1.

2.

Why did I apply?

Acceptance & Preparation

Arrival

Library Activities

Teaching Activities

Academic Visits

Culture Shock

Departure/Conclusion

3.

Why did I apply?

I wish to learn.

• How academic libraries in China are managed?

• How do academic libraries in China market and promote their services and resources?

• How is library instruction delivered?

• What is the physical layout ?

• Departmental structure of academic libraries

4.

Acceptance and Preparation

• Obtained F Visa (business)

• Read briefly about life in China

• • Customs, language, and education

• • Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

• • Communism post 1949

• • Golden Shield Project

• Purchased books on PinYin

5.

Arrival

• I arrived May 4, 2011 at 3:45pm China time (3:45am NYC time) after a 14 hour flight.

• Mr. Zhan Huaqing from Shanghai University Library arrived to meet me.

• Received monthly stipend, I.D. card, food card,travel card, and dorm keys.

• Went to sleep at 6:00pm (6:00am NYC time)

6.

Shanghai University Library ,

• 3 libraries across 3 campuses

Main library(Baochan Campus-main campus)

Total floor space of409,000 square feet

25 reading rooms and 3,000 seats.

Contains more than 3 million volumes and over 4,600 periodicals

Shaped like an open book

7.

Departments at the SHU Library:

• Circulation

• Reading Room (Reference Area)

• Serials

• Acquisitions

• Cataloging

• Interlibrary Loan

• Special Collections (separate from the Archives)

• Information Technology

• Information Retrieval (Reference /Instruction)

• Office (Public Relations and Library Administration)

8.

Library Activities

• Worked Monday-Friday from 7:30am-3:30pm under the direction of the Office department

• Given office space with an Internet PC workstation

• Lunch was 11:00am-12:30pm.

• • Food was funded by the government (meals were 5 RMB= 75 cents)

• Responsibilities:

• • Facilitating 4 workshops over the 4 weeks

• • Teaching 4 hours a week to MLIS students

• • Shadowing at the reference desk

• • Ticketing students

9. 10. Student residences bicycles More bicycles Waterways run through Shanghai and around campus 11. 12.

Library Activities

• Facilitated Workshops for SHU Librarians

• Research and publication requirements of library faculty at CSI/CUNY

• Comparison of reference and instruction responsibilities

• Public Relations activities in academic libraries

• Co-presented with Ryan Phillips (Newman Library, Baruch College/CUNY) to Shanghai Normal University on our roles as Instruction/Reference Librarians

13.

Teaching Activities

• Provided 16 hours of lecture topics

• • Topics included:

• • • Liaison Librarian program at U.S. academic libraries

• • • Information Literacy 101

• • • Cloud Computing 101

• • • Social Responsibility in Academic Libraries

• • • Print versus Electronic Resources

• • • What is a Reference Librarian?

• • • Services for Different Users in Academic Libraries

• • • Criteria When Selecting an Electronic Resource

• • • Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship

• • • Improving Student Information Literacy

• • • Public Relations in Academic Libraries

14.

Academic Library Visits

• Visited the following academic libraries

• • Jiao Tong University

• • Shanghai Normal University

• • Shanghai University (all three campuses)

• • Fudan University

• • Zhejiang University

• • Chinese Academy of the Sciences, Shanghai Campus

Public Library Visits

• • Shanghai Public Library

• • Hangzhou Public Library

15.

Weekend Excursions:SelectedBeijing Sites

• • The Great Wall(Mutianyu section)

• • Forbidden City

• • Tiananmen Square

• • Buddhist Temple

• • Vegan restaurant

16.

• Weekend Excursions: Selected Shanghai Sites

• • Attended Orthodox Shabbat service

• • Yuyuan Garden

• • Peoples Square

• • The Bund (waterfront dividing old Shanghai with new Shanghai)

• • Nanjing Road (similar to Times Square)

• • Qi Bao old town

• • French Concession neighbourhood

• • Old Shanghai

• • Vegan restaurants and Starbucks

17.

• Weekend Excursions:Hangzhou Sites

• • VisitedZhejiang University with other librarians from SHU

• • Took high speed train(220 miles/hr)

• • West Lake,(historic site)

• • Hangzhou Public Library

• • Downtown market

18. 19.

Culture Shock

• Language

• Traffic (plethora of cars, people, bicycles, electric bikes)

• Many stray cats and dogs

• Censorship (news media, Internet)

• Trouble finding vegetarian Food

20.

Concluding Observations:

• Librarians have both professional and paraprofessional duties

• Many library directors are scholars (Ph.D.) but not trained librarians

• Academic libraries are comprised of rooms, rather than open spaces like North American academic libraries

• Most younger people in China learn English but many may be too shy to speak.

• A person is addressed by their surname first(ex: Polger Mark Aaron)

• Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way

• Cigarette smoking is a norm amongst teenage and adult men