ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 6 6 2 / C & R L N ew s Academic libraries in China By Susan L. Tsui Coordinator o f Bibliographic Control University o f Dayton The report o f a visit to the PRC in 1988. D uring May and June of 1988, I visited 5 C hinese cities: Sheng Zhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiyuan, and Qingdao. T he m ain purpose o f my visit was to share my Am erican library expe­ rience with my Chinese colleagues. I spent most of the time with the university librarians of these cities and lived in th e campus housing for foreign profes­ sors and visitors. I will first share with you my experience o f living on a C hinese cam pus and, later, some of my impressions of Chinese academic libraries. Life on a Chinese campus In C hina a university is like a society o f its own. Everyone, em ployees as well as students, lives on campus in apartm ents provided by th e university. The university also provides transportation, health care, and child care, as well as elem entary schools. Most people, young and old, participate in vari­ ous kinds of physical exercises which are held every m orning on cam pus before 8:00 a.m. B esides taiji and gongfu, th ere are also jogging, disco, acrobat­ ics, etc. At th e same tim e, daily news is broadcast th ro u g h o u t th e cam pus by a loud speaker from a radio station. It seem s th at th e university has th e responsibility to bring its m em bers up-to -d ate on c u rre n t events. D uring w eek days, one or two afternoons are set aside for political discussions. W orking hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m ., six days aweek. There are no coffee breaks. But the lunch hour is long, from 12:00 to 2:30 p.m . Every­ body goes hom e for lunch and rests; no service is provided at this tim e. Libraries are closed, banks are closed, even tele p h o n e op erato rs are not on duty at this tim e . Taking care o f personal business during office hours is common as well as is working afte r 5 p .m . T h e re is a tw o-m onth sum m er vaca­ tion. The university arranges tours and trips for its em ployees at a m inim um charge. The monthly incom e o f university em ployees is low, rangingfrom 50 to 170yuan ($13.50-$45.30), and is basically spent on food and clothing. Every­ one is paid according to twenty-six established grades. Librarians are paid th e same as doctors in the same grade. Since China opened its doors to the w orld in th e m id-seventies, individuals have been encouraged to brin g in extra revenue for th eir w orking group, such as selling a newly developed technical p roduct. Personal profit-m aking is al­ lowed now. O n a university cam pus language p ro ­ fessors often tu to r or do translations to bring in extra incom e. N ot everybody lives on a set incom e anym ore. Also, inflation has com e to China. Library settings I was im pressed with the high-rise new buildings I saw everywhere in China. Almost eveiy university I visited had a new library building, som e already constructed; others still u n d e r construction. I was told that in recen t years library service has becom e one o f C hina’s high p rio ritie s. The goal to achieve m odernization and th e new library building p ro ­ S e p te m b e r 1 9 8 9 / 663 gram represent only p a rt o f th e g overnm ent’s p ro ­ grams in support o f library service. Inside a typical C hinese library, c a rd catalogs, information service, and circulation desks are sel­ dom located in th e m ajor traffic area, i.e., on th e first floor, as in A m erican libraries. Stacks are closed. There are m ultiple subject (or d e p a rtm e n ­ tal) reading room s and m ultiple circulation desks on each floor w ith very little re fe re n c e service available. Only faculty and g rad u a te stu d e n ts are allowed to use th e room s th a t hold th e m aterials of their subject specialty. Recently, som e advanced universities have b e ­ gun to serve users w ith som e open-shelves and a centralized reference service area. Personnel Library d irecto rs in large C hinese universities are mostly political leaders a n d hold th e highest academic rank. D e p u ty d irecto rs are th e ones re ­ sponsible for the adm inistration o f th e library. The term “librarian” is used liberally for people working in a library. In large university libraries 30-50% of the personnel are librarians (many with degrees in fields o th e r th an library sc ie n c e). T hey are p rin ci­ pally tra in e d th ro u g h ap p ren ticesh ip . Som e also attend library m eetings and w orkshops. T hey are paid the same as professional librarians or higher if they have m ore years o f service. S tu d en ts are not employed in academ ic lib raries. Only 2% o f all librarians have th e professional degree. Before 1977 th ere w ere two library schools in China, one at W uhan U niversity, th e o th e r at Beijing University. Today th e re are forty graduate library science program s in China. Library school stu d e n ts enroll in a th re e -y e a r program a fte r