No. 114 Journal of East Asian Libraries

              FROM THE PRESIDENT
Greetings from Hong Kong! Since I have been in Hong Kong for less than two months, I have
not had much time to explore the library scene yet. Nevertheless I am already impressed by some
cooperative projects as well as the common deployment of Chinese script in library operation.
The more established universities in Hong Kong are supported by the government, and the
libraries of these seven universities have formed a Joint University Libraries Advisory Committee
( JULAC). One of its initial accomplishments was the formation of a JULAC Resource Database
which includes the bibliographic records of its member libraries plus recent records acquired from
the National Beijing Library, the National Central Library and the Library of Congress ( CJK titles
only). While the main purpose of the database is for library staff use, some libraries allow public
access to this data. On a smaller scale, six theological libraries formed an Ecumenical
Information Network ( EIN) Library Union Catalog which currently has about 150,000 records.
It is my belief that we should rely more on the bibliographic records produced by the various
national libraries, if they are current and of high quality. Most East Asian national libraries have
reached that stage. The Library of Congress, OCLC and RLG have been trying to acquire
records from the National Diet Library for a long time. HopefUlly these records will be available
in the near future. Perhaps it is now time to investigate the possibility of acquiring other national
MARC records.
Most East Asian librarians in North America are frustrated that their library   s OPAC cannot
handle non- roman scripts. The common deployment of Asian scripts in libraries in East Asia
shows that it is not a question of capability but one of priority. If we can convince our library
administrators of the importance of the original script, they can demand that vendors produce the
required integrated library system almost overnight. It should not be a pipe dream. We have
waited long enough.
Tai- loi Ma
President, CEAL
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