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March 17, 2006
China Day 5: Yunnan University Library
The library here at Yunnan University is the oldest academic library in Yunnan province, founded in 1923. The collection houses 100,000,000 items in Chinese and other languages, 16,200 volumes of ancient docments, and 600,000 periodicals. In 1993, the library automation network was established, and they have access to many Chinese and other information databases, freely available to faculty, and students on campus and via remote access. They are also open to everyone in the city of Kunming, but there is a charge to non-students.
They also have a multifunction reading room containing 112 multimedia networked computers, as well as free wifi, as you all now know ;). A new campus library is currently under construction and should be finished by this August.
After the introductory remarks, one of our delegates gave a presentation on information literacy in academic libraries, with emphasis on knowing your audience and how your patrons best learn, and tailoring information literacy and bibliographic instruction lessons to meet the needs of your constituency. This includes using technology (or not), depending on how people learn best.
Another delegate made a presentation of a the ALA Intellectual Freedom Manual, and made an excellent presentation of how important intellectual freedom is to the basis of the information economy, and how librarians are essential to the development progressive society (I have more comments on this that I'll post later). Since Dr. Chao, the president of the university, made mention of how the university wishes to better embrace the information economy, this presentation was quite appropriate and helpful, and not at all political, making it comfortable for everyone.
As it turns out, American and Chinese academic libraries have many of the same issues. Chinese libraries are moving towards implementing more technology rather than hiring more librarians, and when hiring, they prefer to hire part-time instead of full-time librarians. Bringing students into the library is also an issue, although it seems that the relationship building between students and librarians in China is more aggressive. One Chinese librarian mentioned that in addition to providing phone, email, BI sessions in classes, and in-person support, librarians have given students personal cell phone numbers so that they can call for help whether they are here at school, at home during break (many students are from other provinces), or even travelling abroad.
Despite this relationship building, it is still difficult to bring in students. Delegates have shared stories of how adding coffee shops to libraries, making friends with professors which lead to better professional relationships and collaboration, and faculty professional development days where library services are highlighted have helped a great deal to inform faculty and staff of available resources.
In China, library and information science is an undergraduate program, although there are masters and doctoral programs as well. It seems that they approach library science from the opposite direction we do academically, where in America librarians either come to librarianship as a second career, or after another masters, so a big question was how American libraries train reference librarians to maximize service quality in a minimum period of time when serving such a broad range of academic needs. As librarians know, training reference librarians isn't a descrete task, it's more of an art cultivated over time through experience. Academic libraries often require a masters in a specialization, but otherwise, there isn't anything formal. We shared our experiences with on-the-job training, self study, mentorship training, and classes through consortia. I think I would have added learning from each other through conferences, networking, and pre-conference training sessions, but there wasn't enough time.
As with Beijing Normal University Library, we're finding more and more that at least the academic libraries in American and in China have many similar service issues. We haven't talked about technology and integration issues as much as I'd like (RFID came up at the end of this meeting, which is totally not enough time to discuss something as controversial and multifaceted).
Off to lunch, then to the provincial library.
March 17, 2006 11:49 AM