Chinese Canadian Library Weblog

Today one of my club members delivered his Competent Communicator (CC) #10 – Inspire your Audience. The title of his speech is How to Overcome Adversity. There are three Ps I will always remember:
–Adversity is not permanent – you can overcome it by never, never, never giving up;
–Adversity is not personal – you are not specifically targeted;
–Adversity is not pervasive – it does not follow you around.

More skills to learn for librarians…http://units.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/wwest/v10n1/vancouver.shtml

This opportunity could be yours if you aim high and wish to emulate those who inspired you.The one skill specifically requested from the candidates is the Communication Skills. I firmly believe that it is the essential life skill no matter what you do in life.

Check this out: http://www.ls.ualberta.ca/neli/index.html

‘Chinglish’ website targets Asians lost in mistranslation

by Clifford Coonan in Beijing

CHINA: Rich parents in the United States are desperately seeking
Chinese nannies to tutor their charges in Mandarin, the language of the
future for westerners keen to make inroads in China. Meanwhile, in
China, 300 million people are learning English, the language of their
future.

Both tongues are de rigueur among the aspiring middle classes in their
respective linguistic catchment areas, but both languages are also
notoriously difficult to learn.

Betwixt these two heavy burdens of linguistic expectations steps
chinglish.com – http://www.chinglish.com – an online service that translates
from Chinese into English and back again.

“Chinglish.com sees its mission in facilitating communication between
speakers of Chinese and English. As far as we are concerned,
international organisations will only have two official languages of
work in the future: Chinese and English. Our portal can save billions of
dollars in translation and interpretation costs,” said Marius van
Bergen, chief executive of the Chinglish website, which launched this
week.

“Chinglish’s mission is to promote linguistic and cultural exchange
between China and the West by creating a virtual internet community in
which Chinese and English coexist and enrich each other,” Mr van Bergen
said in a statement.

Chinglish is a word that means a sort of Chinese-English pidgin. It is
so widespread in Asia that it effectively functions as a creole
language, but sometimes it does look funny on signposts.

A personal favourite is “F**k the certain price of goods” instead of
“Sale Now On”, while “Children is not recommended” also rings true.
“Enter the mouth”, a mistranslation of the Chinese characters for
“Entrance” is also very common on signposts, causing blushes.

The Chinese government is running a major drive to standardise the use
of English on public signs before the Beijing Olympics in 2008. A group
called the “Beijing Speaks to the World Committee” is scouring the
capital looking for signs lost in mistranslation. For instance,
Beijing’s Park of Ethnic Minorities was signposted, hilariously, as
“Racist Park”. But not for long. (Fulltext from The Irish Times – Nov 3, 2006)

Digital Repositories Librarian, at Colorado State University Libraries.

Colorado State University Libraries

Digital Repositories Librarian: Responsibilities: This new position assists in the development, management and promotion of campus and cooperative digital repositories and services. Initial focus will include design and creation of a robust and innovative digital repository for the University, building on prior initiatives. Reporting to the Coordinator of the new Digital Repository Services Department, the Digital Repositories Librarian will contribute to departmental planning, development, and evaluation of services, work closely with others to leverage the full range of library expertise and resources in building and managing digital repositories, contribute to development of policies and procedures, create new collections within the repositories, provide direct user support, education, and documentation, and provide training for Libraries staff. This position will create Web pages, write scripting programs to support repository development, serve as departmental liaison, serve as an expert on digital repositories and other open access repositories as well as copyright issues surrounding digital repositories. For a full job description, including responsibilities, requirements, salary, and application process please view the CSU web site: http://lib.colostate.edu/pers/openings.html. For full consideration, all application materials must be received by 5:00 p.m. December 14; however, the search may be extended if a suitable candidate is not identified. CSU is an EO/AA employer.

If you are interested, please go to the below job description link. There is a salary range stated on the advertisement, terms & conditions are negotiable depending on the backgrounds & experiences of the candidates.

http://www.ln.edu.hk/main/jobs/06-135-AL-LIB.htm

Please excuse me for not being in contact with most of you – I was homeless, sort of. Believe it or not, I moved 4 times in less than a month. Thanks to Jing for letting others know that I was still alive and well. I eventually moved to a permanent apartment last week that I call it home now. I do not yet have Internet access at home. I am temporarily using someone’s wireless connection. Anyway, I have been thinking about posting. Trust me, I am missing all of you!

Life in Montreal is quite different from Vancouver, not to mention the challenges from the work, especially in the begining. I am glad that things are starting making sense to me now. As a member of the systems team, my job is to maintain the Integrated Library System and work on other information technology services related tasks. The job seems to be what I was looking for. I am happy and excited about what I am doing. I believe I will never get bored with my job. There are always new things coming up to force one to learn. Fortunately, I am working with a group of talented and friendly people, who are there for questions and help. From school to real professional world, what I can say to those who are getting their degrees is that how little I know about the profession and how little I can offer. Besides that, I find communication skills extremely important from my short experience (I guess Linda would like to hear that).

