Peking University Library - 新闻

The reconstruction & expansion of PKU Medical Library begins

zonghe — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 03:32:20 +0000

Peking University, June 3, 2021: On May 22, the launching ceremony of the Reconstruction & Expansion Project of PKU Medical Library was held.

As the designer of the project, Ye Yiqian, chief architect of Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, said that the new library will take the “Book Mountain” as the design conception, improve the building shape, enhance the library's book collection by means of the new underground three-dimensional stack room, and improve its functions in many aspects. Upon completion of the new library, the total construction area will be 13,000 square meters, of which the ground construction area is 9,680 square meters, which is divided into four floors, and the main functions are offices, reading rooms, self-study rooms, etc. The underground building area will be 3,320 square meters, which is divided into three floors with the main functions of three-dimensional stack room, computer room, multi-function hall, etc.

Zhang Daqing, director of the library, expressed his thought about the future of the library. He said that the new library will provide more learning space for students. It will be the cultural center, creative center and learning center of the university, and it will become a place loved by all the teachers and students.

Bao Hairong, vice president of Peking University Health Science Center (PKUHSC), said that the construction of the library has received constant attention and support of the old leaders, old experts and alumni both at home and abroad. In particular, some old leaders and alumni of PKUHSC have donated generously to contribute to the construction of the library. Bao added that this deep friendship will be forever appreciated and remembered by PKUHSC people.

Written by: Wu Zhaoxia
Edited by: Huang Weijian
Source: Division of Infrastructure Engineering, PKUHSC

Language English

Time Trickles in the World of Books: Me and My Library

zonghe — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 08:14:12 +0000

Time Trickles in the World of Books — Me and My Library

The Peking University Library saw its inception in 1898. Since then, it has chronicled the stories of generations of Pekingers who have come to it in pursuit of knowledge and fresh thoughts. A group of Pekingers share their experience with our Library, age-old yet evergreen.

Memories

For Jiang Shaoyu, Xu Fulian and Zhao Dunhua, the library was like that of a collection of treasured memories.

Jiang Shaoyu is currently a professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University, and has been an avid visitor of the library since he began his tertiary studies in 1957.

Xu Fulian, a librarian at the Circulation Office of Peking University Library, remarks on Jiang's love for books and the abundance of scholastic resources available in Peking University's library.

Zhao Dunhua, a professor at the PKU Department of Philosophy, remembers the time when he unexpectedly discovered a rare book that could not even be found at Leuven Library (KU Leuven) - Richard Mckeon's first and second volumes of the "Selections from Medieval Philosophers".

To them, Peking University's library was filled with memories to reminisce on, and filled with the knowledge of both the past and the future.

Knowledge

To Li Yongmei, Assistant Dean of the College of Engineering, Peking University, the library contained many wonders, from transcripts of students dating back a hundred years, to old photos filled with the rich memory of history.

To Hu Lianglin, who was the first batch of postgraduate students from the PKU Institute of Digital Library, and is now the Director of National Basic Science Data Centre, the library was the place where he first gained the knowledge needed for him to embark on his journey that has lasted for nearly 20 years.

An Academic Journey and Beyond

For the youngest generation, the library is a haven for their academic journey, and whatever may lie ahead.

For graduate student Wang Yupei, the Sunshine Hall of the library puts her at ease, allowing her to embark on her journey of reading and learning in a most comfortable fashion.

Wang Rongjinzi, Ph.D. student, frequents the library website in search of references during days filled with academic research.

Like postdoctoral fellow Gao Hongfei remarks, the library stays with us not only throughout our academic journey. Wherever we go, the spirit of the PKU library will always be in our hearts, looking out for us every step of the way.

The Library's rich collection has been ever expanding, its facilities always improving, and its resources, equipment, technology ever up to date. As such, it has withstood the test of time to become one of the most important and best managed libraries in the country. Peking University Library continues to welcome each and every Pekinger with open arms and a vibrant soul, looking forward to leaving an everlasting mark in their lives.

