The Asian Library at the University of British Columbia is celebrating its 60^th anniversary with an online exhibit that explores the history and development of the branch. The exhibit is divided into five sections that detail the buildings and spaces, collections, research, learning and teaching, community engagement and people of the Asian Library through stories written by the library’s faculty, staff and student staff. An interactive timeline is also set up with snapshots and captions of key events throughout the branch’s history.

“This year we cannot celebrate in person due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but we can celebrate virtually. Members of Asian Library have put together this online exhibit in celebration of this momentous anniversary,” says Adolfo Tarango, current Acting Head of Asian Library, in his introductory message to the exhibit.

Established in 1960, the Asian Studies division was originally located on the sixth floor of the UBC Main Library, where the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre now stands. Construction of the Asian Centre building, which began in 1974, is chronicled in the exhibit and includes photos from the University Archives of the early stages of building through to the move. More recent renovations are also included in the exhibit.

Personal testimonials from UBC faculty, students and alumni are also included in the exhibit, describing how the Asian Library has supported their research, learning and teaching through the branch’s collections and services. Librarians go on to provide a curated look at the collections, highlighting their “unsung treasures” in the various language collections.  Electronic resources, which can be accessed remotely, are also showcased.

 

Explore the exhibit

 

The Wild Ride: In and Out of Years and Over a Century of Picturebooks is a chronological look at the evolution of the picturebook, one of the important literary art forms to emerge from the 20th Century. This exhibit is on display in IKBLC on the Level 2 foyer from March 4 through May 30, 2020.

This exhibition presents a selection of the results of a visual arts and community engagement project in 2018-9 that explores the meaning and practice of “heritage” in the Punjab, a linguistic and cultural region divided in 1947 between the two successor states to British colonial rule, Pakistan and India, and connects this heritage to Canada. The exhibition by the South Asian Canadian Histories Association (SACHA) in partnership with the University of British Columbia, is represented by Anne Murphy (Asian Studies/co-Director, Centre for India and South Asia Research), as a part of a larger overall project that was originally initiated through a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) UK. By pursuing this project here in Vancouver and at UBC, we hope to enhance UBC South Asian community engagement through community-based art work, helping an international project come “home” to BC.

This exhibition will be on display in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre’s Level 2 foyer from September 1st to 30th, 2019.

The exhibit, hosted in Rare Books & Special Collections located on Level 1 of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, will run until July 31, 2019.

June is recognized as Aboriginal History Month but at UBC Library we hold a tradition of (Un)History Month — a celebration and acknowledgement of the importance of Indigenous Peoples – not only in history – but in the present and future.

This collaborative exhibit showcases the first digital books to come from RavenSpace, a new model of publishing, for interactive, media-rich books in Indigenous studies, where communities and scholars can work together in a culturally respectful way:

• Elsie Paul, with Davis McKenzie, Paige Raibmon, and Harmony Johnson, As I Remember It: Teachings (ʔəms taʔaw) from the life of a Sliammon Elder (UBC Press)
• Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, with Coreen Child, Kaleb Child, and Tommy Child of the Kwag’uł, Kans Hiłile (Making It Right): A Collaborative Reframing of Kwakiutl Film and Audio Recordings with Franz Boas (University of Washington Press)
• Musqueam First Nation, Musqueam Stories Transformed (UBC Press).

RavenSpace is an initiative of UBC Press with the participation of University of Washington Press.

Come and see how these publications – with animations, classroom resources, and multiple pathways through text and media – are made.

EXHIBIT LAUNCH AND RECEPTION: June 5 from 5:30 to 7 pm, Chilcotin Room (256), IKBLC

Exhibit partners include UBC Press, Musqueam First Nation and UBC Library.

The exhibit is open to the public daily from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Level 2, and will be on display from June 1 until August 30, 2019.

During the first week of June there are several satellite events happening as part of Indigenous (Un)History Month, see the attached poster for more details:

Teaching through telling: The RavenSpace Publishing Project
June 4 from 9 am – 3:30 p.m.
UBC Education Library

Colloquia: RavenSpace – Taking the Book to the Web
June 5 from 1:30 – 5 p.m.
UBC First Nations Longhouse

UBC is located on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.

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About Indigenous (Un)History Month

The “un” represents the continued importance and relevance of Indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world. These contributions should be recognized daily, not just once a year. UBC Library’s first Aboriginal (Un)History Month event kicked off in June 2012.

Across Enchanted Lands: Universal Motifs in Illustrated Fairy Tales is on display from March 1 through May 30, 2019. The exhibition is free and open to the public, and people of all ages are encouraged to attend.

Once Upon a Pop-up is on display on level 1 (RBSC reading room) and level 2 (main foyer) of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre from April 11 through May 31, 2018.

Date: January 16 to February 13, 2018
Location: UBC Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Level 2 Foyer (1961 East Mall) (map)
Hours: same as the IKBLC building hours (see hours)

Join us for a new exhibition highlighting a selection of Rare Books and Special Collection’s 2017 acquisitions, including books, documents, diaries, ephemera, photographs, artworks, and more!

 

 

The Rare Books and Special Collections reading room is open Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm. For more information, please contact RBSC at 604-822-2521 or at rare.books@ubc.ca.

Date: January 16 to February 13, 2018
Location: UBC Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Level 2 Foyer (1961 East Mall) (map)
Hours: same as the IKBLC building hours (see hours)

Join us for a new exhibition highlighting a selection of Rare Books and Special Collection’s 2017 acquisitions, including books, documents, diaries, ephemera, photographs, artworks, and more!

 

 

The Rare Books and Special Collections reading room is open Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm. For more information, please contact RBSC at 604-822-2521 or at rare.books@ubc.ca.