Peking University Library:
 The
Peking University Library was founded in 1902 under the name Capital
University Book Collection Building. After the revolution of 1911, it
gained its present name. During the nationwide readjustment of
colleges and universities in the 1950s, the Peking University Library
absorbed the Yenching University Library as well as collections from
other universities. In late 1998, the centennial anniversary of Peking
University, the construction of the new library building was
completed. The total building area now amounts to 51,000 square
meters, with 4,000 seats. The collection has reached 6,500,000 titles,
making it the biggest university library in Asia.
Thanks to generations of tremendous effort, the library is holding a
collection amounting to 4,610,000 items. In addition, there are many
modern documents like AV materials, CD-ROMs, and databases for many
disciplines.
The Peking University library is a large-scale comprehensive research
library and is well known both in China and abroad. It is now a member
of the International Federation of Library Associations and
Institutions (IFLA), the China Library Association, and the China
Science Information Association. It has been playing an important role
in teaching and research on its own campus as well as with China's
entire library and information circle. The Peking University Library
has relationships with more than 500 foreign libraries, schools, and
research institutes.
Among the 24,000 categories of documents in its collection, the Peking
University Library holds 56,000 copies of rubbings from inscriptions
on ancient bronzes and stone tablets. These rubbings reflect many
facets of ancient life and are very important for the study of ancient
characters, calligraphy, and paintings. They also can be used to
supplement history books. This collection now ranks first among
China's academic libraries.
The Peking University Library also pays great attention to the
development of a modern digital library. The library operates the
UNICORN integrated automation system, replacing the outdated PULAIS
system. The UNICORN system includes modules that oversee a publicly
accessible catalogue, the book collection, circulation, reference
books for teaching, serial publication control, material ordering etc.
Users can search online business databases and self-building databases
through a gateway. The management center of China Academic Library
Information System (CALIS), one of the two public service programs of
" Project 211" was established at the Peking University Library. It
will make great contributions to higher education's resource-sharing
and digital library development.
 |
Libraries