• 2022-09-01

Academia Sinica Academician Jen-kuei Li has been doing researches on Formosan languages in Taiwan for more than half a century. He decided to donate his collection of books and materials to National Central Library for long-term preservation and for providing for use. His collection includes books and materials on Austronesian languages,linguistics, ethnic minority languages, and series of publications on Formosan languages, Chinese phonetics, Taiwan history, etc. in addition to the notes, recordings, slides, and all other materials from his field studies. He even included all the awards certificates and artifacts in the donated package. On August 31, NCL held a research material donation ceremony for this donation, and Director-General Shu-hsien Tseng, on behalf of the NCL, received the donation from Academician Li with gratitude.

Formosan languages have been surveyed and researched for over 100 years. They are perceived as one of the most important cultural heritage with scholarly value in Taiwan. In fact, Formosan languages are also recognized as valuable cultural asset by international scholarly communities. Academician Li expressed his gratitude that NCL would take after the whole lot of materials he has acquired over 54 years of his life-long survey and researches. He feels content that these materials can continue to serve the successor scholars and benefit researches of the related domains. In considering long-term preservation of research writings by contemporary scholars in Taiwan, as well as their publications and manuscripts, NCL has planned to establish adequate repository at its Southern Branch of the National Central Library & National

Repository Library in the Xinying District of Tainan.This facility will be constructed meeting international standards of archival environment, ideal to preserve cultural assets. This anticipated facility will be able to ensure long-term preservation as well as continuous provision for use for the invaluable donated scholarly resources. At present, the donation by Academician Li is the largest donation to NCL ever, as it includes his personal research materials and artifacts on a great array of disciplines. Such a comprehensive donation is an important example in NCL’s endeavors in acquiring personal collection donations from scholars. This surely will greatly benefit future scholars’ research. Therefore,NCL will continue to acquire such donations. In this way, we can expect to have more first-hand resources for interdisciplinary researches.