CALA

Chinese American
Librarians Association

Highlights and accomplishments 2005 - 2006

During 2005 and 2006, the Greater Mid-Atlantic Chapter organized two programs that were well received and earned high praise and overwhelmingly positive remarks from the attendees. The two programs were sponsored jointly by the Library of Congress Asian Division and The Asian Division Friends Society. As a distinguished member of our chapter and also the Chief of the Asian Division, Dr. Hwa-wei Lee introduced both keynote speakers. For the Fall Meeting on October 27,2005, the guest speaker was Sally Tseng, the Executive Director of CALA [program flyer]. For the Summer Meeting on June 15, 2006, the guest speaker was Dr. Bryan S. Bachner, the Assistant Director of Legal Research at the Law Library of Congress and the Chief of the Eastern Law Division. Both lectures were held in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress [program flyer].

Sally Tseng is well known and highly respected in CALA as well as in the library community. Our chapter was very pleased to have her come across the country to D.C. to give us a much anticipated talk, "Metadata and Their Applications to Resources". This is a topic that is being discussed currently and is very much in focus among librarians. Recognized as a forerunner in this field, Mrs. Tseng introduced and described Metadata and the development of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR). She discussed its impact on the revision of the Resources Description and Access (formerly called AACR3), MARC 21, and authority control in the OPAC/WEBPAC environment. The 2.5 hour lecture was highly academic as well as practical and the participants expressed enormous appreciation for the information and cataloging knowledge that she shared. There were many requests made to our association asking for another visit or a copy of her well prepared and comprehensive power point presentation.

Dr. Bryan Bachner was the guest speaker for our summer annual meeting which concluded on June 15, 2006. The audience was captivated and excited by his dynamic speaking style, vast knowledge of Copyright law, and his unique experiences in Hong Kong and China for 16 years. He was Associate Professor of Law at the City University of Hong Kong and obtained his Ph.D. in Law from Wuhan University, becoming the first American doctorate of Law from China. Dr. Bachner provided a very interesting talk entitled, "The Culture of Copyright: China's Merging Role on the Global Stage". He remarked on China's effort in trying to keep pace with the current global copyright interaction, especially in the environment of the rapid development of the Internet. He also discussed the interaction of traditional and modern culture and the impacts on globalization, Sino-US diplomatic relations, and the Fair Use, that is central to the work of librarians. Dr. Bachner further explained how China needs to improve the enforcement of copyright in order to promote foreign investment and local cultural industry. He emphasized however that government needed to be careful not to over-protect owners and recognize the importance of public interests and values. He discussed this problem in terms of the US-Sino trade relations. Again, many attendees expressed a desire to learn more on this subject and hopefully have Dr. Bachner share his knowledge and insights with us again.

Report on the 2005 Annual Program [program flyer]

On April 22, 2005, GMAC invited Dr. Deanna B. Marcum, Associate Librarian for Library Service, Library of Congress to deliver a lecture on "The Future of Cataloging and Librarianship" at our annual meeting held in the Library of Congress. The lecture was co- sponsored by LC Asian Division. About 150 people attended including CALA members, LC staff and librarians from other federal government agencies and universities.

The program started with Dr. Hwa-wei Lee's introductory speech on Dr. Marcum.

Dr. Marcum began by talking about the requirements for libraries in the 21st century, and this involves five principles: First, digital collections are available at reader's fingertips and a library needs to capture information at the point of creation, rather than at the printing stage. Second, simple online keyword searching is much easier than card catalog that has been converted to online form. Third, while libraries have always worked with publishers to preserve the legacy of our knowledge, libraries today need to find a new way to preserve digital information which deteriorates quickly. Fourth, with copyright restrictions, current materials cannot be available online for patrons to use. However, libraries have legitimate reasons to provide information to readers and this access right is an issue that requires new solution. Fifth, library personnel need to be retrained to serve the public efficiently in this new age of e-databases and digital materials.

This brings up the issue of cataloging in the new age. The Library of Congress is the creator of the structure of cataloging but now libraries also provide a multitude of online databases including E-books and access to hundreds of scholarly journals online. Yet despite all of the above, younger students tend to go "Googling" first, and people generally prefer web search to OPAC. College students and the general public realize the shortcomings of the web, but they still go to portals before they go to OPAC.

One needs to ask " is detailed cataloging necessary" now that " word level indexing " is available? On Dec. 14, 2004, Google signed up five distinguished libraries to digitize 15 million books. Libraries have been great in providing intermediary search but their needs are now in question. Cataloging has been central to librarianship ever since Melville Dewey, but how do we deal with the new situation today?

Report on the 2004 Fall Program  

On November 6, 2004 CALA-Greater Mid-Atlantic Chapter held its Fall program at the Library of Congress. It was a very successful event with more than 100 participants.

Dr. Hwa-wei Lee, Chief of the Asian Division, Library of Congress, introduced Mr. Suettinger, the featured speaker of the program. Mr. Robert Suettinger, who was a former Director of Asian Affairs under President Clinton, gave a lecture on "The Challenge of making China policy: past and present". He traced the development of Sino- US relations from the Nixon era to the present and explained that his day-to-day work was not so much in formulating policy as in solving problems. When Bill Clinton first became President, he did not view the Sino-American relationship as important. The human rights issue was always a contentious point in the relationship between the two countries. Slowly, however, Clinton realized the significance of the relationship and proclaimed a strategic partnership with China. President George W. Bush looked at China as a rival, and it was not until after 9/11, that China and America drew closer together in the fight against terrorism. When asked if America would not want to see a unified China, his personal view was that Taiwan is not that significant to America's national interest and a unified China would not pose a threat to United States. He also believed that expansionism is not a trait in the culture nor tradition of China.

Some highlights and accomplishments of the first-half of the year (2000 - 2001)

1. Our chapter conducted a membership drive in Dec. 2000. We strongly encouraged the members to renew their membership or become a member before the new dues structure takes into effect in year 2001. So far, the result is that we have received 8 members for lifetime membership plus close to 30 regular annual membership.

2. To provide ongoing training and educational opportunities to the membership, our chapter presented a program “Buying a personal computer and computer trends on Sept. 30, 2000. About 25 members and general public attended this program. This program was co-sponsored by the Cultural Minorities Services of the Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries in Maryland, Computech Integration & Trade, Inc., and PC Warehouse in Beltsville, Maryland.

3. To inform our chapter’s membership, our secretary Mr. Zhangjun Yan has created a website for our local chapter. The URL is http://zyan.20m.com/cala/. This is a good start and we are adding more information to the page including our program announcement and other activities.

4. In September, three of our Board members, Mr. Lau, Mr. Yan, and Mr. Yu attended a reception sponsored by the Science Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. The Board members took this opportunity to promote CALA and the value of librarianship.

Prepared by: Clement Lau, Greater Mid-Atlantic Chapter’s president
Date: Jan. 5, 2001