• 2019-09-27

On September 10, 2019, National CentralLibrary Director-general Tseng Shu-hsien and National University of Mongolia’sVice President Ch. Lodoiravsal signed a cooperative agreement for a Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS). An opening ceremony was held thesame day. This is the first TRCCS NCL has established in Mongolia and marks the32^nd one overseas. Both parties also signed a cooperativeagreement regarding the Union Catalog of Rare Book Database. This is a new pagein collaboration on ancient Chinese books between the two institutions. It is also a significant achievement for NCL in its efforts topromote international cultural exchange.

National University of Mongolia has played a critical role in the development of Chinese studies in modern Mongolia. The two famous scholars of Chinese from modern Mongolia—Chimedtseren and Jugder—bothtaught at National University of Mongolia. Under their tutelage, a new generation of outstanding Chinese studies scholars and Chinese language teachers have been trained. National University of Mongolia was established in 1942and has had a leading role in Mongolian higher education. Approximately 1/3 ofthe scholars in Mongolia are graduates from this institution and are active in the humanities, education, and science fields in Mongolia, as well as assuming important positions in society. National University of Mongolia’s library has acollection of over 360,000 volumes, along with many digital databases.

In 2012 National Central Library began establishing Taiwan Resource Centers for Chinese Studies overseas by selecting important universities or research institutions. This proved to strengthen collaboration with research institutions in Chinese studies in countries throughout theworld. It also promoted scholarly exchange between scholars in Taiwan and abroad, thus disseminating the scholarly achievements of Chinese studies in Taiwan. This project was one of four to be awarded the American Library Association’s 2015 International Innovative Service Award. Not only does this increase NCL’s interaction with research institutions across the globe and provide new opportunities for collaboration, it also enables even more people to come in contact with and use e-resources from Taiwan on Chinese studies. This increases Taiwan’s visibility and influence internationally.

In establishing this TaiwanResource Center for Chinese Studies at National University of Mongolia, NCL provided 394 titles (541 volumes) of books on Chinese studies and Taiwan studies. Each year moving forward, this collection will be supplemented with new books. NCL also provided the university’s professors and students access to the abundant digital resources in Taiwan’s digital collections and databases.

During the opening ceremony, Director-general Tseng presented a replica of a national treasure Annotations of Mr. Dong Po’s Poems, a work with over 800 hundredyears of history, as well as a dual colored DiamondSutra, the only surviving copy of its kind. The 22 volumes will not only add to the university’s collections, but also stand as a witness of this historic moment of collaboration. They also will provide opportunities for further collaboration in the future.

The establishment of the TRCCS aids in broadening scholarly exchanges at the university; it also promotes Chinese studies from Taiwan. In addition, it functions as an important international window where by more people can read the excellent books published in Taiwan and use the abundant Chinese studiese-resources, thus showing the results of Taiwan’s promotion of Chinese studies.