APPENDIX E: REPORT OF PROF. BETH EVANS ON CUNY- SHANGHAI NORMAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES FACULTY EXCHANGE PROGRAM
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CUNY-Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange Fall 2011 Shanghai Normal University Residency Report
Beth Evans, Brooklyn College Library Brooklyn College of the City University of New York December 30, 2011
Submitted to: Kenneth Schlesinger, Chief Librarian, Leonard Lief Library, Lehman College, City University of New York
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Kenneth Schlesinger, Chief Librarian of the Leonard Lief Library of Lehman College, for his continued vision of the need to build strong international relations between the academic and research libraries of the world, for seeing the importance of making the City University of New York (CUNY) Libraries a part of such endeavors, and for proposing and seeing through to its realization and growth the idea of a CUNY-Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange Program. The author also wishes to thank Curtis Kendrick, CUNY University Librarian, for his unwavering support and advocacy for the CUNY-Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange Program. Thanks, too, to the commitment of the Library Association of the City University of New York International Relations Roundtable for helping the program take shape as a robust and inclusive opportunity for the many library faculty of the CUNY libraries. Additionally, thanks are extended to the library faculty of the Brooklyn College Library including Chief Librarian Stephanie Walker, Jane Cramer and all the others who continued in the demanding work of running the Brooklyn College Library during a semester of notably reduced staffing in order to allow a colleague the invaluable opportunity to take part in the exchange. A very special thanks and place is reserved in the author’s heart for the hosting librarians at the Shanghai Normal University Library including Chief Librarian Chen, Deputy Chief Librarian Hu, Assistant to the Chief Librarian Ma, Head of Information Processing and exchange coordinator Lei Shunli, interpreters and companions Xiaoxia Liu, Cheng Tang and Ye Cai. Added thanks to all of the others who welcomed the author and her son into their work and lives in order to make their stay in China comfortable and productive. Lastly, the author extends eternal thanks to her family for supporting her on the trip and standing by her, both near and from afar, as she participated in building a new and important program for the libraries of the City University of New York.
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Introduction
The fall 2011 CUNY-Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange was significant in that it marked the final residency of two City University of New York (CUNY) library faculty at the campuses of Shanghai University (SU) and Shanghai Normal University (SHNU). These final residencies were informed and enriched by the residencies of the earlier visits of other CUNY library faculty and can serve to point the way towards future exchanges involving the libraries and library faculty of the CUNY colleges and universities in Shanghai and other cities in China. What follows is the report of the experience of Beth Evans who was resident at Shanghai Normal University October 8 - November 5, 2011. CUNY librarians Subash Gandi of Queens College, Jennifer King of Lehman College and Ryan Phillips of Baruch College have previously described the Shanghai Normal University campuses and library facilities (Gandi, 3; Phillips, 2-4; 6-7), history of the university (Gandi, 2; Phillips, 2), accommodations afforded the CUNY faculty (Gandi, 5; King, 3-4), itinerary followed by the visitors (Gandi, 8-10; King, 4-5; 7-9; Phillips, 9-12)), resources offered by the libraries (Gandi, 10-11), and tips for getting around Shanghai (Gandi, 8; King, 3). Additionally, Phillips has done a thorough job of outlining the organizational structure of SHNU (4-7) as well as describing the use of technology at SHNU (8). 1 The author will make a brief reference to some of the information previously shared and will elaborate on the areas of discussion that have not been covered in depth or that were excluded from the earlier discussions. She will also look more deeply at the job experiences of individual librarians in China and discuss how the training and current position of librarians at SHNU and the structure of the library itself may suit a continued exchange/sister library relationship with the CUNY libraries.
Shanghai Normal University Overview SHNU has existed since 1954 and in its current form reflects a number of mergers of educational institutions. The original focus, as the name “Normal” implies, was on teaching. Although 30% of graduating students still become teachers, the University has expanded into other disciplines.
SHNU Divided Campuses/Divided Libraries SHNU has two campuses, Xuhui and Fengxian. Xuhui is the original campus and is located in central Shanghai. As the universities of Shanghai have grown, the demand for more space has led to construction of newer campuses in the suburbs. This has been true for both Shanghai Normal University and Shanghai University. The CUNY librarians at Shanghai Normal University have spent the majority of their time at the inner-city campus, whereas CUNY faculty at Shanghai University lived and worked at the Baoshan suburban campus of their university.
1 Gandi, S. CUNY-Shanghai University Libraries Faculty Exchange Program – A Report by Subash Gandhi. Unpublished Manuscript; King, J. A. Shanghai CUNY Library Faculty Exchange Program Residency Report. Unpublished Manuscript; Phillips, R. CUNY – Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange: Spring 2011 Residency Report. Unpublished Manuscript.