I hope you all are doing well. Please feel free to write. On another note, my UBC interchange account has expired recently. Please use my gmail or hotmail account for future contact. I will send you my new address and phone number by email shortly.

Take care and keep in touch,

Heather

People often talk about how fortunate someone is in finding a job.Today I remembered something I copied in my Quotations notebook while studying literature at the University in China. The rough translation is: Those who are fortunate are those who can snatch the opportunity up as it flows by you.

At the Oberlin College Library, Oberlin OhioEast Asian and Web Development Librarian in an Outstanding College Library

The Oberlin College Library, recipient of the 2002 ACRL Excellence in
Academic Libraries Award, invites applications for East Asian and Web
Development Librarian. Incumbent coordinates collection development and
bibliographic control for growing 26,000+ volume Chinese and Japanese
collection and develops web-based services for the library.

Required: ALA-accredited MLS; written and spoken fluency in Chinese or
Japanese; demonstrated knowledge of AACR2/MARC21 and modern markup,
scripting, and database protocols; effective communication skills;
positive record of working well with others. Preferred: fluency in both
Japanese and Chinese; experience with OCLC CJK and integrated library
systems; experience with East Asian book and serials trade; experience
designing and implementing web-based databases.

Salary competitive, commensurate with experience and qualifications.
Generous benefits. Full position description at:
http://www.oberlin.edu/HR/APSopenings/APS07-207.html

Review of applications will begin on January 1, 2007 and will continue
until appointment is made. Send letter of application, resume, and
names of three references to: East Asian Librarian Search, Main
Library, Mudd Center, 148 West College St., Oberlin College, Oberlin
Ohio 44074. Oberlin College actively seeks a racially, ethnically, and
culturally diverse staff and student body. AA/EO.

at UC LibrariesUCSD Libraries

Chinese Language Electronic Resources Cataloging Librarian (Temporary)

Preferred appointment level: Assistant Librarian I – III with an approximate salary range of $40,008 – $44,736.
One year position with possibility of extension contingent upon available funding.

The Libraries of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) seek applications from innovative, conscientious, and production-oriented professionals for an entry level, fulltime, one year temporary position (with possibility of extension) to catalog online Chinese language materials for the UC-wide Shared Cataloging Program. The position reports to the Head of the Shared Cataloging Program Unit. We seek to find an individual with energy and resourcefulness to join a dynamic and intellectually stimulating environment, and who has a basic knowledge of bibliographic and authority control, demonstrated skill in using the pinyin romanization system, strong communication skills, and a willingness to experiment with new techniques and batch processes for the manipulation of traditional MARC bibliographic records and other metadata schemes.

Responsibilities of the Position:
Has primary responsibility for developing strategies for gathering, sorting, analyzing, normalizing, and enriching records for online Chinese language materials for the University of California’s Shared Cataloging Program
* Determines the most effective ways to create and manipulate bibliographic and authority data, including extended and creative uses of metadata and of batch processes to create sets of records that meet UC standards
* Provides original and copy cataloging, and may establish an OCLC WorldCat Collection Set if appropriate
* Performs CONSER level maintenance and record authentication on Chinese language serials
*Serves as a member of the Shared Cataloging Program Unit and contributes to the development of cataloging policies and procedures for the Shared Cataloging Program
*Participates in library committees, task forces and special projects, particularly those related to cataloging, metadata, and bibliographic control.

Required Qualifications :
* Professional degree from a library school or other appropriate degree or equivalent experience in one or more fields relevant to library services
* Chinese language skills sufficient to perform original and copy cataloging for online Chinese language materials
* Demonstrated skill in using the pinyin romanization system
* Excellent interpersonal, diplomatic, and oral and written communication skills
* English language fluency
* Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
* Good organizational skills and an aptitude for complex analytical and detailed work
* Strong service orientation
* Demonstrated ability to work well in a changing environment, to work effectively in a large and diverse organization, and to exercise creativity and initiative
* Commitment to professional growth and development. UCSD librarians are expected to participate in library-wide and system-wide planning and governance, and to be professionally active. Desirable Qualifications
* Library work experience
* Experience cataloging using AACR, LCRI, LC Classification, LCSH, and MARC
* Experience cataloging electronic resources and serials
* Experience with CONSER, NACO, SACO, or BIBCO standards and processes
* Experience using the Innovative Interfaces integrated library system
* Familiarity with databases and data manipulation tools, such as macros, global updating, and other software tools
* Understanding of the principles of link resolvers and of the OpenURL standard
* Familiarity with established and emerging metadata standards (Dublin Core, CMARC, CNMARC, etc.)

Full job description available at: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/fac/CLERClib.htm

Application consideration begins December 4, 2006 and will continue until the position is filled. Send application letter including a statement of qualifications, a full resume of education and relevant experience, and the names of at least three persons who are knowledgeable about your qualifications for this position to libraryjobs@ucsd.edu, or to Stacey McDermaid, Library Human Resources, UCSD Libraries, 9500 Gilman Drive Dept. 0175-H, La Jolla, CA 92093-0175. Telephone: 858.534.1279; Confidential Fax: 858.534.8634.