ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries July /August 1986 / 449 The Hopkins-Nanjing Center fo r Chinese an d A m erican Studies By Diane K. Harvey Collection D evelopm ent Librarian Johns Hopkins University-SAIS A cooperative effort in international librarianship. W h e n the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies opens in Nanjing, China, in September 1986, its library will be ready to serve the American and Chinese students and faculty of this innovative venture in international coopera­ tion. The 20,000-volu m e library represents a unique resource available not only to the Center, but also to scholars in the entire east central region of China. As one of the first equal partnerships between Chinese and American universities, the Hopkins- Nanjing Center represents a step beyond the cul­ tural and educational exchange programs that have flourished since normalization of relations in 1979. Nanjing University is considered one of the top universities in China, and has an enrollment of more than 6,000 students in fifteen liberal arts and natural science fields. It is located in the city of Nanjing in east central China. The link between The Johns Hopkins University and Nanjing University was initiated by a Hopkins faculty member, Chien Chih-yung, who is also an honorary professor at Nanjing. An academic part­ nership had been in place for several years, and during a visit to Nanjing in 1981, Hopkins adminis­ trators raised the subject of building a permanent facility on the Nanjing campus. Once the State Council of the PRC approved the project, planning moved quickly. Architects from both countries de­ veloped a design that includes classrooms, offices, living areas, a language laboratory and dining fa­ lities, in addition to the library. Construction be­ an in September 1984 and is expected to be com­ leted in time for the September 1986 opening. The Center’s major purpose is to train Chinese nd American students for careers in diplomacy, urnalism, commerce, and other fields. The cur­ culum stresses international relations, eco­ omics, political science and modern history. merican students will work in Mandarin Chi­ ese, studying subjects such as Chinese diplomacy nd trade law with Chinese faculty members. merican faculty will instruct Chinese students in nglish on topics such as U.S. foreign policy and ontemporary American society. Most Center stu­ ents are to have master’s degrees and they must be uent in the language of instruction. Beyond the aining of graduate students, the center will serve s a resource for visiting scholars and traveling del­ gations. The center is jointly administered by the two niversities. The resident co-directors are Leon lawecki and Wang Zhigang. William Speidel of e Hopkins School of Advanced International tudies (SAIS) in W ash in gton , D .C ., is the opkins-Nanjing project director in the United tates. SAIS is responsible for recruiting American culty members and students, as well as handling rriculum and library matters for Johns Hopkins niversity. A key component of the center is its library, ci g p a jo ri n A n a A E c d fl tr a e u S th S H S fa cu U 450 / C & RL News which will not only support the curriculum and re­ search work of the resident faculty and students, but provide what has been termed a “regional in­ formation center” for scholars throughout Jiangsu Province and east central China. Designed by U.S. and Chinese architects, the library will have stack areas, seating for twenty-four, a public services desk, two photocopying machines and space for microform reading and storage. On opening day, the library will contain 20,000 volumes, half in Chinese and half in Western lan­ guages. Each year the two sponsoring universities together will add 4,000 volumes. Four hundred pe­ riodical subscriptions have been placed. The li­ brary will be staffed by Chinese professionals and support personnel, but western-language material selection, as well as consultation, is provided by the SAIS staff in Washington, D.C. Peter Promen, di­ rector of SAIS’s Mason Library, is the principal li­ brarian involved with the project. Ma Xian-zhen of the Nanjing University Library will oversee the Center’s library, although it is not a part of the Nanjing University library system. Coordination with an overseas library is not new to Hopkins, since the SAIS library performs similar functions for the Bologna Center, a graduate pro­ gram in Italy. The Bologna Center, however, is ad­ ministered solely by SAIS, while the Hopkins- Nanjing Center is a cooperative venture with a more complex interlibrary relationship. One of Hopkins’ major responsibilities has been the development of the core collection of 10,000 estern-language (primarily English) volumes. aterial selection is the primary responsibility of iane Harvey, former head of the Government ublications/Maps/Law Department of Johns opkins’ Eisenhower Library. Because the Cen­ er’s faculty had not been selected at the start of the roject, a SAIS faculty committee, chaired by oted China scholar A. Doak Barnett, helped de­ ine the scope of the collection. In order to provide urricular support, the library has acquired core aterial in international relations, economics, po­ itical science and American history. American tudies materials, including books on current social ssues and popular culture, have also been in­ luded. Western-language books about China ake up only about 15% of the collection, since merican students will be expected to use Chinese- anguage materials in their studies. A reference col­ ection, which may be expanded in the future to over additional subject areas, supports the core ollection. The Chinese language materials paral­ el the western-language collection. Blackwell North America (B/NA) was selected as he library’s vendor on the basis of its excellent rec­ rd in supplying books to libraries in China since 981. B/NA is able to ship directly to the Center nd bill to the SAIS library in Washington. SAIS as been quite successful in acquiring out-of-print itles for the Center; this is crucial to establishing a ore collection. Out-of-print and gift titles are w M D P H t p n f c m l s i c m A l l