Acknowledgement: Peking University Library

Video: PKU Office of Global Communications

Video Director: Yang Tai

Video Producer: Li Yan

Subtitle Translator: June Tan Rui Min, Rose Li

Writer: Li Wanqi, Estella Zhang Qiming

Editor: Amanda Hu, Pu Hairui

Designer: Pu Hairui

Language English

Professor Robert Darnton visits Peking University

zonghe — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 00:37:55 +0000

Peking University, Oct. 25, 2019: Professor Robert Darnton, former director of Harvard University Library, visited Peking University on October 25.

In the morning, Professor Darnton gave a lecture titled “Libraries, Books and the Digital Future”. He introduced to audience how people struggled to read books in old times when knowledge was “spiked” by elites. Professor Darnton also touched upon human’s endeavors in pushing forward open access to knowledge for public. Professor Darnton shared his stories of building the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), the largest all-digital platform that brings together numerous resources of American libraries, archives and museums. The resources, totaling more than 35 million, are freely open to the public across the world. The DPLA is regarded as a milestone in the pursuit of a utopia where knowledge is free of charge for all mankind instead of being monopolized by publishers. After his speech, Professor Darnton exchanged views with the audience on how to motivate more people to acquire knowledge in such a wonderful digital world.

Following his lecture, Professor Darnton had a discussion with teachers and students from Peking University in the afternoon. Professor Darnton emphasized that, compared with big search engines, the DPLA is a non-profit, independent resource base aimed at providing readers with e-book resources, and at the same time, benefiting writers through offering them a public platform. As for the publishers' reaction, Professor Darnton said many publishers are friends of his and don't see the DPLA as a threat because it doesn’t have much impact on their profit.

Apart from taking the role as Director of Harvard University Library between 2007 and 2016, Professor Robert Darnton is also the author and editor of several bestselling books, including The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie (1979) and The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (1984). His honors include a MacArthor Prize Fellowship, a National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Humanities Medal conferred by then U.S. President Obama in February 2012.

Written by: Bai Qingwen, Yu Cong, Shou Wentian
Edited by: Huang Weijian, Cherlin Xu
Source: Peking University Library (English)

Language English

[Peking University Landmark] Peking University Library

zonghe — Tue, 28 May 2019 00:43:53 +0000

Peking University, May 28, 2019: A short five-minute stroll away from the East gate of Peking University, Peking University Library stands out amongst the other landmarks in the vicinity with its floor area as large as 85,000 square meters. Nonetheless, beneath its majestic appearance, it is impossible to overlook the hundreds of years it has taken to develop into what it is today. With a capacity to store 8 million books and nearly 5000 seats, it is the largest library with the highest number of book collections across Asia.

How PKU Library comes to be as we know it today

The library dates back to 1898, where it was originally a book collection building for the Imperial University of Peking. On behalf of the government, influential scholar Liang Qichao (梁启超) sketched The Principles of the Imperial University of Peking. In these principles, he proposed: "The book collection building is established to gather important books from home and abroad, for the benefit of all kinds of readers and for a broad display of the ways and spirit of the world." Rules and regulations were made, duties and responsibilities of the staff members were clarified and a system for checking in and out was implemented for the library. These measures undertaken by Peking University Library in the early years are regarded as pioneering acts in transforming the library into one with exemplary management and organization.

Before the establishment of the East and West building of Peking University Library, the library was handicapped by its limited storage space. Books were stored in many different areas, making it a difficult task for students and teachers to locate and check them out. In 1975, the west building of the library was built, which is now known as the ”old library”. The west building had a floor area of 24,000 square meters and 2,400 seats, it was considered a symbol of recovery following after the Ccultural Rrevolution. In 1998, the new east building of the library was built thanks to the generous donations from Hong Kong industrialist Li Ka-shing (李嘉诚). This new building was connected to the old one, increasing the library’s floor area to 53,000 square meters. Modern designs and network technologies were incorporated, giving the library an entirely new look.

When you walk into the library today, the first thing that stands out is its facial verification system. Its purpose is to save students from the hassle of swiping their student cards every time they enter into the library.

