UBC’s renowned Asian Library and its rare and special collections continue to draw interest and praise from international scholars and pave the way for unique partnerships, sharing the collections for research, learning and teaching.
In March, delegates from the National Library of China (NLC) visited the Library and commented on the rarity of our Chinese collection. It was noted that UBC had exclusivity on several titles which were of significant national importance. Discussions included reciprocal conservation training and collaborative digitization.
In May, representatives from the China Academic Digital Associate Library (CADAL) toured the Rare Books and Special Collections unit, including our vault. They were especially impressed with the scale and comprehensiveness of the Puban and Pang Jingtang collection.
The Puban collection contains more than 3,000 classical Chinese titles dating from the 12th to 20th century and includes nearly 2,000 literary works written by scholars during the Manchu Dynasty (1644—1911). The Pang Jingtang collection includes 94 works published in the early Qing period, with Ming editions and rare and unique manuscripts.
International community engagement, particularly in Asia, has been one of the Library’s strengths; however, we also partner with local colleagues as well. The Asian Library is a supporting partner in a collaborative project funded by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and led by the University of Washington (UW). Working with UW’s East Asia Library, the project involves cataloguing special Chinese-language materials. This project marks one of only two international collaborative efforts funded by CLIR and the first involving a Canadian university.
Local and international community projects like these are vital in helping further identify and add to the Library’s current and future collections.
This story originally appeared in the 2014 summer issue of the Friends newsletter.