| All members of the East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia were deeply saddened by the loss of our founding Chairman, Sidney Wang, on 22 October 2004. Sidney’s contribution to East Asian librarianship in Australia is unsurpassed, and he was widely respected internationally. Sidney Wang’s name is linked particularly with the National Library of Australia, whose East Asian collections and services he directed with great distinction for a record 21 years, between 1964 and 1985. As he himself explained, he first met the National Librarian, Sir Harold White in 1957 at an international seminar in Japan. Sir Harold was clearly much impressed by Sidney and asked him “would you be interested in coming to Australia to help me set up an oriental collection at my library?” Sidney was unsure if this was a serious offer, but when they met again in Taiwan in 1964 it was repeated and this time accepted. Over the next two decades Sidney successfully implemented Sir Harold’s policies of improving exchange relations with Asian libraries and developing the strongest East Asian research collections in Australia. From some 40,000 volumes in Chinese, Japanese and Korean in 1964 these holdings grew to over 324,000 volumes by the time of his retirement at the end of 1985. As Chief Librarian, Orientalia, Sidney took a keen interest in all aspects of the section’s work. As well as his dedication to building up the Asian language collections, he ensured that they were accurately catalogued and that researchers were provided with thorough, professional and courteous service. He was fond of reminding staff that in all our tasks we should think of the reader. He was liked and respected by colleagues throughout the library world and by the many scholars and members of the public he helped. For many years after his retirement visitors would ask after him. Sidney was strongly involved in promoting East Asian librarianship across Australia, especially through EALRGA. He was Chairman in 1978-1979 and again in 1982-1984, Vice-Chairman 1980-1982 and Editor of the Newsletter 1984-1986. On behalf of the group he carried out two major surveys of East Asian collections in Australia in 1977 and 1983. These were published and proved invaluable for later national cooperation. He was also tireless in promoting library relations with East Asia. His many visits to China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea involved him in activities such as establishing and enhancing exchanges of publications; improving acquisitions; arranging staff secondments; speaking at conferences and lecturing in librarianship. In June 1986 Sidney was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (O.A.M.) in the Queen’s birthday honours for his outstanding contribution to the profession of librarianship in East Asian studies. It is rare for a librarian to receive such an award then, and shows the high regard in which he was held. As the then Assistant Director-General of the National Library, Bill Thorn has said, Sidney "made the Library a major centre for East Asian scholarship and research in Australia.. [and was] a widely respected and distinguished scholar." In November 2003 the National Library held a special ceremony to dedicate the long term readers’ room in Asian Collections to Sidney Wang. Sidney, his wife May and other family members, friends and colleagues were present as the dedication was carried out by the Director-General, Jan Fullerton and a distinguished reader and former protege of Sidney’s, the Hon. Kevin Rudd, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. Anyone interested in Sidney’s long and distinguished career should read his excellent article Recollections of my working life in Chinese, American and Australian libraries. This was published in the Committee on East Asian Libraries Bulletin, December 1993. Sidney was born in Wenling, China and attributed his love of books to his father, who was a senior teacher. Between 1945 and 1949 Sidney worked for the National Central Library, initially at the wartime capital Chongqing, then after the Second World War ended, in Nanjing. During the latter stage of the Chinese Civil War he escorted a consignment of rare books to Taiwan. He remained there, and was later appointed Director of the Taiwan Provincial Library from 1955 to 1964, as well as lecturing in librarianship. Prior to coming to Australia he was already the author of two books in Chinese on library studies. He went on to write more books and articles, most notably the Master of Arts thesis he completed at the Australian National University, published as The organization of Chinese emigration, 1848-1888, with reference to Chinese emigration to Australia. During his memorial service at the Canberra Chinese Christian Church on 26 October 2004 his daughter Kristina described her father as "a humble bookish man, but he was also a strong head of family who took my mother, myself and my two sisters on a challenging discovery of a new land and culture at a time when that was not easy. My father made a unique contribution to his new land through his love of books and pursuit of knowledge." Sidney bequeathed his own substantial library of books in Chinese and English as well as his personal papers to the National Library. The cataloguing of the Wang Collection is well under way. |
Andrew Gosling, formerly of Asian Collections, National Library of Australia.