Chinese Canadian Library Weblog

I can attest to this piece of wisdom. How precise!Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull your down.
–Anonymous

A big thank-you to all my cheerful friends out there! Happy New Year.

I believe my new year will bloom in a more subtle way, for I feel really peaceful, happy, and in touch with my spiritual strength. Thanks to all the holiday blessings from my friends!

CASS buiding is blocked by Chang’an Theatre and 贡院六号。 奇形怪状的摩天楼让本来壮观的北京站和中信大厦显得渺小。

紫禁城被酒店包围啦！

金融街上的名店商城里汇集全球的高档消费品，价格远超北美。让我想起那些图书馆里翻烂了的儿童书。

Tried to finish the journal of my trip to Beijing by the end of 2008. During this holiday season, I have been wearing the agate from Rosa.

I only had the weekend to spend with my best friend in late October. Rosa picked the Tibetan resturant near American Embassy. As usual, our chat touched my heart and brought me mental retreat. I am proud of having Rosa as a close friend and admire her calm and elegant style in this hectic city. Leading the Asia-Pacific branches of this global corporation, she is not only successful but kind. Her next goal is to retire young and volunteer in the poor western region. Above all, she never stopped learning and thinking on how to act as a daughter, a wife, a mother and a friend. I am learning as I grow and hoping to work with her after ten years.

As 2008 comes to the end, I feel grateful and joyful. I am grateful to all my friends, new and old. I am joyful that I survived 2008, and I know in my heart that 2009 (and the years after that) will be a lot easier. In the past few days, I counted my blessings:

–My friends, from different part of the world and different part of the country, from different color, sex, race and age groups, comforted me, consoled me, held my hands, and pulled me through the darkest alley.
–My son, who toughed it out with me, still remains by my side when I act irrational and emotional.
–The authors who wrote so many wonderful books that made me cry, laugh, think and survive. I am so grateful that I can read.
–My workplaces and colleagues. Working makes me feel normal and valuable. Being busy at work is a blessing.

I also learned (and reaffirmed) some life lessions:
–Be kind and compassionate to others because the kindness and compassion will be returned many times over when you need them.
–Friends are my family and my backbone.
–God/Lord only helps those who help themselves.
–Do not feel sorry for yourself because it does not do any good.
–Count your blessings and be grateful for what you have.
–You don’t always get what you want, but you can decide what you do not want.
–Surround yourself with happy and positive people, and they will bring joy to your life.

All the best, friends! Take care.

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。

十月二十一号下午我们来到中央民族大学图书馆。校园的绿草坪上欢跳的喜鹊们让我的精神一振。2003年落成的新馆高耸入云。该馆提醒了我在北美的英文环境中,中国信息服务的种种难处，因为它的一大特色就是少数民族文字的藏书：蒙、藏、维吾尔、哈萨克、柯尔克孜语、朝鲜、彝语等等。出乎我的意料的却是22万册的珍贵古籍，和管理这些宝藏的学姐李婷。两周来的疲劳似乎被学姐的激情介绍赶走了。大家把李婷团团围住，不停地提问，她似乎也被我们的强烈兴趣所感染，从本馆特藏讲到全国的珍本收藏情况。离开的时候大家意犹未尽，无奈为了赶万方的场。下次回京最想登门求教的就是这位学姐，浑身书卷气，见面又很亲热，顿时让我觉得找到组织啦！

万方的年轻人逐个介绍了新产品，人民日报社的电子产品也很棒，只是我的精力有些不济，为Heinrich 博士的翻译也越来越差，会后她提前回饭店休息。她的谢辞和拥抱勾起了大家分别前的感伤。我甚至没有勇气和他们道别。好在明年三月芝加哥会重聚！

Digital content development of the NLC is impressive. I finally found time today to go through the ppt notes and tested the Rubbings and MinGuo Collections, which are still growing.