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The large suburban campuses offer dramatic, spacious, airy and light library buildings with equally impressive collections. In contrast, the older campuses closer to the city center suffer from the same space limitation problems of any institution that has long since outgrown its facilities. And as may happen wherever space is at a premium, the final configuration of the physical plant may not be ideal. On the Xuhui campus, for example, the library occupies space in three separate buildings and can claim no single building as its own (see Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 SHNU Xuhui Campus: The East Campus library (left) occupies several lower floors of a tall administrative building and includes several of the subject-focused reading rooms. The West Campus library includes other subject-focused reading rooms and the ancient books collection. It is divided across two attached buildings connected by a roof-top walkway (center). Yet another building on the West Campus is undergoing an expansion, nearly complete, that will double its size and include storage for audio visual materials and older periodicals (right).
CUNY libraries have undergone numerous building projects over the decades of their existence. Many CUNY library faculty have experienced the challenges of working in a physical environment in transition. For example, when the Brooklyn College Library was undergoing a renovation and expansion in the late 1990’s, staff were divided over two campus buildings, circulating books were housed in an on- campus, non-ADA-compliant facility and were available only by paging, and a portion of the collection was sent to off-campus storage. Faculty, staff and students put up with a less-than-ideal situation knowing that it was temporary. When asked how staff felt about working in the divided spaces of the Xuhui SHNU campus Library, none complained about what has become the normal way of conducting business. It was difficult to elicit student opinion about what could be a confusing arrangement, but it did appear that students came to know the set-up quickly and find their favorite places to study. Perhaps the scattering of library spaces across the Xuhui campus is not seen as an inconvenience when compared to the chore of journeying to or living at the Fengxian campus of SHNU. Fengxian was opened in 2003 bringing the total campus land occupied to over 40,000 square meters. Freshmen and Sophmores attend classes at the Fengxian campus. Juniors, seniors and graduate students take their classes on the Xuhui campus. Plans are eventually to have all of the undergraduates moved to the Fengxian campus. The Fengxian campus Library occupies a single building.
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Fig. 2 Scenes from the SHNU Fengxian Campus include a view across the man-made lake of the clock tower building adjacent to the Library building, one of the ubiquitous campus bicycle parking lots outside the Library building and a view from the sixth floor of the Library building.
Buses to the Fengxian campus for faculty and staff depart at 6:45, 8:00, 9:15am, 12:00, 12:30, 1:30, 3:30 and 5:15pm. Buses depart from Xuhui for Fengxian at 6:40, 9:45 am, 12:30, 3:30, 4:00, and 4:45pm. Typically one bus runs at a time, except during the busiest times early and late in the day when as many as six to seven buses make the run. The trip takes 50 minutes of mostly highway driving. Students traveling on public transportation between campuses would need about an hour and a half to make the trip. As of this writing, the Fengxian campus is not accessible by subway. The suburban Shanghai University campus, in contrast, is on a recently-built train line.
SHNU Library Organizational Structure
One of the challenges for SHNU as an academic library is that the Chief Librarian reports to the top management of the University rather than to the chief academic officer as library directors in CUNY do. The reporting structure suggests that the Library is not valued as an academic arm of the institution. Consequently, many efforts are being made to make better connections with the academic departments. The organizational structure of the SHNU library from the Chief down is not very different from that of many academic American libraries. Units reporting to the Chief include Resource Construction, Administration, Information Research and Development, Technique Assistance Department, Reading Services, and, on the Xuhui campus, Ancient Books. Unit heads have offices on both campuses.
Resource Construction The Resource Construction Unit of the Library (referred to in Phillips as the Source Data Collection Department, p.6) handles book acquisition, cataloguing and distribution. It is located on the Xuhui campus and is considered a critical component of the library. Three librarians with master’s degrees do book selection within three of the broad subject areas of the Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences. The library budget for both electronic and printed materials tends to be stable at 10 million ¥ per year (approximately $1.5 million). Collection Construction is responsible for purchasing, cataloguing, checking in, adding a protective covering to paperback books and routing newly purchased books between the two
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campuses. The same shuttle bus that moves faculty and staff between the two campuses also transports books requested by students at one campus or the other. A single librarian decides how to divide newly purchased books between the campuses.
Fig. 3 Books shelved at either of the two SHNU campuses may be requested by students residing on either campus and are typically transported in standard, non-commercial-use luggage packed onto one of the daily shuttle buses that runs between Xuhui and Fengxian.
The SHNU Library catalogs 26 foreign language and 60 Chinese language books each day. Cataloguing uses CM MARC and US MARC as well as the Chinese Library Classification System developed in the 1990’s and continually updated. Call numbers are divided in two parts. The first part includes the classification number. The second part of the call number includes a letter and number that reflects the author’s name and the chronology of the individual book within the author’s opus.
