No. 121 Journal of East Asian Libraries

              FROM THE PRESIDENT
As I write this message, nearly three months have passed since our annual meeting in San
Diego. If that memory is fading, this issue of JEAL should begin to refresh it! It includes
the reports of several CEAL committees that met there as well as Eugene Wu   s keynote
address from the Plenary Session     CEAL at the Dawn of the 21st Century    that opened our
highly successfulc onference. Yasuko Makino   s article     JapaneseS tudies for the 21st
Century    continues the theme of looking to the future, while several reports highlight
planning and training workshops on Japaneses tudies librarianship in the U. S., Canada, a nd
Japan.
Have we heard too much about Pinyin yet? Two articles deal with the details of the imminent
conversion of our Chinese records from Wade- Giles to Pinyin: the     Final Report of the
CEAL Pinyin Liaison Group    and an article by Ju- yen Teng on a     total plan    for Pinyin
conversion. Finally, there is a tribute to one of our retiring members, Phyllis Wang, an active
contributor to CEAL for many years and a beloved colleague whose friendly face will be
much missed.
I have two exciting things to report, though many of you may have heard the news already
through Eastlib. Both the CEAL Directory and the CEAL website are in the process of being
updated. At its second meeting in San Diego, the Executive Committee voted to assign the
task of overseeing the website to the Committee on Library Technology. You should hear
from them soon about the     new and improved    new website and their plans to keep it current.
( Many thanks to Bob Felsing who has shouldered the burden for manv years!) Secondly, our
new CEAL Secretary, Doris Seely, has volunteered to produce a new edition of the CEAL
Directory. If you have not heard from her yet, you undoubtedly will soon.
Now is the time to begin planning for next year   s conference in Chicago. Over the summer,
CEAL committees will begin planning programs and workshops with the intention of
announcing tentative plans in the fall. Please share your ideas and enthusiasm with
committee chairs and members. This will ensure that we continue to field excellent
programs on issues of interest and relevance to our members.
Bill McCloy, President
Council on East Asian Libraries ( CEAL)
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