First China-United States Library Conference

August 21-23, 1996

National Library of China

Beijing, China

General Theme: Global Information Access: Challenges and Opportunities

Organizers:

China:
• China Society for Library Science
• The National Library of China
  
U.S.:
• American Library Association
• Chinese American Librarians Association
• The Library of Congress
• U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
  

Organizing Committee:

• DU Ke Vice
  Chairman, China Society of Library Science
  Director, Library Bureau, Ministry of Culture, China
• ZHOU Heping
  Deputy Director, National Library of China
• SUN Beixin
  Member, Executive Board of IFLA
  Standing Council Member, China Society for Library Science
  Deputy Director, National Library of China
  
• Peter R. YOUNG
  Executive Director, U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
• Winston TABB
  Associate Librarian, The Library of Congress
• Hwa-Wei LEE
  Dean of University Libraries & Professor of Education, Ohio University
• Beverly P. LYNCH
  Professor, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California at Los Angeles
• Isabel STIRLING
  Professor and Head, Science Library, University of Oregon

Participants: About ninety leading library and information science professionals from both China and the United States participated in the presentations and discussions. This included 45 Chinese delegates, 25 American delegates, 15 observers, and 5 interpreters.

Donors: Financial support for the conference was provided by several organizations and companies:

• U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
• Council on Library Resources and Commission on Preservation and Access
• OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
• Blackwell North American, Inc.
• Congressional Information Service, Inc.
• EBSCO Subscription Services
• Innovative Interfaces, Inc.
• SilverPlatter Information, Inc.

0pening Ceremony: Speeches provided by several individuals welcoming the delegates and outlining conference goals, Speakers were:

• Mr. LIU Deyou, Chairman, China Society for Library Science
  
• Professor REN Jiyu, Director, The National Library of China
• Dr. Betty J. TUROCK, President. American Library Association
• Dr. Peter R. YOUNG, Executive Director, U.S. Natiorul Commission on Libraries
• and Information Science (Beverly Lynch substituted)
• Mr. Winston TABB, Associate Librarian of The Library of Congress
• Dr. Meng-Xiong LIU, President, Chinese-American Librarians Association
  

Conference Goals: By means of intensive discussion and mutual interaction. the conference will have a positive impact on the cooperation and development of libraries between China aud the United States as well as the whole world. The goals of the conference include:

• strengthen cooperation and collaboration
• enhance understanding
• exchange ideas and learn from one another
• advance the future of library science and information science
• identify key challenges and opportunities for global information access

Conference Themes: The key topics at the conference were focused around the following six theme areas which framed both the plenary presentations and the parallel sessions:

• China-U.S. Library Cooperation
• National and Global Information Infrastructures
• Information Technology
• Library and Information Science Education
• Preservation Issues
• Intellectual Property and Copyright Issues

• China-U.S. Library Cooperation
  
  • history of expanding exchanges of staff, resources and expertise between Chinese and American universities
  • need for more systematic approaches to cooperation
  • need to move beyond academic and research libraries. and involve public, school and special libraries
  • important role of international information networks, such as OCLC
  
  
• National and Global Information Infrastructures
  
  • network is a positive force in advancing learning, scholarship and economic development
  • importance of connectivity, reliability, capacity and performance of the network
  • critical policy and governance issues
  • must focus on content/digital multimedia
  • must focus on information organization and access needs
  
  
• Information Technology
  
  • leadership role for libraries in the development of information technologies
  • need for technical, telecommunications and bibliographic standards and library involvement in their development
  • information literary/user competency in use of information technology
  • need for research on the impact of technology and the changing economics of information
  • recognize patterns of technology development in libraries:
    • automation of basic operations and services
    • user-accessible electronic services
    • digital collections
    • sophisticated search and retrieval tools
    • networked information/virtual library
  • technology alters relationship between library aad user, and between user and information,/ul>
  
  
• Library and Information Science Education
  • extensive history of exchange and collaboration
  • rapid expansion over past 25 years in China in number of programs
  • merging of library science and information science
  • location of schools in university shifting
  • reforms needed in curriculum and teaching methods
  • concerns about faculty demographics
  • impact on education of technology and networked information
  • importance of continuing professional education and staff development for practitioners and educators
  • continuing importance of professional skills in digital library
  • need for dialogue between library practitioners and educators
  
  
• Preservation Issues
  
  • preservation has focused on the conservation and repair of historical collections
  • need for expanding attention to reformatting strategies such as preservation microfilming
  • need for focus on environmental controls and disaster preparedness
  • importance of acid-free paper and potential of mass deacidification services increasing
  • importance of digital techniques for preservation
  • new interest in preservation of multimedia resources and digital information
  • importance of standards
  • importance of research and professional communication
  
  
• Intellectual Property and Copyright Issues
  • intellectual property and copyright traditions are challenged in digital world
  • significant differences in legal and policy frameworks in U.S. and China
  • network enables easier distribution of information on a global scale and internationalizes copyright debate
  • new legislative initiatives in U.S. threaten fair use and ability of libraries to make information in digital formats available to users
  • expanding definition of information as a commodity need for cooperation between U.S. and China to advance user and library needs at Berne Convention/WIPU
  • librarian is society's advocate for the public good
  
  
• Ideas for Cooperation
  
  • library staff, educator and student exchanges
  • cooperative technology transfer/network development
  • joint publishing/translation projects
  • joint database and digital library projects
  • cooperative cataloging
  • China-U.S. library cooperation homepage
  • cooperative research and development
  • consensus and advocacy on intellectual property issues
  • sharing of preservation expertise
  • continuing publication exchanges
    

  Recommendations
  

  • Publish the papers of the conference on the Internet so they will be available to a larger community
  • Form a bilateral working group to advance library cooperation between China and the U.S.
  • Charge the working group with the development of a plan for future activities
  • Organize the second China-U.S. Library Conference
  
  

  James G. Neal
  September 10, 1996
  

  comments to: felsing@oregon.uoregon.edu
  (c) 1996