Fig. 4 Chinese call numbers on English-language books.
China has approximately 500 publishers, each of which sends a copy of every new book published to a repository in the Chinese National Library. Because big deal purchases are making all research and academic libraries more similar to each other than ever before, the history of the individual libraries and their purpose will tend to determine what might be special about their collections. SHNU, for example, has books on local counties, towns and their history. The collection is strong in the humanities and 95% complete in its coverage of modern Chinese writers who wrote between 1911 and 1949.
Foreign language books include predominately books in English and Japanese with a number of other languages represented. The Chinese are comfortable using the term “foreign-language,” though this may sound anachronistic to Americans preferring now the term “non-English language” to describe materials in
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any language other than English. Ironically, the term “foreign” language when used in Chinese libraries is most often English. Notable among the English-language holdings in the SHNU Library are books by non-Chinese publishers, published and sold at a discount to the Chinese. For example, Fawcett, Ellram & Ogden’s Supply Chain Management was purchased for 68¥ (approximately $9) and sells for $153.33 in the United States. Interestingly, turning this price disparity into an entrepreneurial opportunity did not work out well for one enterprising Supap Kirtsaeng. A recent court decision, John Wiley & Sons Inc v. Supap Kirtsaeng, has led the library world to conclude that the right of first sale is now being limited to books published in the United States (see http://acrlog.org/2011/08/30/nothing-right-about-this-copyright-ruling/). The fallout from the case will be closely watched.
Fig. 5 Asian and American editions of a book in the SHNU library compared.
Administrative Office The Administrative Office is another managerial unit of the SHNU Library. The office deals with supplies, salaries, exhibitions and student relations. One of the outcomes of working with student relations has been the formation of a Readers’ Association. The Readers’ Association boasts a healthy participation rate, perhaps, in part, because association membership in one or more groups is required of all students. Students may join sports or academically-related associations. The Library’s Readers’ Association invites scholars to speak, invites students to write reviews of books and movies, the best of which are posted on the walls of the Library and on the Library’s online forum, and organizes other similar activities.
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Information and Research Development
A third department, the Department of Information and Research Development (referred to in Phillips as Information Processing Department, p. 5), is responsible for reference consultations, document delivery, reader training, instruction on information retrieval, lectures on library use for both undergraduates and graduate students, the information commons and science and technology novelty research. Science and technology novelty research, not a feature of American academic library services, provides literature reviews to discover if prior research has been done on a topic. It prevents Chinese science researchers from unnecessarily duplicating the efforts of others. For background reading on novelty research in Chinese academic libraries, see Li Aiguo. (2007). “A Kind of Transformation of Information Service—Science and Technology Novelty Search in Chinese University Libraries.” Journal of Academic Librarianship (33)1, 144-48. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0099133307000316.
Technique Assistance
The Technique Assistance Department serves as the Library’s systems department. It concerns itself with Library IT, circulation, and the OPAC. The Library oversees the Information Center whose job it is to assure internet and wireless access. The campus Department of Devices is separate from the Library and deals with hardware and campus infrastructure.
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Reading Services Reading Services, the fifth managerial unit of the SHNU Library, is divided into four units, two on each campus. Reading Services on the Fengxian campus covers Science and Technology, the Return Desk, Newspapers and Periodicals (No. 3 Reading Services) and Literature and Art, Social Sciences, Teacher Education (including Masters Theses), Foreign Languages and Marketing. Reading Services staff is responsible for answering directional questions, retrieving rarer books from a number of closed stacks, maintaining the periodicals deposit boxes and maintaining the environment of the reading rooms. The rooms must be kept quiet and clean (no food or cell phones are allowed), the numerous plants must be watered and the temperature must be controlled. Reading Services identifies maintenance problems and contacts the appropriate staff for repairs. Reading Services staff keep the books in order so that they are easily accessed by the students. SHNU employs a system of distributing plastic shelf markers so that students can indicate the places on shelves where they have removed books. The system, ideally, makes re-shelving easier, but students are not always diligent about placing the place markers when they remove books. Reading room staff bring books meticulously to the edges of the shelves to make it easier for students to see the collection. The guidelines for shelf maintenance are strictly adhered to and a matter of pride for the staff. The Vice-Chief Librarian runs bi-monthly competitions among the different reading rooms to see that miss-shelving is kept to a minimum.
Fig. 6 The reading room staff directs much of its attention towards the maintenance of an orderly, pleasant and comfortable reading room. In addition to handling book circulation, they distribute place holders for books pulled from the stacks and care for the plants that fill every reading room.
Ancient Chinese Books
The SHNU Xuhui campus is the only campus of the two at SHNU with an ancient books collection. Ancient Books is a distinctive organizational unit of the SHNU Library and the head of the unit reports to the Chief Librarian.
