The La Trobe Journal: Redmond Barry Number, no. 73 (review)

Abstract

of the card catalogs in the Harvard-Yenching Library. Seven articles serve as guidelines for evaluating and acquiring Chinese rare books and provide an introduction to the rare book collections in the Harvard-Yenching Library. The last three articles present the history of and guide to the Harvard-Yenching Library. In an appendix William Sheh Wong, a former East Asian librarian and professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, sketches Ch’iu’s life and contributions. The editor, Cheng, has made an admirable effort to collect more than thirty published and a few unpublished articles by Ch’iu. Some articles are in both English and Chinese. They can serve as dependable and convenient resources for librarians and scholars interested in the history of East Asian librarianship in the United States. These articles, particularly those on classification, cataloging, and Chinese rare books, not only are good resources for understanding the history and principles of the classification system for the Far East collections of some major universities in the United States but are also excellent materials in examining Ch’iu’s contributions to Asian American librarianship. However, the volume would be much more useful if Cheng had included more solid scholarly essays about Ch’iu’s works. For example, Cheng attributes Ch’iu’s achievements mainly to the training of the Boone Library School. But Ch’iu mentions in his reminiscences that his experiences with books and economics he encountered in his early childhood and youth “furnished the basis for my education in America” (3). Moreover, the articles Ch’iu wrote about Chinese classification and rare books showcase his broad knowledge of Chinese classical literature, philosophy, history, and art. Can we assume that Ch’iu’s cultural background was another important factor in forming his “library spirit”? If the editor had included some articles about this aspect, the volume would have more scholarly value. In addition, library service was the core of Ch’iu’s long career. He once said, “Don’t let any user go away from the library empty-handed.”1 It would have been nice if Cheng had provided some information on the service aspect and thereby presented a more complete picture of Ch’iu’s accomplishments.