The National Central Library Took Part in the Association for Asian Studies Annual Book Fair and Donated Books to the University of Toronto

The Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies is a four-day conference held in spring every year somewhere in North America. The Association for Asian Studies held its 2017 Annual Conference and Book Fair from March 16 to 19 in Toronto. More than 2,800 people attended and 360 panel sessions were held. Participants included Asian Studies scholars and researchers, and librarians and publishers from all over the world.

The Book Fair gives international Sinologists an opportunity to find out more about the research work being done by Taiwan’s scholars on Chinese Studies and Taiwan Studies topics and see the latest publications in the field, and thereby strengthen academic cooperation and exchanges. The Center for Chinese Studies of the National Central Library took part in the Book Fair in conjunction with the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange and exhibited 385 of Taiwan’s recent publications on Chinese Studies and Taiwan Studies topics, a total of 414 volumes.

The Center for Chinese Studies donated all of the Taiwanese publications on Chinese and Taiwan Studies that had been on display in the Book Fair to the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library at the University of Toronto at a ceremony held in Toronto on March 17. The donation was jointly made by Wu Ying-mei, Deputy Director General of the National Central Library and Professor Chu Yun-han, President of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. Larry Alford, Chief Librarian of the University of Toronto, accepted the books on behalf of the University. Huang Wen-De, Director of the Liaison Division of the Center for Chinese Studies, also attended.

The Institute of History and Philology and CDC at Academic Sinica both also took part in the Book Fair and afterwards also donated their exhibited volumes to the university to enrich its research resources.

In recent years, the University of Toronto has maintained intensive academic and cultural exchanges with Taiwan, and the National Central Library established its 16th overseas Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies there in 2015. Moreover, the university has collaborated with the National Central Library to promote the Rare Books and Documents Digital Archives Project which is enriching research resources for Chinese Studies in Canada.