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SHNU Library Facilities Reading Rooms
Both Xuhui and Fengxian campuses of SHNU have multiple reading rooms serving different disciplines. Reading rooms are open 8am-10pm seven days a week and staffed with a combination of full-time and part-time staff, including students. Typically students are not allowed to bring their backpacks and bags into the reading rooms on either campus. On the Xuhui campus where space is tighter students also may not bring their own books into several of the reading rooms. Laptops are allowed and any books from the room itself may be used. The entry way to each reading room usually provides lockers for books and bags. Very often soft drink vending machines appear alongside the lockers. The Fengxian campus of SHNU is unique in that it offers student-managed reading rooms as well as the reading rooms managed by Library staff. The student managed reading rooms are notable for the piles of books, drink bottles and personal belongings often left unattended on the tables. The students who manage the rooms are likely to clear the tables of books perhaps only once a week. This remains a problem for the library staff when a significant number of books from the collection appear to be missing.
Fig. 7 Beverage vending Machines and book bag drop-off locations are commonly found outside academic library reading rooms. SHNU Fengxian campus is distinctive for its student-run reading room.
The periodical reading rooms at SHNU library include Chinese newspapers and magazines (nearly 200 titles) and non-Chinese language materials. Entering the room for older periodicals, the author’s guide commented that “we can tell by the smell that this room contains the older periodicals.” SHNU has never had microfilm versions of periodicals and note that the expense of the reading machines made collecting the format prohibitive. The ancient books reading room at SHNU houses a collection of 5800 rare books including cartography and books by classical theorists. The ancient books reading room is furnished in the Ming style. The exhibit room includes a rare, 100 year old encyclopedia set housed in a custom-designed cabinet. Compartments of varying sizes are labeled with subject content. Two such encyclopedia sets exist in Shanghai. The second set is owned by the publishing house itself. Many visiting scholars have seen this piece, but it is not clear if it has been the object of extensive research in its own right.
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Pieces on display in the ancient books exhibit room are copies of actual pieces in the collection. A copyright page on display is noted as demonstrating China’s long tradition of concern for protecting intellectual property. Some items on display show the seal of both the book collector himself and of the author whom the collector might have invited for a visit to his home. A particularly outstanding and unusual piece on display is an illustrated book containing brief biographies of over 90 ancient Chinese scholars with individuated drawings of each scholar. One book is a listing of ancient books and is remarkable for the paper used in its printing. The color of the paper indicates that it was dyed to make it insect resistant. Another rare item is a 700 year old wood block print. Other prints displayed contrast a government printing and private printing. Two additional prints display improved printing techniques that introduced two and then four colors. The library also includes examples of prints made with movable wood and movable iron type.
Fig. 8 The SHNU Ancient Books reading room and some of its treasures.
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Viewing Rooms & Computer Labs
Often the physical and temporal opposite of the Xuhui campus, the Fengxian campus is spacious and includes three video viewing rooms. When the author arrived at the campus, a class of students was in one of the video rooms watching a film on how to use the Library. The Library had partnered with film students attending SHNU who created the film. A recent audience of students seemed to be enjoying a sort of inside joke as they watched the film. CUNY librarians are likely to have heard such responses to their own formal presentations at times when they may appear to be taking themselves a little too seriously or appear to be stating the obvious in order to drive home a point. Students in their late teens and early twenties, universally, seem to have a more casual attitude about some things that adults take quite seriously. The new campus at Fengxian has more than one spacious and airy computer lab that can be reserved as a classroom or used by students individually. There are PCs but no Apple computers. Currently SHNU students pay 1¥ for an hour of internet access through a lab computer. This is not standard practice in all academic libraries – East China Normal University, for example, offers free internet access to its students - - but China has a plan to eliminate the cost of access to all college students at some point soon. The SHNU Fengxian Library building is wireless and wireless access is free.
Information Commons
When the Fengxian campus Library was opened in 2001/2002, the Math and Science College occupied the sixth floor space until its own building was completed. In 2007 the space was returned to the Library and turned into an Information Commons. The Library currently occupies all of its building with the exception of the eighth floor. The Commons is marked by its open floor plan with stacks, reading, computing, and viewing and relaxing areas all combined. The IKEA furnishings add to the light and airy environment. The small, opened viewing area is remarkable for its cushioned auditorium seating and absent fourth wall. The open atmosphere is expected to promote problem solving.
Fig. 9 The SHNU Fengxian campus Information Commons and its three-walled auditorium.