finishing th e ir b a c h elo r’s degree. Many o f th e m have a second d e g re e in c o m p u te r science. After com pleting th eir library degree, they are assigned to library schools for teaching. Some library school faculty m em bers received additional training in th e U.S. T h ere are also sh o rte r library science program s at the u n d e rg ra d u a te level. G raduates from th ese program s b eco m e th e w orking force o f C hinese libraries. In re c e n ty e a rs, 10,000 library em ployees have received some library training. Librarians will slowly increase from th e c u rre n t 25-30% to 60%. This is th e sta n d a rd set up by The R egulations o f College and University Libraries, which was issued in 1981. Information service C hinese librarians are beg in n in g to w ork on establishing a reference service and a m ore system ­ atic collection developm ent. Today som e m odern universities have a centralized inform ation service area. R eferen ce questions are ad d re sse d and a n ­ sw ered on w ritte n form s. Since m ost librarians w ere form erly su bject specialists, inform ation li­ brarians seem to assum e th e dual d u ty o f librarian a n d tea c h e r. W hile providing inform ation, they also rec o m m e n d read in g m aterials for a special subject field. Lately, an online inform ation retrieval course has b e e n ad d e d to m any university curricula. F o r instance, th e re is a fifty-hour re fe re n c e course o ffered to g rad u a te stu d e n ts at th e M edical In sti­ tu te in Qingdao. S tudents spend six hours learning to use Biological A bstracts and eight hours on how to use Chem ical A bstracts. A fter this training, stu ­ dents can do th e ir research with m ore confidence. C hinese librarians also serve as tran slato rs and in te rp re te rs of foreign library m aterials. T h e re are over 5,000 inform ation centers in th e nation. T h e Taiyuan In fo rm atio n C e n te r, a local station, gives online service to th e e n tire Shanxi province. It is online through th e Beijing Inform a­ tion C e n te r, th e national station, w ith A m erican a n d E u ro p e a n databases such as D IA L O G , BRS, ESA -IRS (E u ro p e Space Agency for In form ation Retrieval Service), STN (Science andT echnology Network in W est Germany), and W PI (World Patent Index). T h e C h in ese In fo rm atio n C e n te r covers 80% o f th e w orld’s m achine-readable docum ents, prim arily in th e social and n a tu ra l sciences. Even tho u g h th e p e r-a rtic le charge is high ($40-$50), this local information cen ter has handled 700 to 800 searches since its inception on D ecem b er 12,1987. M any universities and inform ation c e n te rs are u n d e rta k in g th e task to establish various s pecial­ ized databases. In 1986 th e Taiyuan Inform ation C e n te r established a national p a te n t (com m ercial p roduct) database. Tw enty-seven provinces, indi­ vidual cities, a n d special districts in th e country p a rticip a te in this pro ject. T h e database contains over 13,000 scientific and technical patents. Each e n try includes th e nam e o f th e inventor, and th e nam e, address, a n d te le p h o n e n u m b e r o f th e o r­ ganization. Also included are the award, the m ethod used, and th e social ben efits o f th e pro d u ct. S u p ­ posedly this database is cost effective and user- friendly. Q ing H u a U niversity, to g e th e r w ith 340 o th e r scientific and technical universities, has developed a datab ase called CUJA (C hinese U niversities Journal A bstracts) w hich collects, abstracts, and indexes scientific and technical periodical publica­ tions held by th e univ ersities. Collection development In C hina th e book b u d g et is 5% o f a university’s gen eral b u d g e t. T h e book b u d g e t o f a m ed iu m ­ sized academ ic library is aro u n d 45,000 yuan ($12,162). T h e du p licate ra te is high in C hinese 6 6 4 / C & R L N e w s library collections. I t is usually 4 to 5 copies p e r title. T h e large libraries hold a h igher p ercen tag e o f foreign p u b lic a tio n s— 3 0 -6 0 % . Sm all college li­ b raries ho ld som e foreign p u b lic a tio n s— n o t over 20%. M ost o f th e foreign publications are p e rio d i­ cals a n d r e fe re n c e m aterials. T h e y are s e le c te d from p u b lis h e rs ’ lists p ro v id e d by th e C h in e se I m p o rt a n d E x p o rt B ook C om pany, w hich is th e only co m pany th a t d istrib u te s fo reig n books in C hina. In d iv id u al lib ra ries se ek d o n atio n s from th e ir foreign visitors. M aterials in science and te c h ­ nology a re p re fe rre d , b u t C h in e se lib ra ries will ac ce p t alm ost anything. Bibliographic control C ard catalogs are divided. T h ey are first divided by languages, basically C hinese, English, and R us­ sian. W ithin each language th e re are th re e separate public catalogs, i.e., nam e catalog, title catalog, and a classified catalog. T h e union catalog th at shows all o f th e m aterials available on cam p u