Chinese Canadian Library Weblog

Instead of making a new blog, I altered mine for our group. I realized it’s not a good idea. Anyway, I want to thank you all for either writing or commenting for OUR blog and make it fun and useful.

I had no idea my sabbatical leave can get this busy, and I am way behind my original plan to keep this blog up-to-date. I will be back on track in April and will have loads of fun this summer, I promise I will share everything with you here. Linda, I am serious.

I ran into an astrology web page, and the part about me is so right! It says, “If you feel out of synch, remember it’s a good time for resource consolidation, for research & getting up to date. Going incognito leads to discoveries.”

I have been reading a course book on Japanese economic miracle for a whole day. Now I am thinking about the new year and all of you. For those who are staying in Vancouver, I will see you and phone you soon anyway. Let’s not forget about those all over the world. Jan, Henry and Mindy are now in China. Liu Shu down in Colorado, Heather in Montreal. I wish you a happy and successful new year. I am sure you will always treat Vancouver as your second hometown. We think of you from time to time, and especially now. Best Wishes!

It has been quite a while for me to post something here at this site, which I deem it ‘OUR’ site, though the site URL bears Jing’s name 🙂 I believe Jing would generously agree so and hope that this site would become a platform for us to share our thoughts and ideas here…)
Having just graduated from SLAIS, UBC for less than 2 months and have not quite used to the title “Librarian” yet, I am thinking that perhaps I should make use of this ‘freshness’ to note down some of my thoughts here and hope they can be of some use for my dear library school fellow-students. Also I truly wish the veteran librarians would give some comments/suggestions/advice re my thoughts here. All in all, to borrow a Chinese idiom here, I think what I’m doing here is to “throw bricks to attract jade”.

About LIS Program

Generally I feel my LIS study was helpful for actual job practice. But I am afraid I was thinking more of the part-time library job experience I took during my study period when I said the study was helpful. So I’d strongly suggest the current LIS students have some library experience before graduating. It does not only boost your resume, but also, more importantly, help you understand what you have learned in the lectures…I know it could be competitive to find a paid job during the study, but, hay, there are so many alternate ways you can earn some library experience, right? Like volunteering, professional experience, practicum, etc.

Courses
My personal experience might not fit your particular situation, but here are some courses I really wish I had taken them: Cataloging, Project Management, Marketing (you will see why if you read on…

About Job Searching
My only advice would be: DON’T BE DISCURAGED BY REJECTIONS. I landed both of my current part-time jobs before the end of my study, and was offered a fulltime job within two weeks after my graduation. But before all the ‘good’ things happened, I got a couple of rejection letters. I remember I was feeling pretty depressed during that time, for the wording of the letters could really get you down if you happen to be like me who is not that confident enough. (I remember it was said in one letter “your candidacy is not competitive enough to be shortlisted for our further consideration..”)

Having said ‘my only advice’, I still want to throw out another tip here: Talk to your mentor, or any other veteran librarians, to get to know better the other side of the interview table. Having been sitting in search committees, their advice is invaluable for you to know what the employer is really looking for from a candidate..

About New Job

I was lucky enough to land a position I feel passionate about: Reference/Instruction. And both of my two part-time jobs employers belong to those types that every new librarian dreams about. The colleagues I am working with are supportive, trusting, friendly and most of all, approachable…Nevertheless, I’m having a big concern now with my job, or with our profession in general…whenever I sit at the ref desk watching the students just walk passing by, whenever I looked at the sparsely filled ref desk statistics sheet and whenever I stared at my computer screen looking forward to the signal of a new chat-reference patron, I really felt bad for /worried about my passive waiting. I wish I could do something more proactive to assist the students….that’s why I mentioned earlier that I wish I had taken the course Library Marketing.

Librarians at University of Albany in New York are planning for new library positions, which direct us to furture professional development. Let’s imagine with them. Imagine being a Social Networking Support Librarian or a Collaborative Publishing Librarian! Details can be found at one of its librarian’s blog.

University Libraries, University of Colorado at Boulder
Requirements: Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited library school and superior language skills in Japanese or Chinese, an ability to work in a collaborative/cooperative environment, and strong interpersonal skills along with effective oral and written communication skills.

Preferred qualifications: Working knowledge of additional Asian languages; some experience in collection development, particularly the Asian book and serial trade; a higher degree in Asian Studies or related area; working knowledge of electronic databases, information technology, and/or scholarly communication.

The details can be found on CEAL web site.

According to independent surveys, Baidu currently commands more than 60% of the Internet search market in China(1) and is the fourth most trafficked website in the world(2).

(1) The market share information is derived from CNNIC: 2006 China Search Engine Market Survey

(2) The traffic information is derived from Alexa.com, based on a three- month average as of May 12, 2006

”Since our successful listing on Nasdaq in 2005, we have been committed to delivering the best user search experience in Chinese language search and creating exceptional value for our shareholders,” said Robin Li, Baidu’s Chairman and CEO. ”We believe that our proven strength in non-English language search, the high internet penetration in Japan, as well as similarities between the Chinese and Japanese languages make this market an ideal next step for Baidu.”

Mr. Li noted that Baidu has conducted more than six months of extensive research into the development of Japanese language search technology.

”We are confident that Japan’s search engine users will appreciate Baidu’s powerful Japanese language search technology that will offer a user- friendly alternative to existing search engines,” added Mr. Li.

More

I enjoy reading this quality open access journal targeted at library school students. Beautifully done and good content. There should be more journals open accessed next year.

Microsoft just started its expanded services called “Live Search Books”.

It says that there are more than 50,000 items that are out of copyright restrictions from University of California, University of Toronto, British Library and few others including Cornell University are made available. You can search and view full text pages with PDF format. The services are going to be expanded by the inclusion of some publishers and some public libraries in US. Thousands of books on China came up by a keyword search.

There are quite a few opennings in the States, including:

Chair, Department of Special and Area Studies Collections, University of Florida

Head of Asian Library, University of Michigan

Lund, Sweden – As of today the Directory of Open Access Journals
contains 2500 open access journals,
i.e. quality controlled scientific and scholarly electronic
journals that are freely available on the web.

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