September 8, 2008 (Vol. 8, No. 2)

Lehman Chief Librarian to Visit China This Fall

Chief Librarian Kenneth Schlesinger will travel to China in October to take part in a ten-day professional and cultural exchange program on global information systems.

Sponsored by People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs, the program will allow American and Chinese archivists to discuss challenges posed by digital technologies that have revolutionized document preservation, reference services, access to materials, and archival education.

For Professor Schlesinger, the program represents an opportunity to both learn and teach. "I'm eager to learn more about the archival collections and practices in Southeast Asia," he explained. "China features archives from its Imperial past, rich with historical artifacts and rare manuscripts. They are dealing with much older material than U.S. archives."

Professor Schlesinger hopes that such exchanges may encourage China to become a more open society. "Since there is a problem with Internet censorship in China, perhaps we can effectively demonstrate the necessary value of sharing information and resources to promote scholarship for public benefit," he said.

In 2006, Professor Schlesinger was a consultant to three academic libraries in Vietnam as a Fulbright Senior Specialist. He previously worked as an archivist in the research collections of Time, Inc., the Metropolitan Opera, the Paley Center for Media, Thirteen/WNET, and the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

For more information about People to People programs, visit www.ambassadorprograms.

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