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Exhibitions
The Fengxian campus Library includes a large and airy exhibition space adjacent to its book deposit counter. Exhibitions are developed through the Administrations Office. In the fall of 2011 the Library presented an exhibit reflecting the 100th anniversary of Sun Yat Sen’s assent to power and the end of imperial China. In celebrating 1911, the country is celebrating xinhai, or one of 60 years in a repeating cycle. The Fengxian exhibit features items from the library collection acquired during this time period. As a teaching college, textbooks figure significantly in the early collection.
Fig. 10 From the 2011 exhibit at the SHNU Fengxian campus Library.
SHNU Library Service to Faculty
The Library offers reading rooms exclusively for faculty on the Fengxian campus. Office space for faculty is in short supply, so these spacious, quiet, well-appointed rooms with individual carrels offering computer access are welcomed. The faculty reading rooms are one way the library can assert its importance for academics on campus. Another way the Library has connected with faculty has been the establishment of close connections with the marketing department. A member of the department and a library staff member liaise with each other to assure that the collection and instruction meet the department’s unique needs. The SHNU Marketing Department is among the top five of its kind in China. As such, it is an important department to include as an ally and the library has made significant inroads in establishing this relationship.
Off-Campus Access to Licensed Resources & Streaming Video
SHNU does not offer proxy access broadly to all. Faculty may use a VPN account and login with their school email to access licensed databases off-campus. Students have no off-campus database access, but since most live in dormitories on campus, the arrangement may be workable. The Library/vendors (hard to say which ones) are concerned that students with proxy access might give the access information to others
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outside of the campus, and, as one guide commented, “non-students, ladies in offices or in factories, do not need access to databases.” Cost may be the determining factor as well, since licensing that includes proxy access is more expensive. SHNU has begun to focus on its audio visual capabilities as one more way to enhance relations with fauclty. More and more faculty, particularly in finance and education, are requesting video for their instruction. The Library is striving to stream video on campus for classroom instruction. Faculty and visiting scholar lectures are being recorded and added to the Library’s collection. A four story extension has been very recently added to the Xuhui campus building housing the library audio-visual offices and collection.
Perception of Librarianship and Libraries in China
The CUNY librarians who have taken part in the Shanghai exchange have noted without exception the differences in pre-professional librarian training between the United States and China. How one comes to be a librarian will be a very different experience depending on where an individual lives. Moreover, of equal importance and related to the former, one’s job satisfaction and interest in continuing education in the field will be affected by the country in which one practices the profession. The author met and spent time with several librarians who work at the Shanghai Normal University Library and other libraries in Shanghai. She learned about their backgrounds, current circumstances and future aspirations. Additionally, her travels outside of Shanghai led to general observations about libraries as an institution in china. Descriptions of the education, careers and lives of several of Chinese librarians as well as observations about Chinese libraries follow.
Cheng Tang (“Tony”)
It is hard to think of 28 year old Cheng Tang as anything but “Tony.” His English is so excellent and his interest in western culture is so evident that one needs to be reminded that Tony was born, raised and educated in rural China before he left to study library science as an undergraduate at Northeast Normal University (NNU) in Changchun, Jilin province. Tony began to learn English as most Chinese of his age did in high school and college. Students who are currently in college most likely began the study of English in middle school. It is quite common these days to meet grade school children who are beginning to study English. Failure to achieve a certain level of English competency will exclude one from going to college. Until recently, demonstrating a certain level of proficiency in English would determine whether or not one would graduate from college as well. Tony came to major in library science unintentionally. His college admissions test scores were not high enough for him to attend a top ranking college, but because NNU could not recruit enough students for its library science major, Tony had the opportunity to enter this top-ranked school, so long as he majored in library science. Approximately two months before his graduation in 2004, Tony began his job search that successfully resulted in his finding a job at SHNU that began immediately upon his finishing his degree. Tony attributes the ease with which he found an academic library position to the boom in construction of suburban satellite campuses for many universities in 2003. Additionally, in the case of job opportunities for students of library science in Shanghai, no undergraduate library degree students were being graduated from the local colleges. These two factors made Tony’s job search easy. As he explains, though, three short years after he got his job, the situation changed dramatically. A single opening in 2007 at SHNU Library
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elicited 300 resumes. As a result of the tightening job market, those with jobs are staying put in their jobs. A similar situation holds true in the United States today as well. Tony is quite satisfied with his library job, though he does harbor an entrepreneurial dream of starting an organic farm one day on his parent’s land. In the meantime, he feels that a librarian pay is acceptable and the hours allow him the freedom to spend time with his two year old son and to teach Chinese privately to foreigners. Tony is married to another SHNU librarian, Vivian, who works in exhibitions. The couple and their son live with Vivian’s mother (also their baby sitter) close to the Xuhui campus in an apartment they own. Tony also owns a car but does not use it for work. Though he works at the Fengxian campus, his schedule is Sunday and Monday from 8am – 10pm and Tuesday from 8am – 5pm and he takes the shuttle bus to his job. The shuttle bus does not run in the evening, but dormitories are provided on the edges of the Fengxian campus for faculty and staff who work late so Tony lives away from home two nights a week.