s is k e p t in th e catalog d e p a rtm e n t. Filing o f C hinese characters is a m ajor task. A dded e n trie s are lim ited to p erso n al nam es. S u bject headings are n o t u se d at all; t h e r e ­ fore, assigning a p r o p e r classification to a book b eco m es a lib ra ria n ’s m ajor c o n c ern , b e c a u se th e classification is th e only su b ject access to th e ite m . L ib ra rie s have various kinds o f classification sys­ tem s. C onsequently, users m ust consult m ore than one classified catalog in o rd e r to find re la te d m a te ­ rials in various lo ca tio n s. T h e re are two m ajor classification system s— th e C h in e se L ib ra ry C lassification System a n d th e C hinese A cadem ic Library System. T h e first one is p u b lis h e d in a single volum e a n d uses an a lp h a ­ num eric code. This classification schem e is suitable for a g e n e ra l collection .T h e la tte r is d e sig n e d for a sp ecialized co llection, especially for scien tific li­ braries. O n its u n io n catalog cards, th e N ational L ibrary Letter To th e E d ito r: I am w ritin g to in fo rm you a n d all A C R L m e m ­ bers about th e “C lean U p T IA A -C R E F ” cam paign. T IA A -C R E F is th e n a tio n ’s larg e st p e n sio n fu n d and one th a t m any college and university faculty are vested in th ro u g h th e ir in stitu tio n s. This cam paign is an effort to have T IA A -C R EF provide an alte rn a ­ tive sto ck in v e stm e n t fu n d th a t is free o f in v est­ m ents in firms e ith e r doing business in South Africa o r involved in th e p ro d u c tio n o f n u c le a r w e a p o n s . Som e institutions o f h ig h er education have already p e rm itte d e m p lo y ee in v e stm e n t in to socially r e ­ sponsible investm ent funds like Pax W orld F u n d or in B eijing su p p lies b o th th e s e classifications. B e ­ fore 1965, it u s e d th e L ib rary o f C ongress classifi­ cation. T h e N ational Library will eventually supply only th e C h in e se L ibrary C lassification in its a u to ­ m a te d u n io n catalog, b e c au se 80% o f th e C h in e se lib ra rie s are u sin g th is system . R ight now , th e N a tio n al L ib ra ry in B eijing is w orking on its C h i­ n e se n a m e a u th o rity a n d on su b je c t h e a d in g a u ­ th o rity in o rd e r to p r e p a r e for a n atio n al C h in e se b ib lio g ra p h ic datab ase. IS B D a n d A A C R 2 w illb e u s e d in catalo g in g all m aterials. T h e M ARC fo r­ m ats and national rom anization tables will b e used for d a ta en try . Access p o in ts will in c lu d e C h in e se classification n u m b e rs , ISB N , a n d L C su b je c t headings. It is estim ated th a t this autom ation effort will b e g in in 1990. In th e m e a n tim e th e N atio n al L ib ra ry has u se d W L N softw are fo r its W e ste rn - language m aterials. S ince its e s ta b lis h m e n t in 1979, th e C h in a L i­ brary Society has sponsored classes on cataloging of C h in e se m aterials. An es tim a te d 1,500 catalogers have b e e n tra in e d since S e p te m b e r 1984. Today, every a c ad em ic lib ra ry has a special d e p a rtm e n t w h ich w orks on p r e p a r in g fo r lib rary a u to m a tio n . T h e s ta ff o f th e s e u n its a re actively d e v e lo p in g th e ir ow n a u to m a te d system s. T h e p r e s e n t C h in e s e lib ra ry situ a tio n has tw o m ajor difficulties. O n e is th e d iffe re n t classification sys­ tem s w hich fra g m en t lib ra ry collections. T h e r e ­ classification o f so m any lib rary collections will be a m ajor u n d e rta k in g . T h e o th e r difficu lty is th a t C h in e se c h a ra c te rs a re very d ifficu lt to sto re a n d retrieve online. At th e m om ent th ere is not a unique m e th o d for C h in e se c h a ra c te r d a ta e n try . H o p e ­ fully, in th e n e a r fu tu re — w hen all th e s e obstacles will have b e e n reso lv ed a n d w h e n th e te le p h o n e com m unications system will have im proved— indi­ vidual lib ra ries will be able to c o n trib u te th e ir u n iq u e rec o rd s to th e national biblio g rap h ic d a ta ­ b ase a n d will b e able to b u ild a C h in e se un io n catalog online. ■ ■ C alvert Social In v estm e n t F und. T hese funds have ra te s o f in v e s tm e n t e q u a l to o r b e tt e r th a n C R E F a n d o th e r stock p o rtfo lio s. M any o f us are unw ittingly fun d in g activities w e w ould n e v e r d rea m o f su p p o rtin g if w e w ere aware o f them . If nothing else, th e C lean Up TIA A -C R E F c am p aig n sh o u ld serve to aw aken o u r individual resp o n sib ility to socially conscious in v estm e n ts reg a rd le ss o f w h a t p e n s io n fu n d s o u r m onies are vested in. F o r m ore inform ation, contact: C lean Up T IA A -C R E F, P eace Studies In stitu te, M anchester C ollege, N o rth M a n ch e ster, IN 46962; (219) 982- 2141, x346 o r x343.— T e rry L in k , R eferen ce L i ­ brarian, M ichigan State U niversity L ib ra ry. ■ ■