Much has changed on the educational scene since the formation of the Republic of China. One of the most significant developments along with the development of mass education has been the growth of public libraries, a phenomenon hardly known in China before the 1930's.
Last September 28—appropriately on the 2537th birthday anniversary of Confucius—the ROC took another major step in its modernization and expansion of library facilities: the National Central Library (NCL) opened its new building to the public. The ultra-modern facility marks another milestone in the government's efforts to provide all people—and not just a select elite—with full possibilities for becoming intellectually "rich" and "noble."
The new NCL building is conveniently located in the heart of the country's administrative center on Chungshan South Road in Taipei. It faces the magnificent Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, with its spacious public gardens and soon to be completed concert hall and theater buildings, and is flanked by the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hung Tao Junior High School.
The substantial, coffee and cream-colored building, despite its seven floors and two basement levels, avoids appearing grandiose or starkly monumental. Instead, it conveys a quiet confidence, a structural equivalent of the ideal scholarly demeanor. The broad entrance portico through sophisticated use of glass, space, and light invites passersby to enter. Once inside, a first time visitor cannot help but be impressed by the eager "hajj mood" that permeates the lobby—in this case patrons on an intellectual pilgrimage to a treasured storehouse of wisdom.
The warm brightness that suffuses the main lobby comes primarily through a transparent glass roof that soars above the spacious center court, creating a cheerful, relaxed atmosphere for patrons.
The library combines quality with quantity. Its 40,110 square meters of floor space is about six times the size of its previous facilities on the grounds of Taipei's Botanical Gardens. Despite its size, the building is designed specifically for "men and books." Grandness of scale nevertheless achieves a personal touch through eye-pleasing interior design and a friendly, "user-oriented" library staff. There is shelf capacity for 2.5 million books, seating for 2,300 patrons in the Library's research and reading areas, meeting and cultural activity rooms capable of accommodating 1,650 people, and office space for 250 staff members.
Wang Cheng-ku, the scholarly and energetic director of the NCL, says that the new facilities are "designed to meet national library demands for the next 30 years."
Complementary styles—modern glass and steel frame classic lines of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.
The National Central Library, which is the only national library of the Republic of China, was founded in the ROC capital city of Nanking in 1933, following a resolution of the 1929 National Education Conference. Compared with other well-known national libraries in the world such as the British Library, the French Bibliothèque Nationale, and the U.S. Library of Congress, the history of the NCL is rather short. Nevertheless, its early history was tumultuous. The library was a child of war, and its successful growth in the face of uniquely severe hardships has made the NCL's role as promoter of social education and preserver of the nation's culture all that more impressive.
Five years after its founding, the War of Resistance against Japan broke out. Wartime difficulties soon forced the library to move to Chungking in Szechwan Province, where it remained until after the war. The library returned to Nanking in 1946, but the succeeding disaster brought by the Chinese Communist rebellion forced it to move two years later, this time to Taiwan. The book collection was initially stored in Taichung, located in central Taiwan, until adequate facilities could be found to house its collections. It was not until 1953 that the NCL reopened at the Botanical Gardens in Taipei. At that time the library's peripatetic life came to a halt long enough to allow normal operations.
The jewel of the Library's book collection is the shan pen shu (Chinese rare books). The rich collection is not only one of the most remarkable specialities of the NCL's book collection, but also has greatly enhanced the library's prestige in international library circles.
The term shan pen shu, literally "good edition book," originated in the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.). A scholar of the Ching Dynasty, Chang Chih-tung (1837-1909), defined shan pen shu as those editions that were unabridged, elaborately proofread and annotated, and block-cut printed or handwritten in ancient times. Because antique editions have become steadily rarer, contemporary libraries now include in the classification all editions dating before the end of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. For books published after the founding of the Ching Dynasty (1644-1911), only unusually excellent and rare editions are identified as shan pen.
The NCL now has 140,000 volumes of shan pen shu in its collections, a large part of which was gained during the War of Resistance against Japan.
