Chinese Canadian Library Weblog

I am really happy to receive Li Xuemei’s card from Halifax! I am happy for her to find the first pro job that fits her interest. After Ian and Heather’s technical endeavour in digitization and systems, now Xuemei is settling in this new position at Saint Mary’s University.

Hard to believe 2009 is leaving us soon, but glad to see us growing. Wish all of you, in China, Colorado, Florida, McGill and Halifax a happy holiday season and a prosperous 2010!

I was invited by the History folks, and Anna forwarded me the primary sources that Prof. Van de Ven used for his article on Liao Chengzhi’s case. I was thrilled to see the hand-written letters from He Xiangning, Zhou Enlai and Sun Fo, and those used-to-be top secret telegram decoded archives. The Reading Group filled the bright CCR office. Discussing in person with 方教授, Prof. Brook, Alison and the graduate buddies was fascinating！ 不禁向这位剑桥学者请教大陆方面原始资料的挖掘情形。他解释了南方局1942年的案子在当年以及多年后的影响，中共中央档案馆应该有大量的文件，但并无解密迹象，连央视摄制组的人都无权光顾，更何况海外学人。

隔天方教授在亚洲研究所的演讲更有趣。他对中国海关史料的关注似乎出于他在南京大学的偶然发现。原来南大的民国史料如此丰富，他当年发现的成千上万的缩微胶卷是中国海关最早的原始资料，居然没有被整理过。类似的情况在国内可能还有，所以很多我们可以挖掘的史料，正如在北美的大量英文史料有关中国，却没有得到整理加工和数字化的优先权。可以做的事情实在是很多，可以当作爱好而并非工作来做。

ASIST年会把武汉大学的学姐们带来了温哥华。机场迎接了徐鸿和胡承仁大姐，到家她俩惊喜地发现校友先生。我们四个晚餐吃得很忙，聊的都是珞珈山下的故事，以及遍布全球的校友们。忙碌的工作和家务曾经有割裂过去的感觉，相聚唤醒了那段铭刻心底的青春岁月。
当年，黄宗中老师到北京招生，看到我第二志愿是图书馆系，就大笔一挥改变了我的一生。当他在迎新大会上告诉我实情的时候，他注意到了我的眼泪吗？现在回想起他的湖南普通话很亲切。如果不是他，我会有华大的奖学金吗？会享受参考咨询的辉煌年代吗？我现在会…?

周末载徐鸿周游大温，虽然不免会谈到工作，但更多的是人生。人到中年，走南闯北，人生历练足够写出长篇，不变的是在武大校园里就已造就的价值观。没有必要反问自己，“假如重新来过”云云。

Hong‘s still in town, Jane came from Texas, asking me to meet in Hyatt, ASIST’s conference site. Heather is coming this weekend from Montreal. Maybe, Danny the next. Good to know so many good friends. Lingbo just sent me something sweet, as if she knew what I’ve been up to:

GOOD FRIENDS ARE LIKE STARS.

YOU DON’T ALWAYS SEE THEM,

BUT YOU ALWAYS KNOW THEY ARE THERE!

Just ran into Ross who introduced Prof. Siyuan Liu and asked me to take care of this newcomer. He turned out not with Asian Studies, but Theatre and Film and he is originally from Tianjin. Prof. Liu came to Asian Library and we both enjoyed the chat. Wish I knew his coming sooner, so I could be better prepared. Now with the move, year-end acquisition and bunch of other demands…still, I am happy to have this new prof. teaching Asian Theatre at UBC.

He emailed me the visual resource requests for CJK, Indic and Indonesian right after our first meeting. While I pass them on to my colleagues, I feel a new collection development age for Asian Library has come.

Kept receiving photos from the colleagues I met in Beijing and feel like a celebraty. When we finished the last meeting session, and before we went back to the hotel room, NLC staff handed us CDs full of conference ppts and photos. Their efficiency suprised us all. Now back to work, I received Mr. Yin and Ms. Lu Haiyan’s prompt email reply getting on to serious business. That’s efficiency!

Lingbo asked me to post this here, and hope we can attend together.

Date & Time: Friday, October 23rd, 2009 — 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm

Location: The Paetzold Health Education Centre Auditorium Jimmy Pattison Pavilion South Bldg
Main entrance – 899 West 12th Avenue – (proceed past the Info Kiosk > past the elevators > doors will be to your right)

Parking: available across the street on West 12th Ave (pay parking)

Admission: $2 (free for children and students)
(a donation basket will be available if you wish to donate to Div B)

There will also be light and healthy deserts and refreshments provided as well as several door prizes.
We are expecting a large turnout (last year 149 attended) and need to order an appropriate amount of food — we ask that you RSVP to rodney@ewoliving.com to confirm your attendance. Thank You.

Rodney Denno, ACS, ALB
Division B Governor, 2009-2010
Toastmasters in BC, District 21

9月8日的晚宴， 见到了很多老朋友：李馆开心大叫一声，让我感觉很亲切。纽约的老同事张鸿运先生加入CALA团队，即将赴西北培训中国馆员。在北京重逢真是意外。 当年瘦小的Jimmy已经是MIT的学生啦。前辈和大哥们引见一些国图的同行们，但是茅台和家常让我不便提起工作的事情。

回来UBC已经是开学后的第三周了，忙得一塌糊涂，没有时间整理和报告我的北京之行。今天又有同事怪罪，甚至要求我的博克应该适当加上中文。

这次是应国图之邀，参加其海外中国学文献研究中心的挂牌仪式，百年庆典和研讨会，首次由国图安排北京的一切，包括友谊宾馆的住宿。国图让我有焕然一新的感觉，上上下下都精明强干，既有条理又有效率。

还是从我落地入关说起吧。由于晚点，我们入关时，整个机场略显空当，执勤人员也面带疲惫。检查我入关手续的年轻人非常英俊和礼貌，“晚点这莫久，辛苦啦”审视完护照和密密麻麻的签证戳，他又问：“经常回来吗？”“一年至少一次”“欢迎你更经常回来！”

I registered for the Symposium first thing on Sept 8th, picked up the package and boarded the shuttle to the new building of NLC, where I learned a great deal from the presenters.

The best part of the meeting is to hear what Chinese scholars are saying about overseas Chinese studies. Prof. Tang Yijie’s keynote speech was quite impressive. He criticized nationalism and self-centered Chinese studies.

James Cheng introduced the top Chinese collections in North America and Guoqing presented all the research projects by Chinese studies librarians in the States. I was happy meeting with colleagues from LC, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korean, Singapore, and etc. I have learned a great deal from European colleagues.

It’s the life-time experience. I feel lucky being there and I’m grateful to those people who made this trip possible.

Just thanked my friends for the ride to YVR and then saw the notice about my flight’s delay. Seven hours! Kids were happy seeing me back home so soon. Had to email Beijing right away.

When I received the reply from the National Library of China (NLC), I was so moved and relieved. I was picked up from the Beijing airport by NLC staff around mid-night Beijing time. Mr. Yin even helped me with my luggage and hotel check-in. He had to start working at 6:30 am.

A few hours later, I dressed up and started meeting with all the overseas attendees of the NLC cenntenial celebration.