The group paid a half-day visit to the National Taiwan University Library (NTUL) on 7th June 2001 and arrived at around 12:30 p.m. The visit schedule and lunch were graciously arranged by NTUL staff. The first thing which struck us was the elegant Taiwanese-styled lunchboxes prepared for the group. The rice was delicately scented by the plywood containers and had a very unique and refreshing aroma. The food was so delicious that everything was consumed within three minutes.
After lunch, we visited the individual departments of NTUL to see their set-up and operations, namely, Systems, Technical Services, and Public Services. NTUL was originally founded in 1928, the same year that marked the birth of the University. The Library was subsequently moved and finally settled in its present address in 1998. NTUL consists of a main library and two other branch libraries, with an overall collection of approximately 2 million volumes in various formats (including monographs, serials, newspapers, and AV materials, etc.) on a wide range of academic subjects. In addition to its extensive collection of monographs, NTUL also holds over 22,000 periodical titles as well as 100 newspaper titles.
The main library is composed of 5 floors. The basement has designated round-the-clock self-study and group study rooms. It also provides other research and conference facilities including 70 conference and seminar rooms. All these facilities are available for use by scholars and researchers from within Taiwan and overseas.
We were very honoured to have seen the exhibition of 林文月教授手稿資料展 held at the main library, as well as NTUL's Special Collection Room. The Special Collection Room houses about 50,000 items of precious materials in various languages acquired from different countries. This collection includes Chinese thread-bound manuscripts and western language incunabula. Owing to their priceless cultural and historic values, many of them are considered national treasures. The entire Special Collection Room has a controlled air-conditioning system to keep the temperature and humidity at a constant level.
Cultural properties aside, NTUL also constantly strives to offer the latest services, as it purports to support teaching and research in the University. For example, they provide access to a wide range of Web-based resources and other online sources. NTUL also provides training and support in the use of an extensive collection of periodical indexes, dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Many of their electronic sources are also accessible through their homepage.
Like all Hong Kong academic libraries, NTUL also chose INNOPAC as its computerized library system. The name "TULIPS� has been adopted since 1993.
Shortly before the end of our visit, the NTUL Director spent about 30 minutes presenting their organizational profile to the group in detail. Librarians from both ends had lively discussions on diverse issues like library organizations, book selection policies, clientele, student population, funding policies, nature of the university curricula, etc.
To express our sincere gratitude for their most generous hospitality,
our president, Mr. Tommy Yeung, presented a souvenir to the NTUL Director
at the end of our visit.
Reported by Patrick Lo
Lingnan University Library