Chinese Canadian Library Weblog

Two requests can only be met by working with librarians in China: Korean rare books held in Shanghai Library and Shanghai District Court records of 1946.

English translations from selected works by Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi. UBC does not have the complete sets.

Important and expensive books missing from Asian reference. Shall we, more important can we replace them?

Undergraduate students need basic level of Chinese reading materials that have not been purposely collected.

On September 30th, 2007, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure raised $26.5 million. This year’s Run attracted more than 170,000 Canadians in 53 communities across the country. In Vancouver, more than 12,000 people braved the unrelenting rain for the worthy cause.

Do you know that 215 Librarians Run for the Cure team members participated in the event from 19 different Run Sites across Canada? They also raised a total of $38,750. The Toronto Run Site had the most team members with 32 participants in total. The Edmonton Run Site raised the most money with a $9705 total.
In Vancouver, Mr. Todd Mundle (Associate Librarian – SFU) raised $1272.34 and made it to the Top Five Individual Fundraisers among all the Librarians Run for the Cure national team members. Todd also ran a very impressive 20:30 time for the 5 km course. Ms. Frances Main (Research Specialist – Canada Revenue Agency) and her husband completed the course in less than 30 minutes. Well done, Todd, Frances and Ian!

September 30th was a beautiful, sunny day in the rest of the country, but it rained heavily in Vancouver. According to the event MC, this was the first year that it rained in Vancouver’s 16-year Run for the Cure history. The grim weather might have slowed down some people, but it did not deter any of the determined crowd from completing the 5 km route.

This was my fourth year participating in this event, but my first year as a walker. Due to the heavy rain, the race looked like a race of colorful umbrellas and ponchos, to borrow the MC’s phrase. It was very heart-warming and inspirational to walk among men and women of all ages – from high school students to seniors. Walking in the rain, I saw families from different ethnic/cultural backgrounds, friends from different neighbourhoods or schools, colleagues from various organizations, and kids with their parents and grandparents. Many people dedicated their Run to a close family member, a teacher, a colleague, or to a toddler daughter -to eradicate breast cancer from her future vocabulary. At the end of the day, the soaked t-shirts, pants and shoes felt like a badge of honour for many people. I felt motivated to participate again in future years regardless of the weather!

Mark October 5th, 2008 on your calendar for next year’s Run. I hope to see many of you on the Librarians Run for the Cure – Vancouver team. For more information, please contact:

Linda Yan
Team Captain for Vancouver
Research Specialist at the Canada Revenue Agency
Email: yanlb@yahoo.com

http://units.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/wwest/v11n1/article_yan.shtml

It seems that U of T really emphasizes on public services in East Asian Studies. Librarians interested in applying for this position must submit a covering letter, curriculum vitae,
And the names, telephone numbers of three referees, in writing, to Library Human Resources, Robarts Library, Room 2054, 130 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A5 or by fax 416-946-5543. This position will remain open until filled.
Qualification for this position is
Requires accredited Library Science degree, and a degree or equivalent experience in one or more fields of East Asian Studies. Knowledge of Pinyin and Wade-giles romanization systems and major bibliographic utilities (OCLC preferred). High level of professional competency in written and spoken Chinese, and working knowledge of Japanese and Korean. Excellent command of spoken and written English.

Demonstrated knowledge in China studies as an academic discipline, familiarity with East Asian scholarly publishing, understanding of and commitment to supporting scholarly needs in East Asian studies are essential. Strong service orientation, and interest in developing East Asian information services. Must be able to work cooperatively with colleagues and effectively as part of the East Asian Library team. Must exercise effective leadership skills to contribute to the success of the EAL reference and information support services. Highly self-motivated, and demonstrated initiative, flexibility, and ability to work effectively under pressure, and adaptability to a rapidly changing environment. Must be able to provide responsive, timely and proactive services. Must possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Strong planning, organizational, supervisory, problem-solving and teaching skills. Demonstrated ability to achieve results through creative, consultative and cooperative approaches. Demonstrated good work and attendance record.