Inside, the library has different departments such as the resource development centre, learning support centre, the Chinese rare books library, etc. that offer different services to cater the needs of the students. The first floor of the library contains the ancient book collection, music centre, as well as a dissertation management service. On the second floor, you can gain access to the literature collections, social sciences and humanities collection, digital experience area and the Folklore and Folk Literature Centre. On the third floor, you have the Special Collections, Social Sciences and Humanities Collections, Chinese Periodical Collection (Pre-1949) and Taiwan Literature, Periodical Collections and Professor Su Bai's Collections. The fourth floor contains Hong Kong and Taiwan Periodicals and Newspapers, Reference Book Collections, as well as a variety of periodical collections.

Apart from the main library, PKU library also has many other small-scaled libraries dispersed among all the schools and departments, each collecting books that are in the keenest need of its students.

Those who greatly influence PKU Library

The library’s journey through different sites and its transformation throughout history has taken it very far. It is impossible to forget the influential people that have taken turns to closely witness Peking University Library’s evolution. Without them, the library would not be what it is today.

In 1918, Chairman Mao worked as a librarian at Peking University. Cleaning up the rooms and sorting out the books would be a daily routine for him. In return, he was given the special permission to listen to lectures by prominent professors that were held in the library. The library became the place where he would devote himself to studying domestic issues. Nowadays, in the middle of the library lies a statue of young Chairman Mao.

Cai Yuanpei advocated for scientific research and democracy and initiated the academic atmosphere of "freedom of thought, embrace of diversity" during his tenure at Peking University. He transformed Peking University into a welcoming environment for different voices and opinions. President Cai led and supported the construction of the library of Peking University, which transformed the library into a modern library serving teachers and students.

Another influential curator of Peking University library was China's first Marxist communicator, Li Dazhao. He was an important leader during the founding of the Communist Party of China. In 1917, Li Dazhao was appointed the director of the library. During his tenure, Li carried out a series of reforms, making the library an important base for spreading Marxism and advanced ideas. Under Li's leadership, Peking University’s library flourished into a leading and influential university library in China.

Li Dazhao, Zhang Shizhao, Yuan Tongli, Ma Heng, Yan Wenyu, Xiang Da and other famous scholars have made great contributions to the library. Cai Yuanpei, Jiang Menglin, Hu Shih and other former presidents have also fought for the development of the library. These alma maters and scholars have left profound imprints on the development track of the library, giving it its academic and spiritual soul. Today, the walls on the entrance of the library have portraits of them to commemorate their contributions.

PKU Library in progress: a hub of knowledge, culture and communication

Nowadays, Peking University Library is equipped with modern technology and facilities, bringing convenience and endless possibilities to its students.

The Inter-Library Loan Service provides students access to books that are not only owned by Peking University, but also by libraries worldwide. If the book they need is not available at Peking University, they can have it sent to them by the Inter-Library Loan Service.

In 2014, the library introduced 3D printers in order to expose students to higher levels of technology and equipments. The library offers free services for students to make their own 3D printed model. Needless to say, it also provides basic printing services.

In addition, students can also enjoy 3D movies and hi-fi music in the library. The third floor of the library has a special digital application experience area for readers to use the latest apple computers, e-books and other devices. Two reading booths located on the first floor of the library allow students to practice for oral presentations disturbance-free. These sound proof booths resemble mini KTV booths and are very appealing to the students.

Peking University library is home to China's most cultural and precious treasures. It has a total collection of 1.5 million volumes of Chinese ancient books, of which 200,000 are rare books, local chronicles, genealogies, maps and Dunhuang manuscripts. In addition, there are over 70,000 pieces of rubbings (made using one of the oldest techniques in printmaking).