Ye Zhu
Ye Zhu, the foreign language cataloger, is also satisfied with her SHNU library job. She has a master’s degree in Japanese from Shanghai Foreign Language University, but has studied English as well. She completed a three month, full-time practicum at the SHNU Library when she was close to finishing her master’s degree and was hired following her graduation. She lives in Shanghai with her family and grew up in Shanghai. She lives about one hour on public transportation away from her job.
Ying Cai
Tony and Zhu found their jobs easily and remain quite satisfied working in the reading rooms and in Resource Construction, respectively. Job dissatisfaction is not unheard of, though, and mobility is most likely to be achieved through advancing one’s education. Ying Cai, for example, who works as a librarian in one of the foreign language reading rooms, is looking for a change and will begin a PhD program in American literature next fall studying under a well known scholar Huang Tiechi, who himself has studied in the United States and Russia. Cai has a master’s degree and hopes after she completes her PhD to get a job teaching American literature at a university. She notes that the best jobs will come to those with the most teaching experience and connections to someone who already has a position.
Rongyan Kai
Kai has worked in a number of offices at the SHNU Library since she graduated with her undergraduate library degree 26 years ago from East China Normal University. She currently works in the same foreign language reading room as Cai, but in contrast appears to be satisfied with her current position and has no plans to change jobs. Her prime interest is in raising her one son along with her engineer husband. The family lives in Shanghai, travels often, has been to the United States and visited family outside of Detroit and enjoys their leisure time together. Kai has little interest in professional development and prefers to spend free time reading what interests her outside of her library profession.
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Wong Zongliang
Zongliang has the distinction of being the SHNU Library’s solo software developer. His position is similar to that of programmers in American libraries who singularly are responsible for the development of tools designed to meet the individual needs of the library. The software may solve problems not addressed by off-the-shelf products or available in products too costly for the library to license of purchase. Using open source software, Zongliang has created the website for the Library, an ILL form, a chat system that resides on the site, an asynchronous query form, bibliographic instruction modules (http://202.121.63.18), an electronic resources management system (http://59.78.130.15/libdm), an interactive newsletter platform (http://www.lib.shnu.edu.cn/html/hdpt/xxkb/InfoNews.html) and an institutional repository for SHNU dissertations. He has worked for the Library since 2003, the year he got his undergraduate degree in programming. At this point, much of what he knows comes from being self-taught. Zongliang lives alone in Shanghai and looks forward to the three weeks of winter and six weeks of summer vacation typical for all academic library employees. During the holidays Zongliang makes the seven hour trip back to his home town of Zheng Zhou, Henan province where his wife lives and cares for their infant daughter. His wife quit her job in Shanghai when the baby was born to return to their home province and care for the baby. As noted, another librarian with a young child, Tony, is fortunate to have his mother-in- law living with him to provide childcare. Others in the library with infants will send their children to their home provinces to be cared for by a grandparent. Using a non-family member for childcare is not at all common in current-day China. Since the cost of home ownership in Shanghai is prohibitive, it is often more cost effective to send a child back to a grandparent rather than to buy an apartment large enough to accommodate a grandparent in an expensive city like Shanghai.
Xiaoxia Liu
Xiaoxia is the one librarian at SHNU who has been to the United States as part of the CUNY-Shanghai exchange and who met and worked with the author. Like Tony, Xiaoxia did not come into librarianship as her first career choice. When she was unable to begin college as a pre-med student, she chose librarianship for her undergraduate studies, but unlike Tony, Xiaoxia went on to earn a master’s degree in library science. Xiaoxia has a responsible position in Information and Research Development. She appears to be in charge of the Information Commons on the Fengxian campus of SHNU and teaches the two-credit library class given to undergraduates. Xiaoxia enjoys her job, benefits from living in low-cost, University housing near the Xuhui campus, but must commute daily to the Fengxian campus. She is well aware of what the requirements are for career advancement in her job and recognizes that publication on librarianship will be required. Xiaoxia and the author discussed a joint research project comparing the professional development of American and Chinese librarians.
Other Librarians, Other Libraries
A significant component of the CUNY-Shanghai Library Exchange involved visits to other academic and public libraries in Shanghai. The author visited the libraries at East China Normal University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Shanghai University as well as the Shanghai Public Library, the Shanghai Children’s Library, and the Pudong District Public Library. Notably, tour guides on two of the visits were public librarian career changers who had originally worked as English teachers. A state-run examination
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provides the opportunity to change jobs and become a librarian, though career changing in general is less common in China than it is in the United States. Both career-changers feel that work in librarianship will provide a more certain future. Their prior jobs were not in the public school system, but rather had been in commercial language teaching environments geared towards those interested in working abroad.
