2006

East Asian Academic Librarians of California

Minutes of the 21th Annual Meeting

Alumni Room, University Center, UC Santa Cruz

September 22, 2006


Convener: Peter Zhou

Recorder: Jianye He, Bie-hwa Ma, Yifeng Wu

Participants (in alphabetical order, by institution): UC Berkeley: Jianye He, Bie-hwa Ma, Yuko Okubo, Bruce William, Yifeng Wu, Peter Zhou; UC Davis: Mei-Yun (Annie) Lin; UC Irvine: Dan Tsang; UCLA: Hong Cheng, JaEun Ku, Amy Tsiang; UC Riverside: Kui Chiu; UC Santa Cruz: Yi-Yen Hayford; UC San Diego: Jim Cheng, Victoria Chu, Sanae Isozumi, Shi Deng; UC Santa Barbara: Cathy Chiu; USC: Kenneth Klein; Stanford University: Naomi Kotake, Eunseung Oh, Dongfang Shao, Ailin Yang, Zhaohui Xue.


I. Welcome Remarks

Ginny Steel, University Librarian of UC Santa Cruz gave warm welcome to all attendees. In her opening statements, she briefly introduced UC Santa Cruz’s rapid growth in the last 20 years or so. She stated that as a University Librarian, she realized how important this group of librarians (EAALC) is to UC Libraries. UC Santa Cruz would like to collaborate with other UC campuses and join the discussion on how to leverage resources among UC campuses and make it possible for cooperative projects.


II. Member Library Reports (in the order of presenting)

Stanford: Dongfang Shao reported 8 new faculty appointments of Stanford University in the last year, including Yiqun Zhou (Contemporary Chinese Studies), Scott Rosely (Political Science), Jin Ma(Film studies), Yumi Moon (Modern Korean History), Thomas Mullaney (Chinese History), Jun Uchida (Modern history of Japan and Korea), Philip Lapsy (Japanese politics & International relations), Xueguang Zhou (Contemporary Chinese Studies).

Three new librarians joined Stanford recently, Eunsung Oh (Korean cataloger, acting bibliographer for Korean Studies), Zhaohui Xue (Chinese Librarian and coordinator for public service), Ailin Yang (Chinese cataloger and coordinator for technical service). Three LAs were also hired to be the new access specialist, copy cataloger and acquisition assistant for Korean collection. The Korean Librarian Mikyung Kang has just moved to Havard Yenching Library, so the search for new candidates will start soon. Recon project for Chinese and Japanese materials will be done by the end of this year. By February 2007, over 200,000 volumes of books will have barcode. The collection program review was also done, 9% increase will be noticed in the budget of the coming fiscal year. Dongfang also added that they hope a series of fundraising campaign will be launched after the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Meyer Library where the EAL is located on December 1 this year.

USC: Ken Klein reported that under the leadership of new provost for Information Service, the USC Libraries had some organizational adjustment. The integrated Information Service Department is part of the library now. Jerry Campbell is the new Dean of USC Libraries. The main change of East Asian Library is the arrival of the first Japanese librarian, Tomoko Bialock, which is the indication of much more commitment to Japanese collection.

UCSD: Jim Cheng reported highlights in Korean Studies program and collections. In 2006, the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) hired a new faculty member, Dr. Jong-Sung You (Korean Politics). The IR/PS Library received $9, 000 worth materials as a grant from the Korean Foundation, including 741 Korean monographs and 53 serial titles in contemporary Korean economy, politics, culture, reunification, and foreign policies. The IR/PS Library also received $10, 000 donation from the President of Korean National Olympic Committee for purchasing Korean materials.

Jim also reported that as part of the joint project with faculty, a book titled “From Underground to Independent: Alternative Film Culture in Contemporary China” was just published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. this year, which includes an essay introducing Chinese underground Film Collection at the UCSD Libraries. The UCSD Libraries will host a 2-day event: Remembering Chinese Cultural Revolution: A Multi-Media Presentation on Jan. 12-13, 2007, which features showing 6 films, book-talk, poster exhibition, lectures and panel discussions. Jim mentioned that 105 posters (mostly reflecting Cultural Revolution period) were already digitized and added to ARTstor database. $10,000 was raised for this event.

