Asian Library, University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC CANADA

The Historical Chinese Language Materials in British Columbia (www.hclmbc.org) Asian Library, University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC CANADA

http://www.hclmbc.org Background of the project • uniqueness and volume of the materials • inaccessibility of the materials • need of a finding aid for the collections scattered across the province • under-researched • urgency and timeliness of initiation in 2000

http://www.hclmbc.org Methodology • identify 27 resource centres & pioneer families in British Columbia • site visits and interviews of pioneer families and curators / librarians • evaluation of documents & artefacts • documentation / scanning / digital imaging by David Lam Centre, SFU technical support & UBC students • batch upload at SFU / UBC

http://www.hclmbc.org Scope of coverage • manuscripts, newspapers, correspondence, genealogical records • business records, receipts, certificates, etc. • association records • readers, textbooks, creative writings • artefacts with vernaculars • photographs with Chinese captions

http://www.hclmbc.org Structure of the Web page & major waves of Chinese settlements in British Columbia • database • image gallery • associations, religious bodies • Chinatowns • related materials

http://www.hclmbc.org Challenges in documentation & maintenance • language related • limitation of MySQL • collaboration • storage as a special collection in the library • workload • as a model for Japanese, Korean & S. Asian projects

http://www.hclmbc.org Challenges in transnational networking • start at home • with N. America & Europe • with PRC, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Asia

http://www.hclmbc.org New tools and collections • publications of 150 clan and family organizations in Guangdong, PRC • 180 textbooks and readers used by the Yip Sang family in the pre-WWII years (1920 -1945) • Learning Objects on WebCT

Asian Library, University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC CANADA