One librarian the author met outside of the SHNU Library, the tour guide at the Pudong District Library, Mr. Ying, is a young, ancient languages scholar educated at one of China’s top-ranked universities, Fudan University. Ying finds working with the rare books at his library to be a perfect career match for his education. The visits to other Shanghai libraries provided an opportunity not only to meet other librarians, but also a chance to admire stunning works of public architecture. Other CUNY librarians have discussed the collections and facilities of the large and impressive libraries of Shanghai. Jiaotong University, for example, with its “E” shaped floor plan, dramatic central atriums, unique furnishing and striking spiral staircases connecting the floors of each wing will never fail to stun the visitor anymore than will the presence of a full-service foodmart on its first floor. The oddity of Pudong District Public Library’s being disconnected from the Shanghai Public Library system because they do not share an automated integrated library system is worth noting as is the incongruous presence in the same library of a circulating collection restricted to those who hold cards for the Shanghai Public Library.
But what is perhaps most startling to the author in her experience of the institution of libraries outside of her home-base at the SHNU is the lack of a public library in a smaller city visited following her residency in Shanghai. When the author asked her tour guides to see the public library while visiting Lianyungang, a city of five million in Jiangsu province, she was brought to a bookstore that resembled a Barnes and Noble and told that the only libraries in town were those in the schools and others set up for working people in factories. It is clear that parts of China are ripe for a public library movement similar to the ones that swept through the western world during the nineteenth century. An unfortunate scenario may transpire, though, if this opportunity to provide public libraries is passed over in a turn of events similar to the situation with the microfilm readers described earlier. It may be decided that library buildings are a technology too costly to adopt and, in fact, at this point a technology past its time. There may be a belief perpetuated in China, similar to one espoused by some in the United States, that there is no need for libraries since they have been replaced by the internet and virtual collections.
The author did not conduct her interviews of Chinese librarians and visits to libraries outside of the official program in a systematic manner. Her observations are anecdotal and the conclusions drawn are not the result of carefully planned research. Nonetheless, her precursory experiences suggest that there are significant differences in the job responsibilities and commitment of Chinese who are called librarians as compared to the responsibilities and commitment of librarians trained in the United States. Moreover, factors that determine one’s educational path from the early years and on into a career and retirement are significantly different in the two countries and might be seen as a driving force in either country in how professional librarians are shaped, put to work and maintained in their profession.
Most of the Chinese population see education as a key to leaving farm life and factory work in the provinces behind. Positions in the top universities are coveted and achieving such a placement might override any interest in choosing a particular major or career. Library jobs in China are available to those with undergraduate library degrees and other degrees well. In contrast, in the United States, to become a
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librarian almost always requires a graduate degree in library science. Individuals who have explored a variety of disciplines as undergraduates and who have had time to consider and try out different majors are most likely to be committed to becoming librarians when they decide to put their money and time into a graduate program.
Once in a job, satisfaction from security in the job may override the desire to take a risk and explore the limited options that could make the job remain fresh and invigorating for a Chinese employee. Chinese librarians may be less likely than American librarians to engage in professional development or change one’s workplace in a search for the best position possible. Additionally, stresses in one’s personal life such as the absence of family members, due to residency issues and costs in Chinese cities, may redefine the priorities of some employees who find geographic distances, at times, turning their attention from their jobs. Retirement in China is mandatory at 55 for women and 60 for men. When many mid-career librarians in their late 40’s in the United States, looking forward to twenty more years on the job, are considering the next career moves to help them continue to feel relevant, librarians of the same age in China are looking to finishing up their careers and not likely to be eager to take on or train for new job responsibilities.
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Fig. 11 Libraries in China require great reaching, both literally and figuratively, whether it be to pull books off the high-placed shelves of the Pudong District Library of Shanghai, to water the hanging foliage of the same facility or to move the readers out of the local bookstore in Lianyungang into a library proper.
Continuing the Partnership
The SHNU student body numbers 40,000 with 12,000 students attending part-time. Two thousand international students attend from 50 countries. SHNU has 211 partner institutions in 30 countries including 60 in the United States. SHNU sends 360 of its own students to study abroad annually. In total SHNU is involved in 80 exchange programs. As a further way to maintain its international profile, every two years the University hosts an international arts festival. For example, in October 2011, the Peking Opera and Richard and the Tangaria Quartet performed on campus. According to Yamin Bia, Head of the SHNU International Relations Office, the exchange program at SHNU with CUNY is the first for the University involving libraries. The hope is that the program will be improved and sustained, perhaps through contact on the internet and joint research. The author offers several suggestions for continued partnership between CUNY campuses and SHNU. Some would continue to involve the libraries directly and others could bring in other parts of the campuses with library faculty initiating the connections.