RSS, YouTube, Blogs, Wikis, Facebook, MySpace, and more! There is a global conversation going on right now about what the next generation of the web will be like. It’s happening largely under the meme of Web 2.0. It’s about putting information into the real context of our users’ lives, learning, researching and playing. MySpace and Facebook are just the tip of the iceberg! Come hear an overview of Web 2.0, a draft vision for Library 2.0, and an opinion about what adaptations we’ll need to thrive in this future scenario.
THE SPEAKER
Stephen Abram, MLS, is the President 2008 of SLA and the past-President of the Canadian Library Association and Vice President Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute. He has been VP of Corporate Development for Micromedia ProQuest and Publisher Electronic Information for Thomson. He ran libraries for Suncor, Coopers & Lybrand, Smith Lyons Torrance Stevenson and Mayer and Hay Group. Stephen has been listed by Library Journal as one of its first “Mover and Shakers”, the “key” people influencing the future of libraries and librarianship. He has been awarded SLA’s John Cotton Dana Award as well as being a Fellow of the SLA. He was Canadian Special Librarian of the Year and Alumni of the Year for the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Information Studies. He was President 2002 of the Ontario Library Association as well as sitting on the SLA Board of Directors as Director and Secretary. Stephen gives over 90 international keynote talks annually to library and information industry conferences and writes articles and columns for Information Outlook, Feliciter, Access, Multimedia & Internet @ Schools, and Library Journal. He is the author of ALA Editions’ Out Front with Stephen Abram.

VENUE
The Terminal City Club, 837 Hastings Street. There is a dress-casual dress code in effect, so no jeans please.

FEES
$28 for SLA members, students, and those between jobs
$35 for non-members

For payment options, go to: http://units.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/programs/2007/van1128.shtml

The Canadian Digital Information Strategy is currently issued in draft form for comment by any interested person or organization. Please note that comments are due by Nov 23, 2007.

Diversity in digital content production is encouraged. Multicultural Canada and the Chinese-Canadian Genealogy website are mentioned in the draft. Besides thinking about the comment, shall we organize a workshop and invite Ian and Shumin as keynote speakers? Allan had similar workshop or conference idea. Shall we collaborate? or go for an informal, social gathering and meanwhile have digital strategy as the subject of talks and discussion? since some folks proposed holiday gathering idea to me anyway. We may come up with better ideas at the party.

Finish reading several Chinese books this rainy weekend, including two on health and parenting borrowed from friends. They made me feel relaxed and inspired. Megan just came over and told me how beautiful Mandarin is. That’s quite unusual! and I have to make a note here.

We are lucky living in Vancouver with best Chinese collections at UBC, public libraries and bookstores, plus many friends who love to read. When I am tired of reading in English, Chinese books bring me joy and a different way of thinking.

UC Berkeley’s East Asian studies programs have been ranked No. 1 in the country by the U.S. Department of Education. The $46.4 million library will house one of the world’s largest collections of East Asian books, scrolls, woodprints, maps and other artifacts outside Asia. $6 million came from donors who gave in honor of former UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien

Check out the two librarian web-based games developed by the students from the Carnegie Mellon University. The first is a LC shelving game — what a fun tool to train the student assistants to learn how to shelve correctly. The second is a Reference Librarian game — Patrons come into the library and ask you a reference question. You need to find the correct online, periodical or book resources and you’d better be quick — otherwise the patron would get grumpy if it takes too long 🙂

Librarian (Chinese-Speaking Community Services)
Literacy, ESL and World Languages Department
Central Library

$25.25 – $30.63 hourly

This position will remain open until filled.
Applications will be first reviewed on October 26, 2007.
Qualified candidates will be given immediate consideration

University of Maryland Libraries currently has an opening for the position of Chinese Cataloger-Subject Specialist. The person in this position will be responsible for all aspects of managing the Chinese language materials and related user services. Application deadline is Nov. 5, 2007.