagues and for stack on B1. Workers were installing shelves, and will complete the installation by the end of this week. Periodicals Section staff will move into the new building next week.

Foreign Language Speaking Volunteers organized in NLC

Today in the afternoon, the launching ceremony of the Foreign Language Speaking Volunteers of the National Library of China was held. About 40 young volunteers attended the ceremony.

As one of the advisers, I attended the ceremony and talked about my experiences in English language translation for NLC.

Foreign languages are very important for NLC to become internationalized. More and more young staff members can speak foreign languages very well. NLC will become IFLA Chinese language center, and more volunteers are needed for IFLA activities and other international cooperation activities.

OLCC Annual Meeting Held in Hefei

OLCC (Online Library Cataloging Center) Annual Meeting was held in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, July 24-25, 2008. The center is run by the Chinese Acquisitions & Cataloging Department of National Library of China. As the director of OLCC, I gave the annual report in the morning of July 24, and presented "Latestest Developments of International Library Cataloging Community" in the afternoon of the same day.

OLCC was founded in 1997 as a cooperative cataloging consortium. It has 12 subcenters, about 500 members and about 1000 users in China. Before the meeting, the inauguration ceremony of the Anhui Provincial Subcenter was held, and some local cultural administrative officers attended the ceremony.

There are 80 delegates for this meeting. After this meeting, a training session will be held in Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), and there will be about 100 attendees.

OCLC's CEO visited National Library of China

Mr. Jay Jordan, OCLC's CEO, visited National Library of China today in the morning. Dr. ZHAN Furui, Director of National Library of China, and some of his colleagues met with OCLC guests. Among the OCLC guests, Mr. Andrew Wang, vice-president of OCLC, Ms. Shu-En Tsai, Director of Asia-Pacific Services, and some of their colleagues from the OCLC China Office also attended the meeting.

We talked about the CNMARC-MARC21 conversion test files for the uploading of NLC Chinese records in the near future, and our mutual interest in the OCLC membership development.