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A possibility for continued liaison activity with CUNY libraries might be to have a common reading with CUNY students and students in the SHNU Library Readers’ Association. Students can use an online forum to exchange thoughts on the common reading across the continents. As noted, some SHNU students belong to Reader Associations that encourage a dialog about books read. Chinese students might be eager to improve their English and have a chance to discuss something they have read in English. Students in Brooklyn College as well as other colleges in the United States with First-Year Experience programs participate in common reading programs as a unifying experience immediately prior to entering college. The common reading is referred to as they progress through the year and a number of activities associated with the common reading take place during the following semester.2 Adding the voices of the Chinese students to the discussion about the common reading at a CUNY college could enrich the dialog. In fact, books about China or written by Chinese American authors are frequently found in the common reading assignments of American Colleges. A book such as Rob Gifford’s China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power was chosen last year as Elon University’s common reading and could provoke an interesting back and forth on a range of disciplines including history, politics, economics, and social customs.
Another interesting opportunity for future exchange might involve the film production students of CUNY colleges comparing notes with Chinese college students about producing films for their respective campuses. Producing a cross-campus, cross-cultural film comparing libraries and their users could make an interesting documentary. As noted, film students at SHNU produced an information literacy movie for the Library.
CUNY campuses with strong business departments might also consider partnerships with Shanghai Normal University. In addition, because of SHNU’s history in teacher training, any CUNY College with a School of Education might consider SHNU a natural partner. Brooklyn College has long been strong in teacher training and has just launched its new School of Business. A proposal that involves both business and education students in an exchange with SHNU would be particularly well suited for Brooklyn College. One area for exploration might be to establish a partnership through the organization Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE). SHNU is a participant in SIFE as are Brooklyn College and the Borough of Manhattan Community College. SIFE projects involve reaching out to and educating members of the surrounding community to bring about economic improvement. Education students from CUNY schools and from SHNU, with their strengths and interest in teaching, can study and plan side-by-side with business school students. By tapping into the acumen of the business students in entrepreneurship, students sharing the exchange can develop ways to reach their respective communities and tune a proposal to address both the similarities and distinct differences of people living in two separate countries
2 Ferguson, M. (2006). Creating Common Ground: Common Reading and the First Year of College. Peer Review, 8(3), 8-10.
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Fig. 12 Posters around the SHNU campus suggest a growing interest in events occurring around the world as well as an interest in learning about other cultures and new ways of conducting business.
Lastly, CUNY and SHNU libraries should continue to foster close connections. As noted, the author and Xiaoxia Liu will be pursuing joint research on professional development among Chinese and American librarians to see if there is a correlation between career choice, pre-professional education and the desire and practice to continue one’s education in the library field after placement in a job. Simultaneously with their study, the author and Xiaoxia will investigate possibilities for shared continuing education, professional development and conference attendance and presentations. As was suggested at the wrap-up presentation and reception held at SHNU for both CUNY librarians participating in the fall 2011 exchange, chat rooms might be established to facilitate discussions prior to and following joint activities. Nonetheless, it was acknowledged that the time zone differences and limited language skills might inhibit the possibilities for discussion. The author has volunteered to investigate obtaining translation rights for webinars found to be especially useful for libraries on both sides of the equation.
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Conclusion
The CUNY-Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange opened new throughways of communications between Chinese and American libraries. CUNY libraries and the libraries of Shanghai Normal University and Shanghai University serve similar student bodies and researchers in the major international cities of their respective nations. Initiating an educational exchange between such prominent and strategically situated institutions suggests a boldness and sense of a larger purpose on the part of all institutions involved. Small things and large things have been accomplished through the exchange as it has progressed to this point. The bonds of friendship, trust and respect have been established between the individuals involved. Librarians have come away with fresh, new ideas for how to better their libraries. Travel thousands of miles away to a distant country may have for those involved seemed like the biggest feat accomplished. An even larger feat, however, that may require the greater effort, will be to sustain the newly formed bonds, regardless of the ability of the libraries and librarians involved to meet and communicate face-to-face.
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Links
Photographs of libraries visited in the CUNY-Shanghai Library Faculty Exchange program http://public.fotki.com/linb152/cuny-shanghai/ password: CUNY
Selected photographs of libraries visited http://public.fotki.com/linb152/china/libraries/ password: china
Shanghai Normal University Library http://www.lib.shnu.edu.cn/
SHNU databases http://www.lib.shnu.edu.cn/html/zlcx/szzy/
SHNU English-language databases http://www.lib.shnu.edu.cn/html/zlcx/szzy/db_list.asp?dblanguage=2
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