NLA and the library community
China and Australia: library and information issues
Participants in the China and Australia library forum. Left to right: C.P. Tang (National Chinese, Japanese and Korean Service); Susan Prentice (Asian Specialist Information Associates in Australia);Nada (University Librarian, Murdoch University, WA);Magdaleen Lee (East Asian Librarian, University of Sydney); Bick-har Yeung (East Asian Librarian, University of Melbourne)
The Library Meeting Room at Perths Murdoch University was packed on 8 July for a library panel held during the Chinese Studies Association of Australia Conference. More than half of the 80 scholars and librarians at the conference came to this lunch time session. Entitled China and Australia: Library and Information Issues it was chaired by Nada, Murdoch University Librarian, who has long had a strong interest in Chinese library matters.
Professor Tim Wright, President of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia and Dean of Humanities at Murdoch University, spoke about the library needs of Chinese studies academics, particularly those living outside the CanberraSydneyMelbourne axis. He stressed their heavy reliance for research materials on the major Asian collections in Canberra, particularly at the National Library.
Bick-har Yeung, East Asian Librarian at the University of Melbourne gave a talk and demonstration about the Internet and Chinese Studies resources. Scholars present were most interested in the Web resources she described. Her paper is available at http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/asian/Internet-ChiResources.html
C.P.Tang of the National CJK Service at the National Library and Magdalen Lee, East Asian Librarian at the University of Sydney, spoke about the National CJK Service. C.P. Tang gave a demonstration while Magdalen stressed the value of the service to academic and other end users based on her experience in Sydney.
Susan Prentice, Director of Asian Specialist Information Associates in Australia, and formerly of the Australian National University Library, outlined her experience with the ChinaAustralia Electronic Information Centre.
It is hoped to publish papers from the session in the East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia (EALRGA) Newsletter. The library panel was organised by EALRGA with assistance from Professor Tim Wright and Sit-ling Tull, Chinese Librarian at Murdoch University.
Given the success of the library panel in Perth it is planned to repeat the exercise in 2001 with a conference in Canberra. For further details contact Andrew Gosling, Chief Librarian, Asian Collections, National Library of Australia, agosling@nla.gov.au
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: lkirwan@nla.gov.au