美國國會圖書館近年來的特殊中文寶藏

Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee and the Special Chinese Collections Acquired in Recent Years by the Library of Congress

今年適逢美國文化界權威組織華人圖書館員協會四十週年慶，該協會以紀錄片感謝創始人李華偉博士多年來對圖書館界多方面的重要貢獻。筆者曾在李博士領導下在美國國會圖書館亞洲部工作多年，深知李博士對亞洲部行政上的改善，以及對中國文化史實的珍藏與維護的努力，因此用這篇文章報導李博士在此兩方面的貢獻。筆者深受李華偉館長在美國國會圖書館樹立了蒐集歷史性特藏的好榜樣之影響，作為一個專業圖書館員，對於自己每一段工作生涯中接觸的重要文獻，都有使命感去維護，並把文獻和求證得來的事實公諸於世。筆者在亞洲部的工作就是管理和維護美國國會圖書館三百多萬的亞洲語言藏書和其它館藏，其中不少珍貴善本具有歷史、文化、和文學價值。筆者深感建立歷史性特藏供讀者之需的重要性，所以在國會圖書館工作十七年間，利用許多機會收集及維護這些歷史性特藏。如今撰文報導，希望能讓千萬讀者受益，如果能把這些知識遺產永遠傳揚下去，則責任已盡，內心亦感無愧。

During the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago on June 30, 2013, the Chinese American Librarians Association members paid their respects to Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee as the highlight of CALA's 40th birthday. Based on the many complimentary remarks about Dr. Lee, no one should doubt his world-renowned reputation for being an outstanding scholar, a library leader, and an ambassador for the East-West cultural exchange. However, these achievements are only one part of his long and productive professional life. The purpose of this article is to focus on (1) the administrative and organizational improvement Dr. Lee made as the Chief of the Asian Division, the Library of Congress; and (2) the impact of the historically, culturally, and scholarly important Chinese collections that Dr. Lee initiated and preserved during his tenure from 2003 to 2008. Even after he retired, he urged the staff to continue to maintain a sense of mission to preserve these special collections. As a result, many unique collections were brought to the Library and many programs were initiated after Dr. Lee retired.The author was influenced by Dr. Lee. As a trained librarian, she has a sense of mission to protect every important document that is in a collection for which she is responsible. She also enjoys the opportunity to test the authenticity of documents, and shares her research results with the world. The author was the Head of the Collection Services, Asian Division, the Library of Congress (LC). In that position, her responsibility was to protect and preserve the 3 million plus volumes of the books and other materials in Asian languages in the Library. Many of these books and materials are rich in information about history, culture, and literature. Ms. Lu worked for the Library of Congress for seventeen years. During those years she and her colleagues had many opportunities to collect the unique historical collections through various channels. This article depicts the methods the Chinese specialists in the LC used to collect these rare items, and also provides information on research methods that can be used by researchers all over the world. This information can be viewed at the Library of Congress Home Page or in person at LC. The author feels this article will serve a useful purpose if the special Chinese collections are used and be viewed online.