UC Irvine: Dan Tsang announced the new hire for the Acting Asian Studies Librarian, Ying Zhang. She will assume her position at the beginning of October. As for facilities, the Collection Development Department moved to 4th floor of the library. East Asian Collections are running out of space. Japan Foundation donated $2 million yen worth of books to support Japanese Studies program. Dan reported for Abraham Yu that there was no backlog for Chinese cataloging. Dan also reported two new hired faculty members. Korean Foundation supports one appointment for three years. The other is a tenure track appointment for Film Studies.

UCLA: Amy Tsiang first reported on the hiring of two new faculty members at the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures: Jack Chen (Chinese poetry) and Robert Chi in Chinese film. She also reported that the Center for Japanese Studies of UCLA received an additional major endowment from the Terasaki Foundation, which will support the four new programs this fall. The Center was also renamed as Paul I & Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies. Center for Korean Studies also received $1 million donation to establish a position in Korean Christianity. Lisa Kim Davis was the newly hired professor in Geography. Sejung Kim is the new assistant director. Besides, The Center received $1.2 million grant from the Academy of Korean Studies for a 5-year project, which will be used for building a network with Korean in Latin America (70%) and hiring a visiting scholar in Korean Politics to teach one course a year and for graduate student support (30%). No money for library acquisitions, at least at the first year.

Amy mentioned some changes in the library, including retirements, recruitments and organizational changes, such as centralized University Library Acquisition Department and relocation of Processing Units. There were some personnel changes in East Asian Library too. JaEun Ku is the new Korean Librarian who moved from University of Illinoi at Urbana-Champaign. Japanese copy-cataloger, Tomoko Bialock has quitted. By Oct. 2005, EAL completed the bar-coding project, about 200, 000 items were processed. The Needs Assessment project is still going on.

UC Davis: Annie Lin reported a 3% increase in student enrollment this year; about 30,500 students are expected to enroll for the fall semester of 2006. Personnel changes for East Asian Studies and UC Davis Library include: Professor Chianing Chang (Japanese Language & Literature) is the new Chair for EAS from Sept. 2006 to Aug. 2009. Professor Don Price (Chinese History) is the Library Representative for the EAS program. The interviewing process for the position of a new AUL of Humanities/Social Sciences, Public Services, and Special Collection has been completed. Allocation for CJK acquisitions stays the same as last year. 1646 volumes have been added to the collection in the last fiscal year. Following the Pinyin Conversion project, all Chinese records were sent to OCLC for reloading in the spring, revision and updating records will be expected to be done by the end of 2006. Reshelving CJK reference materials and other collection reviewing activities were finished in this summer.

UC-Riverside: Kuei Chiu reported downsizing of CJK programs due to loss of faculty and major shift of collections from East Asian Studies to Southeast Asian Studies in UC-Riverside. 50,000 new titles were added to Southeast Asian Collection annually. Among all Southeast Asian programs, Vietnamese studies is the biggest. Currently they are working hard recruiting new faculty for South East Asian studies.

UC-Berkeley: Peter Zhou reported the update of the new C.V. Starr East Asian Library. Regarding a $2.7 million shortage for the completion of building, a two-year term Gift Officer for fundraising position was proposed to the University administration, but EAL was very lucky to get generous $3 million donation from Ms. Florence Fang so that the gap was able to be filled 6 months before due date. Three task forces were assigned to plan and facilitate smooth transition for the new library, focusing on moving collections, public service and technical service. In Oct. 2007, three important conferences will be held on Berkeley campus to celebrate grand opening of the new East Asian Library, one of them will be hosted by EAL and representatives from the 25 libraries with prominent EAL or overall collections will be invited to present at the conference. Proceeding of the conference will be published, which is sponsored by Luce Foundation. Peter also mentioned a group of national delegations from China, Japan and Korea will possibly visit Berkeley after they attend PNC meeting in Oct. 2007 too.

