• 2024-09-05

With the goal of expanding international perspectives and enhancing service innovation among Taiwan's library professionals, the National Central Library welcomed Larry Alford, University Chief Librarian of the University of Toronto Libraries. His lecture, "Print Preservation in the Digital Age: Why, How, the Future," was presented on August 21, 2024.

In her opening remarks, National Central Library Director-General Han-ching Wang noted that Chief Librarian Alford has made numerous significant contributions to the Canadian library community and has received multiple awards, including the Ron MacDonald Distinguished Service Award. The University of Toronto Libraries is also an important North American partner of the National Central Library. The two institutions signed a cooperation agreement in 2012, collaborated on rare book digitization in 2014, and established the 16th Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Toronto Libraries in 2015. As the National Central Library establishes its Southern Branch United Collections Center, Director-General Wang expressed gratitude to Chief Librarian Alford for visiting and sharing his rich experience with Downsview's establishment and operations.

The morning lecture focused on sharing experiences from the establishment and operation of Keep@Downsview at the University of Toronto's Downsview campus and the five-university collaborative storage facility in Canada. Chief Librarian Alford explained that the University of Toronto has 40 official libraries across three campuses, preserving 1.5 PB of digital files. It houses Canada's largest media collection and ranks third among North American academic libraries, after Harvard and Yale. Due to near-capacity on-site storage, Downsview was established in 2005. Following expansion in 2016, total capacity increased from 2 million to 5 million volumes. In 2022, plans began for another expansion to 8 million volumes, with construction starting this year and completion expected in 2026. The Chief Librarian shared insights about design requirements, operational procedures (including acid-free storage boxes, large-format book placement, intake processes, and resource selection), and collaboration with professional storage management staff. He also discussed the adoption of the Harvard model for cost reasons and the installation of solar panels to reduce forklift power costs. The morning session concluded with an active Q&A session.

In the afternoon Chief Librarian Alford attended a professional exchange meeting with NCL Director-General Wang and staff from different divisions. He first shared their AI applications, including chatbots for answering user queries and AI-powered search capabilities for digitized images. Subsequently, the NCL Special Collections, Digital Knowledge Systems, Collection Development and Bibliographic Management, and Knowledge Services divisions exchanged information about "Rare book and manuscript conservation," "Web-Archiving and Digital Preservation," "Digital Service (online research support and other services)," and "Plan/Service being planned using AI tools." The session concluded with discussions about manuscript authorization procedures and web archiving technologies. Besides the lecture and discussions, Chief Librarian Alford also toured the Rare Books Room and the OPEN LAB.