Project Goals and Activities

The U.S. partners and the library Society of China have set the two goals of the project:

1. encouraging mutual understanding between librarians in the U.S. and China and promoting awareness of diversity to overcome cultural barriers for U.S. librarians in serving user communities;

2. enhancing communication between U.S. and Chinese librarians with a view to developing and disseminating resources that can be of use to the library community in the U.S.

The activities identified for the pilot project include:

1.    developing professional development programs for Chinese library leaders and library educators focusing on global information issues and a global approach to librarianship;

2.    placing Chinese librarians at U.S. institutions for a host visit so that they can share information with their U.S. colleagues;

3.    having Chinese librarians attend a conference in the U.S. to present a session on resources available in China;

4.    developing a cadre of U.S. librarians who will provide professional development in China and also develop collaborative programs between institutions;

5.    promoting international standards and best practices related to digital content creation, description, dissemination, and preservation through training programs offered to Chinese librarians responsible for digital content development and digital libraries;

6.    identifying and establishing a registry of digital library projects and/or significant digital assets housed at Chinese institutions relevant to the study of China;

7.    establishing a pilot Web-based portal at 2 sites to be selected for Chinese-language information resources and services in order to facilitate access by non-Chinese-language speakers and enhance sharing resources and expertise related to China-related and Chinese information resources;

8.    hosting a workshop at the University of Illinois for U.S. librarians on resources available from the Web-based portal and from the registry of digital library projects.

The target audience for this pilot project includes all those with an interest and commitment to fostering improved relations and collaborative approaches to information services between librarians and library users in the U.S. and China, including:
1.    U.S. librarians with expertise in the study of China and the Chinese language;

2.    U.S. librarians responsible for providing service to Chinese-language communities;

3.    Chinese librarians with expertise and experience with publicly-available Chinese-language resources, collections, and services; and

4.    Chinese librarians who may benefit from participation in a broad-based continuing professional education program focused on issues of library leadership, public services, and digital library development.

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