The Peking University Library is a hub of knowledge, culture, and communication. Apart from its oceans of books and resources, PKU Library also holds all sorts of lectures, exhibitions and activities to engage more students into communication and thought exchange. For example, the one-hour lecture series provided by the staff of the library equip students with useful searching tools and skills to facilitate their academic research. The reading marathon is a salon organized by the library, providing an opportunity for students to share their reading experiences with other students and famed professors from different departments. Recently, the May Fourth Movement exhibition going on in the library displays precious photos and materials for students to have a vivid experience of the history of the event in 1919.

The collection of books in the library has been rapidly expanding, facilities constantly being added and improved, new equipment and technology always up to date. Its vast resources in a range of disciplines have important reference value for the study of modern Chinese society, history, politics, education and many other fields. This has made the library an aged yet modern Chinese library, holding the reputation as one of the best managed and largest libraries in Asia.

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Written by: June Tan Rui Min
Edited by: Yan Shengnan, Zhang Jiang

Language English

Exhibition: Centenary of the May Fourth Movement

zonghe — Wed, 22 May 2019 01:01:15 +0000

Peking University, May 13, 2019: In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, Peking University Library held the Literature and Photos Exhibition on April 23.

The exhibition consists of two parts. The first part is board display, which covered the background, outbreak, development of May Fourth Movement and its impact on New Cultural Movement. The exhibition, by means of words and pictures, presented visitors with detailed historical materials about the May Fourth Movement, such as the commission letter of appointing Cai Yuanpei as the president of PKU, photos of student protests during the May Fourth Movement and so on.

The second part is the exhibition of physical objects. Newspapers and articles in the period of Republic of China (1912-1949) provided specific historical materials and brought visitors back to that memorable period. At that time, under the leadership of Li Dazhao, Peking University Library played an important role in disseminating new culture and Marxism.

In addition, the exhibition also recommended 16 books about the May Fourth Movement for readers to better understand this historic social campaign.

Written by: Yan Congcong
Edited by: Wang Xi & Wang Qian
Source: PKU News (Chinese)

Language English

简体中文

Opening Hours: Dragon Boat Festival 2019

zonghe — Wed, 22 May 2019 00:48:44 +0000

2019/06/07-2019/06/09

Main Service Areas

Building Hours

2019/06/07

（Friday）

Closed for Dragon Boat Festival

2019/06/08-06/09

(Saturday, Sunday)

Open-stack Reading Rooms and Self-service Points:

8:00–22:00

Specialized Reading Rooms and Other Service Points:

6:30–22:30

Language English

1 book and 100-plus photos in 10 years capture the beauty of reading

zonghe — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 00:56:14 +0000

Peking University, April 24, 2019: To celebrate World Book Day and embrace the beauty of reading, Peking University is sharing a book with you, a book by PKU staff member Gu Xiaoguang that portrays people of difference ages, genders, and social classes reading books throughout the world in more than 100 photos.

Gu Xiaoguang is a Peking University librarian, writer, and photographer. In 10 years, he traveled to 30-plus countries, capturing the beauty of reading in more than 100 photos. Previously, he was a deputy chief editor of the Journal of Information and Management and the executive chief editor of the journal Digital Library Forum.

Gu giving a talk

“Reading is a silent conversation, and traveling is the destination of imagination. ‘Reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles’ is the philosophical starting point for many people to experience infinite possibilities in a finite lifetime,” Gu Xiaoguang said.

Reading a good book helps us discover knowledge and find inner peace, so why not take a break, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and indulge yourself in a good book to celebrate the World Book Day!

Libraries in different parts of the world

Children being absorbed in reading books

People reading on the street

April 23 was first proclaimed as World Book and Copyright Day by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1995. It is also known as World Book Day.

World Book Day is a world-wide tribute to books and authors, and is dedicated to encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity. With this in mind, UNESCO created the World Book and Copyright Day.

