Greetings, everyone!
I started working for my new employer, United International College, on November 10, and have been busy ever since. The college is still under construction which is expected to complete in one year’s time. Right now there are 1200 undergraduate students. When the college is in full operation, the student population will be 5000, including post-graduates.
As head of the library, now I have only two staff members, young and hard working, plus 10 student library assistants. The library was opened one week after I started working. It’s a temporary one of two classrooms. The new library will be a stand-alone building of 10,000 square meters with 3 floors beset in the hills. (The view will be excellent.) I have attended one meeting with the construction team for what kind of library building we’d like to have. I’ll visit university libraries in Hong Kong next week to get some ideas of library buildings and facilities. Other major issues on my agenda for the new library include selection of Integrated Library System and venders, collection development, staff building (30 FTE), departmental structuring, and policy making. All these jobs are very challenging to me as I’ve never been a library manager, but I have the confidence I can do it and do it well as I know I am a quick learner with potentials.
I would like my library to be distinguished in three areas in China. First, excellent customer service. For example, having visited several academic libraries in China, I am very surprised that none of them has a reference service desk in the library. I have been thinking that, in three years time, many library professionals in China will come to visit my library to see what a reference service is like. Second, best collection in the English language in some subject areas. I can do this fairly easily because I can take advantage of the fact that my college is one of the only two colleges in China where all courses are taught in English. Imagine scholars and researchers in China will have to seek help from my library by inter-library loan for some English books in five years time. Third, creating an excellent study environment in the library building, making it more humane and more catering for library users with better space management and technology/facilities convenience.
I live in a rented apartment of two bedrooms in one of the two best residence compounds in the city. It’s very convenient to work, 20 min bus-drive or 10 min school shuttle-bus drive. I always eat out either by myself or with colleagues/friends. It is cheap: 2.5 Canadian dollars for a steak with rice or spaghetti, and it tastes good!
Anyway, I pretty enjoy myself here. Come and visit me when any of you are in this corner of the world.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Henry