As for collection development, EAL received 450 Chinese Cultural Revolution posters as gift in the last year. Peter also reported changes in East Asian Studies program. Duncan Williams is the new hired faculty member in Buddhism Studies who was moving from UC Irvine. UCB will also establish a distinguished professorship in Tibetan Buddhism, thanks to a $1 million endowment from Khyentse Foundation. The position will be jointly held by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies. A search will begin in fall 2007. Professor Wen-Hsin Yeh will become the next Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies, effective 1 January 2007. Professor Frederic E. Wakeman passed away in Sept. 2006. One Japanese historian retired this year. Peter also reported some coming new publications related to the EAL, including Deborah Rudolph (EAL’s Secretary & Senior Editor)’s book about EAL’s treasures, Weng Fanggang’s manuscripts on Confucianism studies and EAL’s Chinese rubbing catalog, etc. EAL is on search of a Chinese cataloger to replace Ailing Yang, who has moved to Stanford University.

UC-Santa Barbara: Cathy Chiu reported they are dealing with a flat budget this year. A new Ph.D. program was created. Faculty member, Joshi Fargo (China-Japan relationship) has moved to Canada and new recruitment is on the way. New course “teaching Korean culture through film and melodrama” is added this year. Gift from Korean Foundation is accepted. New AUL for Information & Research Service has come on board.

UCSC: Yi-Yen Hayford reported UCSC joined the other 8 campus and become a full member and added an additional seat for Siku Quanshu database this spring. Because of the special faculty funds, UCSC was able to acquire some important resources, such as the 60 volumes set of “Xin bian hong bei bing zi liao", valued over $20,000. Gift and duplicates from other UC campus and exchange program also contributed to the rapid growth of the collection.

Changes in Chinese and Japanese Studies programs include: Jacquelyn Kuo (Chinese lecture) retired after over 17 years of services. New faculty Owen S. Guo will be teaching Intermediate and pre-advanced Chinese classes this fall. Alan Christy (Japanese History) returned to campus after two years of sabbatical in Japan. Norkio Aso, Assistant professor also joins the History Department this fall. Yi-Yen also reported major organizational changes within the library: new appointments for two AULs (Public Services & Access, Collection & Technical Services); ongoing recruitment of Metadata/Cataloging Librarian; library addition project (the first phase should be completed by the end of 2007) and renovation project.


III. UCEAB Reports

Chair of UCEAB (UC East Asian Bibliographers Group), Jim Cheng reported this group’s mission and 2005-2006 goals and objectives. Accomplishments of the group in year 2005-2006 include:

  • Created a listserv for UCEAB members in 2005 and is currently managed by Kuei Chiu.
  • Created UCEAB homepage (http://gort.ucsd.edu/uceab/index.htm) in 2005 and is currently managed by Jim Cheng.
  • Involved in CDL/SCP’s decision-making of hiring a 1-year temporary Chinese Cataloger position for cataloging UC’s two Tier-1 Chinese digital databases: CAJ (Chinese Academic Journals) and Siku Quanshu.
  • Appointed 2 Tier-1 digital resource liaisons and 12 Tier-2 digital resource liaisons.
  • Identified and reviewed some East Asian digital resources for Tier One or Tier Two purchases, including CAJ back files and Medicine/Hygiene database, China Data Online, UDNDATA, Wanfang Data, National Palace Museum databases, SuperStar Digital Library, etc.
  • Distributed a draft copy of the UC East Asian Digital Resource Center and related online tutorial materials at http://gort.ucsd.edu/itd/IRPS/IRPS_index.html.
  • Worked with Shirley Leung (CDL Senior Associate) on various issues related to East Asian Digital Resources at UC.
  • Held an NCC e-resource workshop at UCSD on Oct. 6, 2005, provided instructions on Japanese and Chinese database.
  • UCB, UCLA, UCM and UCSD launched an exchanging digital resources project with Academia Sinica in Taiwan.
  • Prepared, discussed and sent the “UCEAB Response to the BSTF (Bibliographic Service Task Force) Report” to Lucia Snowhill, Chair of CDC in March, 2006.
  • Called for JSC Bibliographer Group Survey 2006-2007 in June 2006 and sent back the survey with the supplementary materials of the 5 top-ranked products to CDL in August, 2006.


