Archive for January 24th, 2009
Think Globally, Act Globally: China-US librarian Collaboration
Website: www.library.illinois.edu/china
Dates: September 1, 2008 until August 30, 2010.
The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program supports professional development programs aimed at librarians and library staff, programs that enhance Library & Information Science (LIS) education and programs that develop library leaders. In a world increasingly concerned with global issues this proposed program provides a model for enhancing awareness among information professionals of Chinese information resources and for building collaboration between China and the U.S.
With its robust network of area studies libraries and subject specialists, and building on the experience of renowned Mortenson Center for International Library Programs and excellent Asian Library, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (VIUC) is uniquely well suited to lead this project. The Asian Library will lead the project with support from the Mortenson Center. The University of Illinois will enter into a formal agreement with another skilled and highly experienced partner, the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA). Finally the University of Illinois will work with the Ministry of Culture of China (MOC) as the planned primary collaborator in the project. This collaboration between the project partners and the Library Society of China will be critical to the successful implementation of the pilot project.
The goals of the two-year pilot project will be to enhance communication and relations between U.S. and Chinese librarians and to enrich the variety of information and services that U.S. librarians can offer their users. The target audiences include: U.S. librarians with expertise in the study of China and the Chinese Language; U.S. librarians responsible for providing service to Chinese-language communities; Chinese librarians with expertise and experience with publicly-available Chinese-language resources, collections and services; and Chinese librarians who may benefit from participation in a broad-based continuing professional education program focused on issues of library management, public services, and digital library development.
The activities of the project include professional development seminars to be delivered both in the U.S. and China; placement of Chinese librarians in institutions around the U.S. to provide an opportunity for education and cooperation; development of web-based resources for use in libraries in the US; and a workshop open to U.S. librarians to promote the web-based resources. Topics of the professional development seminars might include: library administration and leadership, management of information technology, application of standards for information technology project planning in libraries, best practices for resource discovery and sharing, and development of information products and services fostering appreciation and use of global information resources among target user communities.
Award: $500,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
