China Diplomat Donates Books to Starr Library

Five hundred books may seem like a small addition to a 730,000-volume collection. But a recent donation of that size to the C.V. Starr East Asian Library is one of the most important in its history.

Consul General Hongxi Zhang of the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China made the donation last week in recognition of Starr Library's commitment to expanding U.S.-China educational cooperation and its position as a preeminent institution in Asian studies.

Zhang, along with Fanglin Ai, head of the Consulate-General's education office, and Consul of Education Dr. Dinghua Wang, came to Starr Library for the official donation ceremony accompanied by a groups of reporters. University Librarian James Neal and Amy Heinrich, director of Starr Library, accepted the books on Columbia's behalf.

News of Zhang's decision to donate the collection first came in December, shortly after the library received a $1.5 million challenge grant from the Starr Foundation.

Awarded in late November of the library's centennial year of existence, this grant will primarily go toward the expansion of the Korean and Tibetan collections and the digitization of selected works.

Despite the notification's proximity to the challenge grant contracted to Starr Library, there is no evidence that it had any influence on Columbia receiving this donation.

The donation includes books, CD-ROMs, and videotapes published within the last decade. The books range in content from language instruction to literature and history, and are all written in Chinese.

In a statement released by the library, Zhang said that books were donated in "order to express our gratitude for Columbia University's contributions toward enhancing U.S.-China education cooperation."

During the past years, Starr Library has become increasingly involved in cooperative programs with international scholars and libraries.

In March 2002, the library arranged an agreement with the National Library of China to have minority language texts catalogued more efficiently. Through collaboration with minority language experts at the NLC, it acquired a cataloguing system that uses title, author, and subject, and will be accessible to both Columbia students and scholars around the globe. Prior to this contract, books were only listed by their Chinese titles or in the original language.

For years, the library has been home to many international scholars who come to Columbia seeking access to the many resources the library provides, said Xiabo Lu, director of Columbia's Weatherhead East Asian Institute and a key figure in the donation process.

Starr Library has established itself as a "primary institution for East Asian studies, with a vast number of resources for research, and amazing collections of rare books, oral history, and manuscripts," said Kari Smith, external relations officer for Columbia libraries.
Librarians have already begun the process of cataloguing the material received through the donation, Heinrich said.

Before the books are able to be shelved and accessible to students, librarians must first summarize the books, verify whether the Starr library already owns a copy, and then catalogue them.

Because most of the books are paperback, they will also have to be sent to be bound in hardback. The entire process is expected to reach completion by the fall.

The donation of these Chinese language books has come at a prime time for Columbia.

"Interest in Chinese language and culture has grown over the years, and consequently our need for books has grown as well.

This donation is a welcomed addition to our collection that will help further our research and studies of China," Lu said.