The Chinese collection includes some 1500 books. (L Wolfs, photo)

This summer, Alloway Library is adding some 1,500 volumes of Chinese language material previously housed at TWU’s  Richmond|Minoru campus.

The collection includes translations of key western works as well books by Chinese authors and primarily supports ACTS Seminaries’ Master of Arts – Christian Studies (Mandarin) degree programs but are available to all library users. They are published in Chinese by publishers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the People’s Republic and elsewhere. While the bulk of the collection is related to issues of theology, Biblical studies, church polity and the Christian life, there are also books on philosophy, history –  including Chinese church history –  the social sciences, and literature.  About a hundred English language or bilingual books were also part of the collection and will be shelved by their appropriate call number on the TWU Book shelves.

Alloway Library staff are working to catalogue the material so that it appears in our online catalogues. That tasks includes creating item records for each title in Chinese characters, English and pinyin (Chinese phonetic alphabet.)  Currently, books can be found by browsing the Chinese Collection on the lower level where the shelves are arranged by general topics, such as “Christianity: Early Writings” or “Social Sciences.”  As the material is catalogued, a temporary call number is assigned to each title and the catalogued books are then shelved by  their Library of Congress call number. To date nearly 400 titles are now in the catalogue.

The Chinese Collection is shelved on Alloway Library’s Lower level in the area near Study Rooms 2 and 3. All the material is available for borrowing by any of Alloway Library’s patrons, but not available for InterLibrary Loan.  Borrower Services staff may need to add a barcode label before the material is checked out.