Although there is a long history of book collection in China, the library's collections started from scratch. Donations and purchases increased through the war years. "During the war, many literary families in the areas occupied by the Japanese were unable to continue preservation of rare Chinese books that had been handed down over generations," recalls Chiang Fu-tsung, the first director of the NCL. "A large number of rare books were thus dispersed around the country. Worrying that these books might scatter abroad, scholars in an king and Shanghai areas repeatedly urged the national government to make book purchases."
By the time the library was forced to relocate to Taiwan, only 120,000 volumes of Chinese rare books and a few other special collections could be moved. To these were added books originally belonging to the former Northeast University Library and the National Peiping Library. These jointly constitute the NCL's present rare book collection of 140,000 volumes.
The various categories of the collection embrace 153 scrolls of Tunhuang manuscripts and a wide range of valuable titles and editions, including 281 from the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), 360 from the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), 8,399 from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and 344 unique titles from the Ching Dynasty (1644-1911). Besides these rare editions, there are 3,500 hand-written manuscript, a copy of the Buddhist Tripitaka Sutra, and numerous Korean, Japanese, and Annam (Vietnam) editions.
The rare book room—scholars rarely find more appealing facilities.
Some of the finest book editions in the world can be found in the rare book collections. For instance, the Ching Kang Ching (The Diamond Sutra), printed in black and red ink in 868 A.D., has particular significance. Its existence controverts the longheld theory that the color printing process was not developed until the late Wan Li period (1573-1620) of the Ming Dynasty. The Sutra is also the earliest extant block-cut printed book in the world.
One of the main reasons the NCL moved from the Botanical Gardens site to its present location was to provide better facilities for the rare book collections. Prior to the move, the books had been stored in more than 800 iron cases. Although these were fireproof, shockproof, and dustproof, Taiwan's high humidity started taking its toll. The new building has replaced the iron cases with specially designed sealed-seam wooden cabinets that protect the collection from insects. "In addition," says Feng Ssu-i, chief of the NCL Special Collections Department, "the rare book stacks are maintained at a constant 20 degrees Celsius and 50-60 percent relative humidity, and are protected further by air filters and an automated fire control system."
Except for scholars who must undertake research in original materials, the rare books are not available for ordinary patron use because repeated leafing might damage the delicate books and manuscripts. In order to provide rare book access to as many scholars as possible, the NCL in 1974 began a successful five-year project of microfilming the entire collection. Ordinary readers can now utilize the rare book collection on microfilm. Reference materials can also be duplicated by using convenient microfilm printers.
Book collecting is on, of the chief functions of any library. But a national library has special responsibilities to provide representativeness and extensiveness in its collections. The NCL currently has a total book collection of 840,000 volumes, considerably greater than the 140,000 volumes transferred from Nanking in 1948. It acquires books via the usual methods of purchase, exchange, and donation. Furthermore, in its role as the national depository, the NCL also collects one copy of each domestic publication in accord with the ROC Publication Law. As a result, no other library in the country possesses a more complete collection in the field of contemporary domestic publications.
Library Director Wang points out that in addition to preserving the nation's publications, the main functions of a national library include compiling national bibliographies and union catalogues, promoting national cooperative acquisitions, encouraging research in librarianship, advancing social education, and participating in international exchanges of publications.
"Open access and better service," Wang proudly asserts, "characterize the overall public objectives of the new NCL building and staff." Except for the Chinese rare book collections and the audio-visual material reference rooms, the stacks for books published after 1981 and all reference rooms are open-shelf. "No wall separates the reading or reference rooms from patrons, visually shortening the distance between men and books," Wang adds. It is, indeed, a patron-oriented library.
A young scholar uses a microfilm reader and printer.
The new facility has three general reading rooms and several reference rooms for different categories of reference materials. Library users have broad selections in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, audio-visual materials, government publications, Japanese and Korean materials, Chinese studies, arts and music, as well as popular mass circulation periodicals. More specialized reference materials concerning inscribed stele, stone rubbings, and ancient maps are also available.
"Many of our patrons are particularly interested in government publications," Wang adds, "because the NCL's collection is the most comprehensive in the country." These provide special services of national importance for scholars, government officials, and international research projects. "A key feature of government publications are their authoritativeness. For example, they provide the most reliable and original material for social science research work."