VI. Presentations

A: Siku Quanshu Electronic Edition: updates (Victoria Chu, UCSD) Victoria briefly reviewed the electronic Chinese database-Siku Quanshu’s upgrading from Network Version to Intranet and Web Version, and change in subscription. She introduced new features of the Web Version, which was developed by Digital Heritage, Hong Kong, and compared with the other two versions in the categories of model, access point, user interface and data enhancement. At the same time, she also put forward concerns from technical, administrative, pricing and users perspectives.

B. East Asian Library Resources from the Perspective of Two UCSC Users (Prof. Gail Hershatter & Prof. Alan Christy, UCSC) Professor Hershatter in Chinese history and Professor Alan Christy in Japanese history presented at the meeting as faculty representatives to express their research and teaching needs and expectation for the library collections. Gail stressed the importance of reference collection and electronic access to some critical resources, such as Siku Quanshu. She also expressed her willingness to support the library. Just returned from his two-year sabbatical leave in Japan, Alan talked about Importance of archival resources and reproductions, and how indispensable e-resources are to research and academic training.

On behalf of the EAALC group, Peter thanked Gail and Alan for their presence and support to the library.

C. Library Strategic Planning: From the Whole Library to Individuals (Amy Tsiang, UCLA) Amy introduced the purpose, process and strategic goals (2006-2009) of the strategic planning of the UCLA Library, and the work plan of East Asian Library and individual plans of library staff. The East Asian Library’s work plan in 2006-2007 caught much attention among attendees, which include transform the library collections toward multi-format, multimedia and multidisciplinary, improve access to the library resources, enhance specialized collections, provide information literacy and outreach programs, reconfigure library learning space, etc. Actions to implement work plans started as the new fiscal year began.

D. Acquiring High Quality Research Materials: A Case Study of Irregularities in Current Chinese Publishing (Jianye He, UCB) With many fresh examples, Jianye pointed out 3 observed major problems in current Chinese publishing market: pirated and fabricated research materials, repeating/overlapping in publishing, and publisher’s misleading sale strategies. She also brought the issue of hard-to-trace irregular monographic sets to the attendees’ attention. In the summary, Jianye also shared her thoughts on the implications of the irregularities to library acquisition, like how to define and discern authentic research materials, how to select unique resources and how to make strategic planning to build a strong Chinese collection.

E. UC CONSER Funnel: Cheering for East Asian Participation (Hong Cheng, UCLA) In his presentation, Hong briefly reviewed the history of the cooperative online serials cataloging program--CONSER and explained why UC campuses participated in CONSER and UC CONSER Funnel. Hong further stated the fact that UC and California Libraries are strong in CJK collection and cataloging expertise enables East Asian participation of the UC CONSER Funnel, and the Funnel also promotes cooperation among UC and California Libraries.

F. Leveraging CJK Cataloging Expertise across the UC System (Deng Shi, UCSD) Shi first listed driving forces for the discussion of leveraging CJK cataloging expertise across the UC system from two perspectives, UC wide and UCSD local needs. She displayed statistics from the survey of current CJK cataloging at each UC campus, and reported HOTS subgroup discussion on Japanese language cataloging to further discuss underlying assumptions, possible models for collaboration and issues focusing on campus collaboration. In the “Question & Answer” session, Shi also collected feedback from attendees regarding the need assessment of insourcing & outsoursing, the potential effects to library overall workflow and necessity of preserving in-house professional expertise. (Shi sent the summary of feedback soon after this meeting.)

G. Japanese Historical Text Initiative (Yuko Okubo, Project Coordinator, UCB)


V: EAALC Convener Election and 2007 Meeting Venue

Ken Klein was elected to the two-year term as Convener of EAALC.

USC will host EAALC 2007 meeting.