c c l t o 1 a h t c July /August 1986 / 451 Artist’s rendering o f the H opkins-Nanjing C enter f o r C hinese an d A m erican Studies. L ibrary occupies the ground flo o r o f the three-story wing (upper right). shipped by SAI S to Nanjing. A variety of selection methods has been used to build the collection. B ooks fo r C ollege L ibraries and Choice’s Opening Day C ollection were invalu­ able for selecting core titles, and the high rate of fulfillment on out-of-print orders made use of those tools viable. Specialized bibliographies and course syllabi from Johns Hopkins University were a m a­ jor resource. B/NA’s New Title Advisory Service has been a primary source of current titles, along with tools such as C hoice, Foreign A ffairs, A m eri­ can P olitical Science R eview and the Jou rn al o f E c ­ o n o m ic L itera tu re. As faculty from around the U.S. were recruited to teach at the center, their suggestions were solicited. Gifts comprise approximately 15% of the total volumes, although this percentage is expected to decline in future years. These gifts include a signifi­ cant selection of titles from the personal collection of Norman Graebner, an eminent scholar of Amer­ ican diplomatic history at the University of V ir­ ginia. Johns Hopkins, after consultation with the C hi­ nese librarians who will staff the library in N anj­ ing, will provide card catalog sets using Library of Congress classification, through Blackwell North America. O C L C printouts are sent to Nanjing from the SAI S library for items wh i ch cannot be lo­ cated through B/NA’s data base. It appears that only 3–5 % of volumes supplied will require origi­ nal cataloging by the library’s staff. Automation of library functions is still in the early stages, with the goal of providing an inte­ grated online system in the future. Several pilot projects are underway, including using an IBM PC-AT with INMAGIC software to create a model for database management. Library automation is a prime interest of the center’s administration, and R o b ert G resehover, deputy d irecto r of Johns Hopkins’ W elch Medical Library, is actively in­ volved in its development. Differences between Chinese and American phi­ losophies of librarianship are most evident in the area of public services. Chinese libraries have tra ­ ditionally exhibited a “caretaker” approach to li­ brary collections, an outgrowth of both the tradi­ tional Chinese reverence for knowledge and the need to preserve scarce resources in a developing economy. The American user-oriented philosophy is not widely evident in Chinese academic libraries. Because the American students and faculty have very different expectations for library services, it is hoped that the Center’s library will demonstrate a strong service attitude. For example, the reserve function is virtually unknown in China, where stu­ dents rely on textbooks and notes provided by in­ structors. Reserve material for the library will be supplied in the first year by the SAIS library, but provision of services will be the job of the Center’s staff. Reference and interlibrary loan are two other areas in which the expectations of Chinese and American users must be accommodated. The Cen­ 452 / C & RL News ter’s library will have a cooperative relationship with the libraries of the Nanjing University system, and Center students will be able to use those exten­ sive collections. To further the Hopkins-Nanjing relationship, and to provide information about current Ameri­ can library practices, there has been a series of short-term consultantships between the universi­ ties. Visits in 1981-1982 by Nanjing University ad­ ministrators included tours of Hopkins libraries, and several trips by Hopkins librarians to Nanjing have focused on planning for library functions, au­ tomation and public services. This kind of consultation has been essential in the development of a library in a cooperative inter­ national setting. The opportunity to create an aca­ demic library “from the ground up” is in itself unu­ ual. Even more unusual is its structure, which required international communication on every as­ pect of lib ra ry service. All the basic issues— collection development, bibliographic control, au­ to m a tio n , space p lan n in g and p u b lic services— had to be considered from a unique bi- cultural perspective. Just as the Center is a pioneer­ ing venture, so the library represents a cooperative approach that will try to combine the best aspects of Chinese and American librarianship. s Checklist fo r closing a college lib ra ry By the CLS Ad Hoc Com mittee on Closing Colleges ( 1 9 8 4 - 8 5 ) Joh n Sheridan, C hair How to close your library gracefully. T h e announcement that a college, and thus its li­ brary, is closing, however much expected, will come as a shock. This checklist and narrative are designed to provide the librarian and college ad­ ministrator with information about the things that need to be done to close and dispose of the library in an orderly fashion. The timeframe for closing may not allow for the entire checklist to be im ple­ mented, but the persons involved can be aware of what is or is not being done. Experience has shown that greater benefits accrue to the institution if a li­ brarian familiar with the collection supervises the entire process. A helpful summary of five college library clos­ ings will be found in Mary Ann Griffin’s “When a Library Closes,” Jou rnal o f A cad em ic L ib rarian ­ ship 10 (July 1984): 141–45. Checklist . Determine the nature and value of the collection 1. If there is time, conduct an inventory of the ollection and then use the shelflist as the standard or the contents of the collection. 2. Prepare an evaluation statement on the scope of th e c o lle c tio n , in clu d in g a list of su b je c t trengths with level of development, and a list of pecial collections. 3. Check state and federal regulations (e.g ., doc­ ument depositories, HEA and Title II-A) for re­ strictions, and local and regional collection agree­ ments, and list items involved. 4. List gifts with stipulations, if any. 5. Identify and remove for safekeeping valuable items (including suspected “last copies”) . I c f s s