The NCL collects publications from all government departments in accordance with the Publication Law. In addition, it receives foreign government publications that are acquired via exchange through various international agreements.
The Library's Bureau of International Exchange of Publications handles the nation's exchange of both government documents and non-governmental materials. The National Central Library currently maintains exchange agreements with 1062 institutions and approximately 300 scholars in over 84 countries.
Closely associated with the NCL is the Resource and Information Center for Chinese Study (RICCS), which is also housed in the new building. Wang Cheng-ku, who is concurrent director of the Center, explains that Chinese study "generally means any studies relating to China, and covers an extensive range of literature, history, and philosophy." The main purpose of the Center, which was founded in 1980, is to offer services to both local and foreign scholars in Chinese studies.
The Center's primary efforts currently include collecting research materials, publishing books, monographs, and periodicals, and conducting international conferences and seminars on selected Chinese research topics.
The RICCS material acquisition emphasizes foreign holdings and publications that are generally unavailable in the ROC. The Center is also collecting rare Chinese materials now scattered abroad. It has a long-term plan for the acquisition of either actual copies or photo-reproductions of rare items in foreign-held collections. So far the Center has collected photocopies of over 700 titles. Initial priority has been given to Ming Dynasty materials, most of which have been obtained from Japanese collections.
Handicapped patrons find facilities meet their special requirements.
Other additions to the collection include some 123,000 microfilmed sheets of Tunhuang scrolls, the priceless collection of Chinese and central Asian materials discovered at the turn of this century in western Sinkiang province; over 2,000 copies of U.S. doctoral dissertations in Chinese studies; Western-language periodicals focusing on China published since the 19th Century; pre-1949 Chinese-language periodicals from mainland China; and post-1949 mainland Chinese publications of Chinese studies materials, including university publications.
Liu Hsien-shu, chief of the RICCS Materials Group, says that "While the RICCS is not a complete research institute, its goal is to make Taipei a center for Chinese studies based on the Center's abundant materials and the availability of relevant NCL collections."
Both the NCL and the Center offer better service via sophisticated library automation available in the new library facility. The library began developing a computerized library system in early 1981 based on the Chinese MARC (machine-readable catalog) format. This was formulated, revised, and tested successfully by July 1981. Seven academic libraries in Taipei area have subsequently been invited to work cooperatively on the MARC data base of Chinese books published in the Taiwan area.
So far over 31,000 titles of new books published in Taiwan have been input into the Chinese MARC data base, and a Union List of Chinese Serials Data File now has more than 8,000 periodical titles collected from 155 local libraries. These are available through an inter-library loan service.
In addition, the Chinese Rare Books MARC Data Base has been integrated into the library's "user-friendly" computer system. Moreover, a project to build a MARC format-based data file for periodical literature has been underway since 1984.
Wang says the library "hopes to install on-line search among domestic libraries and introduce an international on-line Chinese studies and international encyclopedia." The NCL has already introduced DIALOG and MDC, two international data files, and currently exchanges information with the U.S.-based OCLC (Ohio Computer Library Center). Continued information internationalization will remain a top priority for future library development.
To fulfill its role in promoting social education, the new NCL facility includes an impressive cultural activity area, which is divided into a 560-seat lecture hall, a 250-seat conference hall, plus a 5,400 sq. ft. exhibition hall.
In addition, there are a library science materials room, a special room for researchers, a conference room, and two classrooms. "We hope teachers will bring students here to take classes so they can learn on the spot how to acquire information in the library," Wang says. The idea is to encourage the public to make full use of the library.
Chen Chi-lu, chairman of the Council for Cultural Planning & Development, proudly states that "Not only are the actual library facilities constructed on international standards, but its operating concept of 'user-oriented service' is first class."
The function of the modern library in the ROC has changed radically from the traditional, treasured personal libraries of the past. Rejecting also the static concept of a repository for storing books, the NCL is a model for all the nation's libraries. It is guided by a dynamic concept that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge—inviting all patrons to join in the quest for wisdom, the true "nobility."