Writer: Xu Haolun
Editor: EAS
Photos: Gu Xiaoguang, UNESCO, others from the web
Source: Office of Global Communications, UNESCO

Language English

Opening Hours: May Day Holiday 2019

zonghe — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:37:44 +0000

2019/04/27-2019/05/05

	Main Service Areas	Building Hours
2019/04/27- (Saturday) 2019/04/30 (Tuesday)	Open-stack Reading Rooms：6:30—22:30 Specialized Reading Rooms：8:00—22:00	6:30–22:30
2019/05/01 (Wenesday)	Closed for May Day Holiday
2019/05/02 (Thusday)- 2019/05/05 (Sunday)	Open-stack Reading Rooms：6:30—22:30 Specialized Reading Rooms🍁：8:00—22:00	6:30–22:30

Language English

简体中文

[120th Anniversary] Perspectives on Digital Humanities

zonghe — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 01:21:40 +0000

Peking University, Oct. 25, 2018: As one of the most important sessions of a series of celebration activities and academic exchanges for the 120th Anniversary of Peking University Library, the 4th International Forum on Cooperation and Sharing of Library Resources for East Asian Studies was held at Peking University Overseas Exchange Center on October 25th, 2018. The forum focused on “East Asian Literature and Digital Humanities—New Roles and New Value as Resource Provider and Service Support,” including five keynote speeches delivered by various professional librarians all over the world and an open discussion on the topic. There were heated discussions and deep exchanges during the session, arousing wide and warm response from those present.

At the very beginning, Cheng Zhangcan, director of Nanjing University Library, addressed a congratulatory speech. He briefly recalled the development of the forum in the past three years and wished a bright future for our libraries.

The forum was hosted by Dai Longji, library director of Macau University of Science and Technology. Five keynote speeches were given by guest speakers. Wu Jianzhong from University of Macau Library gave the first speech. He put forward concepts like “Open Access” and “Beyond Open Access,” stressing the significance of improving data management.

Nie Hua, deputy director of Peking University Library, centered on new vision, new role and new services of library and digital humanities. She posed some challenges and threats faced by digital humanities, introduced PKU Library’s achievements and expressed PKU Library’s determination to improve the function of library in the future.

Peter Zhou, assistant university librarian and director of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library at the University of California, Berkeley, delivered his theme speech of “Digital Humanities and the Librarians: Towards a Sustainable Infrastructure and Operational Platform”. He drew his audience’s attention to the construction of complete digital content life circle. Taking the permanent preservation project of Digital Dunhuang as an example, he emphasized the necessity and importance of eternal data preservation with the help of present business system or crowdsourcing platform etc.

Next, Chen Kuanghua from Taiwan University took the floor, whose speech focused on the research development of digital humanities (DH). He presented a case study based on Taiwan’s publications. It demonstrated how DH was progressing in the rest of the world. He presented his research after giving a brief history of the development of digital archives in Taiwan. Through applying a bibliographic methodology of DH-related scholarly publications in publication similarity analysis and co-authorship analysis, he concluded that DH had fostered collaborations across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

The last speaker before the tea break was Jim Cheng from Columbia University C.V. Starr East Asian Library. He brought the audience’s attention to the trends and challenges of distinguished collection development. He mentioned that Columbia University had just finished the reorganization of its libraries, separating three distinguished collection libraries from the other eighteen libraries. After an introduction to distinguished collections and Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), he added, “our capability to process huge data is still limited, which is a great challenge we should deal with together.”

After the tea break, they had an open discussion hosted by James K.M. Cheng, director of Harvard-Yenching Library. During the session, they shared their ideas about future interlibrary cooperation and insights about the development of library resources, bringing the audience enlightenment and raised their expectations for the 5th forum next year.

Reported by: Ouyang Jie and Shi Jingjing

Edited by: Yan Shengnan and Xu Penghang

Photo credit to: Wang Lipeng, Song Qingsheng, Zou Xinming, Wang Bin

Language English

Check out our new website for SJC branch library!

admin — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 00:40:23 +0000

The brand new homepage for the SJC (新闻与传播学院) Branch Library is online from now on.

Welcome to visit http://lib.sjc.pku.edu.cn on your computer or smartphone for news and information about the collections, resources, and services.

Please feel free to give your advices to Ms Yang (杨老师): Tel.: 010-62767111 Email: yangjing28@126.com

Peking University Library

November 8, 2018

Language English

简体中文