Publication exchange business of National Library of China belongs to the Foreign Acquisition and Cataloguing Department. It is an important window for international cultural exchanges. On behalf of the state to implement cultural agreements, it is also an important component of the acquisition work, serving as an effective way to enrich collection. Through the publication exchange window, it is not only possible for different countries and regions around the world to know Chinese civilization, as well as China's socialist modernization drive's tremendous achievements, but also possible for us to get access to foreign publications beneficial to China's political, economic, cultural and social construction. Up to the end of 2008, the National Library established exchange relationships with more than 500 national libraries, university libraries, public libraries in 117 countries and regions around the world.
Publication exchange is closely related to the party and the country's central task. It has always received great attention from the party and the state. "Beijing library foreign language books information interview trial work regulations" stipulated in May 1977 clearly states the mission of exchange work is "through international exchange, exchange for foreign information needed in China’s modernization drive". The focus is on "the implementation of the relevant provisions of cultural agreements signed by China's government and other governments so as to promote Sino-foreign cultural exchanges." In the new situation of in-depth development of the exchange of publications, "National Library Literature Selection Ordinance" revised in 1998 emphasized once again that the exchange of literature is an important way of collection work, at the same time clarified that the exchange should be in the spirit of "exchange what I have for what I need” and “equality and mutual benefit ", focusing on the exchange for foreign publications with great value, in particular those hard to access through the trade channels..
National Library’s publication exchange has a long history, dating back to 1949. Shortly after the founding of new China, the National Library of China established book and information exchange relationships with the Soviet Union State Lenin Library, the Soviet Academy of Sciences Library, and Social Science Basic Library. International Exchange Section was formally established in 1951. After its foundation, international publication exchange was carried out step by step, successively sending each other books according to cultural agreements with North Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, Romania, East Germany and other countries, later established exchange relationships with France, the United States, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Japan and other countries. The books in collection from the exchange at one time accounted for 40% of all holdings. After 1955, the National Library expanded its cooperation with various libraries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and other third world countries. In 1964, National Library of China got access to 5463 kinds of foreign journals, the highest on record. During the Cultural Revolution, as the domestic publishing work nearly stopped, there was a sharp drop in foreign exchange units. Since 1978, domestic publication has got growing varieties, publication exchange work fully restored, and many new units of exchange have been identified, expanding the scope of exchange.
For the past six decades, National Library has been carrying out the exchange work, and it has always strictly performed its duties and adhered to principles, while at the same time opened up more channels of exchange and innovated work patterns, fruitful and successful, making outstanding contributions to literature resource construction. In National Library’s enormous holdings, there are many valuable documents which were obtained through the exchange channels.
In 1954, National Library through the exchange, got the Dunhuang Data (film)from Cambridge University Library in the UK, not only adding the collection, but also providing first-hand information to China's Dunhuang researchers;
In 1955, through the exchange, the German Democratic Republic returned to China three volumes of Yongle Dictionary once collected in Leipzig;
National Library has 240 pages of the world’s only existing Uighur copy “A Biography of the Tripitaka Master of the Great Tang Dynasty” , and other 278 pages are in the possession of Qimei Museum in France. Through the exchange, National Library completed the missing part;
National Library through the exchange got from the American Mathematical Society the authoritative international mathematics journal "Mathematical Reviews", which introduces the world's latest mathematical research results and developments. At present, in China only the National Library has this collection.
In addition, through the exchange, National Library also received a number of government publications and other gray literature which are not sold to the public, covering politics, economics, science and technology, etc., providing references to national agencies, government departments and research advisory bodies in the settlement of legal, economic, technical, scientific planning and other issues.
Entering the new century, National Library has strengthened the exchange efforts for overseas Chinese literature and minority language literature collections. At present, the collection of books in Korean, Vietnamese and other minority languages were mainly acquired through the exchange channels.
In 2006, National Library further strengthened the construction of exchange relationships with Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao and got access to high-quality publications from those areas. Meantime, it also exchanged mainland publications to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, to share each other's academic achievement and achieving fruitful results.
In recent years, with the exchange channel widening and the rapid development, the documents National Library obtained through exchange are significantly improved in terms of both quantity and quality. Each year, the types of documents collected in National Library through exchange also show the trend of diversification. At present, National Library can receive 3 million copies (pieces) of books, periodicals, newspapers, CD-ROMs, microforms and other forms of literature annually. |
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