About this program
The summer institute will offer a rigorous training program designed for mid-career Chinese studies librarians and library managers. This is a three-week program with the first week being web-based distance learning.

Requirements for applicant
Applicants must have certain professional experience in an East Asian library in North America and demonstrate an interest in East Asian library management. We particularly encourage individuals who are currently in mid-career or management positions to apply. They will need to submit a 300-words statement of purpose elaborating their visions about the future of East Asian libraries and a personal resume. The management team will review applicants and invite 20 to 25 qualified individuals to attend the seminar.

Graduation Requirement and Certificate
The institute and the School of Information Sciences will issue a graduation certificate to each trainee who successfully completes the course work and individual project.

The curriculum will cover major aspects of East Asian librarianship, including trends in research and publication in East Asian studies, Chinese reference works and bibliography,  Chinese rare books, history of Chinese books and printing, collection development, digital technology and resources in the Chinese language scripts. CJK cataloging and preservation, public services and library instruction, fund raising, management, and creative leadership.

Introduction to the trends in East Asian studies and publishing will broaden the vision of the trainees and enable them to position their daily library work in the larger context of East Asian studies.

Systematic training on Chinese reference tools and Chinese rare books and the knowledge of Chinese books and printing history are essential to the success of practitioners of East Asian librarianship.

The training on collection development, including book trade and vendor relations as well as acquisition of East Asian language materials in print and electronic formats, will be designed to enhance the trainees' skills in managing and optimizing limited budgets to build collections with integrity, reflecting the focus of the research and teaching missions of their home institutions.

We will teach the latest developments in information technology pertinent to the Chinese language, including language software, Internet skills for work with Chinese script, application of Unicode, and digitization of Chinese language materials. We will also cover the latest developments in technical processing of Chinese language materials such as cataloging and preservation of and access to classical Chinese books.

For public services and library instruction, we will teach current awareness of the development and access of electronic resources for East Asian studies in general and Chinese studies in particular, faculty liaison and instruction on research methodology for East Asian studies and the use of information resources.

For library management and leadership skills, the curriculum will address issues of fundraising, outreaching, and institutional collaboration for resource sharing. We will also teach our trainees how to apply creative leadership to open up new areas of library services.

For a more detailed schedule, please click here.

Final Project will be built into the three-week program.

Participants will be asked to put in 10 hours of time during the two-weeks on Pitt's campus. During this period, each participant will design a project that reflects his or her interest and is related to the curriculum.

The project will provide each trainee with hands-on experience using the resources at Pitt’s East Asian Library while working with the faculty of the institute. A list of potential projects will be available in Spring 2004.

A trip to China to visit with vendors of Chinese materials and to tour libraries and archives is being planned for October 2004.

Participants are welcome to attend the SLIF conference in Shanghai during the week of October 11-15. For more information on this conference, please see the conference website at: http://www.libnet.sh.cn/silf2004/.

The group as a whole will convene in Shanghai for meetings and activities to begin on October 18th. We expect activities in Shanghai will occupy the 18th and 19th of October, and then all group members will fly to Beijing for activities to happen from 20-22 October. The weekends will be free for people to schedule as they choose.

Costs for the trip will include: (1) Roundtrip airfare between US and China, (2) Plane connections between Shanghai and Beijing, (3) Approximately $100/day for accommodations, food and other needs for at least 6 nights. (This is a high-end estimate). Please keep in mind that all costs for the trip to China are the responsibility of the participant.