Organizer and Chair: Sören Edgren, Princeton University
Discussants: Lucille Chia, University of California, Riverside; Tai-loi Ma, University of
Chicago; Diane E. Perushek, University of Tennessee; Harold D. Roth, Brown University
Several years ago the Research Libraries Group (RLG) initiated an ambitious project to create full bibliographic records on-line for pre-nineteenth century Chinese printed books and manuscripts held by major libraries in North America as well as those in Asia and Europe. The project, known as the International Union Catalog of Chinese Rare Books, was the first of its kind and necessarily began with the compilation of a set of cataloging guidelines suited to the special characteristics of pre-modern books and to the specific conditions of on-line cataloging. The next step was to employ the guidelines during a controlled "pilot" phase. Cataloging and record entry formally began in September 1991 and by September 1996, the fifth anniversary of the project, approximately 8,500 records will have been entered on the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) database. As the project matures there is a growing demand for information about this new on-line resource, not only from sinologists and students of all aspects of traditional China, but in particular from scholars working in the emerging fields of printing history, publishing history and print culture. This round table aims to introduce the project and discuss its relevance to the field by bringing together the project's editorial director, two historians with an active interest in bibliography and two scholar-librarians who are thoroughly familiar with the Chinese rare book resources on RLIN.