• 2025-01-23

On December 18^th, 2024, National Central Library and top-ranking Belgian University KU Leuven’s KADOC Documentation and Research Centre on Religion, Culture and Society signed a cooperation agreement for the Union Catalog of Rare Books Database, a collaboration that was reached thanks to efforts by Ambassador Roy Chun Lee of the Taipei Representative Office in the European Union and Belgium and Director Nicole Yen-Yi Lee.

In 2000, NCL established the Database of the Union Catalog of Rare Books Database in order to strengthen international collaboration and promote joint establishment and sharing of rare book resources. As of 2024, the program has established collaborations with 94 institutions and continues to work to expand its collection to the benefit of researchers around the world. Researchers can use this database not only to learn about the distribution of ancient Chinese texts around the world, they can also use its system to interpret database materials, comparing and analyzing different versions of the same ancient texts for a more thorough grasp of research materials.

KADOC-KU Leuven is an interdisciplinary academic research institution whose research focus encompasses the multifaceted and interconnected topics of religion, culture, and society. Not only does KADOC-KU Leuven focus on the analysis of historical and classical documents, they also work to integrate modern social, political, and cultural topics. Their academic achievements and international collaborative efforts have established their role as an important academic platform within the fields of religion and cultural research. The KADOC-KU Leuven archives include a large collection of ancient texts, documents, academic works, and religious classics from around the world, a collection which holds great importance within historical and cultural research as well as providing precious materials for a variety of scholarly activities, workshops, and research projects.

This cooperation marks the first step in a collaborative relationship between NCL and KADOC-KU Leuven. Both institutions look forward to the many collaborative possibilities that lie ahead upon the establishment of this partnership.