"Religion and Rebellion in China", an article by Andrew Gosling on the London Missionary Society Collection of rare and unusual 19th and early 20th century Chinese language works held at the National Library of Australia, has been published in "National Library of Australia News" July 1998. The Collection includes materials from the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) and early missionary translations and other religious writings in Chinese. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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Richard Chan
China/Korea Collections Librarian Asia Pacific richard.chan@anu.edu.au | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIACooperation with ANU Library A trial access agreement between the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the Australian National University (ANU) Library for Chinese and Japanese materials has begun, along the lines of the existing Korean agreement. It allows more liberal borrowing conditions to academic users. Further discussions have also taken place on the proposed collecting agreement for Chinese provincial statistical yearbooks. Big stack move Now that the Library's new annexe in Hume is complete, additional space in the main NLA building is being made available for Asian materials to allow expansion for the next few years. Visitors Distinguished visitors in recent months have included: Professor Qi Wenying, Peking University; Mr Anthony Taylor, Cultural Counsellor, Australian Embassy, China; Dr Kan Lai-bing, University Librarian, University of Hong Kong; Mr Tony Hely, Australian Ambassador, Republic of Korea; Mr and Mrs Stuart Braga (nephew of J.M. Braga whose collection on the Portuguese in Asia is at NLA); a delegation from the Japanese Ministry of Education led by Mr Yasahiro Yamamoto, Section Manager, Lifelong Education; Mr Tetsuya Kotani, Information Services Department, JETRO, Japan; Dr Toshio Akima, a Japan scholar at Auckland University, who was a Harold White Fellow at NLA some years ago, and a group of 30 people from Guangdong, China led by Mr Ye Wei Xiong, Director, Guangdong Xinhua Bookstore. Australia-Korea Research and Information Profile Following the questionnaire and interviews on library and information needs relating to Korea undertaken during 1997 and further follow up work during the first half of 1998 the report will shortly be finalised and made available. East Asian Librarians on Secondment Mr Kim Choon-seop, Chief, Planning and Cooperation Department, National Library of Korea completed a six month attachment at the National Library in March 1998. Ms Ma Jing, International Exchange Section, National Library of China, completed a five month Chinese Automated Bibliographic Access and Training Staff Attachment, with support from the Australia-China Council. Her report on her time in Australia is included in this issue. Ms Minoru Inahama of the National Diet Library completed her three year secondment at NLA in June 1998. A separate report on the National Diet Library secondment is included in the Japanese section of this issue of the Newsletter (page 23). Staff Ms Beatrice Tam, Senior Librarian, Chinese has taken long leave from May 1998, to move with her husband and daughter to Melbourne. Beatrice has been at NLA for 18 years, and has been in charge of the Chinese Unit since the end of 1985. She has played a major role in building the collection and in developments such as the National CJK Service. Beatrice's position will be filled by interview. Lunchtime briefings On each of the four Wednesdays in April, Asian Collections held lunchtime briefings for the public. These proved very popular. The topics were printed and Internet resources on Asia; the National CJK Service; Asian statistics and Asian newspapers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Andrew Gosling Chief Librarian, Asian Collections National Library of Australia June 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE LIBRARYEast Asian Backlog Cataloguing Project The East Asian Collection was given an amount of $44,000 in 1997 to clear the East Asian Collection backlog which has been accumulating since 1960. The Project started in February and was completed in December 1997; we had more than 8400 volumes of Chinese and Japanese materials catalogued onto the National CJK System. It has greatly improved the access to the collection. Case study on Retrospective Conversion of East Asian Materials The East Asian Collection was given a Problem Solving Grant to conduct a case study on the Retrospective Conversion of East Asian Language Materials. The study was undertaken from July to September last year. The result of the study provides reliable figures on National Chinese-Japanese-Korean (NCJK) Database, Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) and Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) hit rates for Chinese and Japanese materials published before 1975. Below are provided brief statatistics for reference. NCJK, RLIN and OCLC search statistics
The full text of Liang Shuming's work Zhongguo guo jiao shu mu, 1988-1997, 1975-1987 (On-order) (China national bibliography) Zhongguo zhen quan bao, 1993-1996 (On order) (China securities daily) Tianxin jin rong xin xi xi tong (On order) (Tianxin finance information database) New Chinese arrivals:
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Bick-har Yeung June, 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY LIBRARYStaffing Ms Lily Otsuka has joined the East Asian Collection, as half-time Library Assistant, in May 1998 and the contract is for 18 months. Lily , an expert in Japanese and also speaks Mandarin, will be responsible for cataloguing Japanese materials. Sharon Tian continues to catalogue Chinese materials. Book Exhibition The Library hosted the Chinese Materials Exhibition in the Rare Book Display Area from December 1997 to February 1998 at the request of the China Education Centre, Faculty of Education. The Exhibition formed part of the celebration on campus to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Australia and China. The Exhibition was opened, on 2 December 1997, by Mr Philip Flood (Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade), Mr Wu Keming (Consul-General of the People's Republic of China) and Professor Derek Anderson (Deputy Vice-Chancellor) in the presence of approximately 60 guests. The exhibition was followed by the Anniversary Dinner with three guest speakers - Professor Dame Leonie Kramer (Chancellor), Dr Jean Battersby (Australia Council) and Mr Garry Woodard (former Australian Ambassador to China). The fact that the Library played a significant part in the success of the celebration was not lost among the distinguished guests. New Electronic Databases New electronic databases, both bibliographic indexes and full-text, were acquired from outside the normal East Asian Collection budget to enhance resources for research and teaching: *The "Index to the Asahi Shimbun" over the last 50 years in five CD-ROMs was received from the Japan Foundation under the Library Support Grant Program. (Cost: $8,500). The donation is very much appreciated. *"Historical Archives of China, 1368-1995" (120 CD-ROMs, cost: $7,800) were purchased via the Library's Resources Committee. Book Launch The Council of the City of Sydney has commissioned the book, "Red tape, gold scissors: the story of Sydney's Chinese" by Dr Shirley Fitzgerald, which was published by the State Library of New South Wales Press last year. The Chinese version, "Hung tai tzu, chin chien tzu : Hsi-ni hua jen shih" is published this year. The book was launched officially by the Lord Mayor Councillor Sartor, the Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Tsang and Dr Shirley Fitzgerald in the presence of about 70 distinguished guests at the Sydney Town Hall on 3rd June 1998. This book records the long and rich history of the Chinese in Sydney during the gold-digging years, the difficulties and pain they underwent in those difficult times. The fact that the book is now translated into Chinese means it acknowledges the contributions made by the early Chinese settlers to the culturally diverse city of Sydney. Copies of this book will be donated to school libraries, public libraries and university libraries which hold East Asian collections. I was honoured to be invited to the book launch on behalf of my colleagues who were not able to attend. ( You might have received a copy of the book by now.) Visitors Special visitors to the East Asian Collection this year so far: 20 February 1998Delegation of 10 visitors from the Management Research and Information Centre, State Bureau of Technical Supervision, China. 20 March 1998 3 visiting professors from the North China University of Technology 27 March 1998 Delegation of 9 academic staff from Chengzhou Daxue (University of Chengzhou) 11 May 1998 The Yunnan Provincial Education Delegation, 12 directors and managers led by the Vice-Governor of Yunnan Provincial Government, Mr Liang Gongqing. 22 June 1998 Two librarians are expected from the Taipei City Library, Taiwan. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Magdalen Lee
East Asian Collection Librarian Fisher Library, University of Sydney New South Wales, 2006, Australia Email: m.lee@library.usyd.edu.au |