I was invited by the AUL, Shaorong, who was in my class for the Sino-American Librarians Workshop in 2005 at Wuhan U. She was working for Fudan Library then. I enjoyed exchanging emails with her when I prepared for this trip to Beijing. I was suprised by my own reply to her invitation and the trust between us. Kind of relieved when she approached me right before I presented at the Capital Normal U. She told me about her library’s plan for a new building (or learning centre) and subject librarians. Shaorong even bought me round-trip tickets to Shijiazhuang.
石家庄留着我童年的记忆。当年在郊区的大院里无忧无虑地成长，根本不知道有个师大这所名校。突然接到Cathy的电邮，说大连的明德新馆开放。但师大的邀请在先，只好忍痛割舍大连啦。石家庄自然不能与上海和北京比，但是让我感动的是同行们对我演讲的浓厚兴趣。大会场之后是小型的座谈，问题互动效果极佳，反馈回来也对我颇有启发。馆长最后不得不打断大家，我才意识到已经连续讲了三个小时，都是我的日常工作。 我真觉得累极了！到此两周的公事结束了，其中有多少文化和国情的区别，又有多少相见恨晚的新朋好友，不虚此行。
刘绍荣第二天又要回北京开会。听她谈对复旦的怀念和对新馆的憧憬，对燕赵文化古籍的责任，对家庭的付出，我的精神开始放松。