Dear CEAL colleagues:
What an eventful year this has been! I hope that you are staying well as we begin the fall semester in a most unusual year.
Immediately after the 2020 CEAL Annual Conference in March, the CEAL Executive Board has been busy handling a number of business items for the CEAL community. I’d like to list some major highlights of what we have been up to.
Committees
In April, the following committees were formed with new members under newly elected chairs: Committee on Chinese Materials (CCM), Committee on Japanese Materials (CJM), Committee on Korean Materials (CKM), Committee on Public Services (CPS) and Committee on Technical Processing (CTP). Subsequently, the term of the CJM Subcommittee on Japanese Rare Books has been renewed.
- Task Force on CEAL Leadership Institute 2021: As the CEAL Leadership Institute has been postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19, the term of the Task Force has been extended to May 2021 and its membership has been updated.
- Task Force for Reconstruction of the CEAL Mailing List Archive: A few months ago, we noticed that there was an issue with the CEAL mailing list archive. Thus, this Task Force was established to rebuild and preserve the lost archive.
- Task Force for Review of the ERMB (Electronic Resources Metadata Standards Best Practices=Task Force on Metadata Standards and Best Practices for East Asian Electronic Resources): The Task Force was established to examine the current ERMB Task Force’s charge to see if the ERMB can be expanded, or if it should be established as a new standing committee.
- Task Force on Metadata Standards and Best Practices for East Asian Electronic Resources (Electronic Resources Metadata Standards Best Practices/ERMB): The leadership and members of the Task Force have been updated.
- Task Force for the Creation of CEAL’s Statement on Collection Development and Acquisition Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic In collaboration with the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC) and the Society of Chinese Studies Librarians (SCSL): The Task Force was established to create a statement outlining a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Task Force completed its task and the statement was released on August 13 and was officially endorsed by the Association for Asian Studies on August 31.
Affiliates: Below affiliates’ terms have been renewed.
- Small East Asian Collections Roundtable (2020-2023)
- Working Group on Research Materials in East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine (2020-2023)
In addition, on behalf of the CEAL, I have been participating in the Joint Statement task force on creating the Equity and Access in Higher Education and Academic Libraries amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. The task force has been engaging in conversations with administrators and board members of ARL, CRL and HathiTrust to share the concerns described in the statement.
I plan to provide more information on the above items in the next Journal of East Asian Libraries (JEAL) issue. Please stay tuned for the article in the JEAL October issue.
Lastly, the CEAL Executive Board is working on the 2021 Annual Conference. I will be able to share an update on the conference in October.
In closing, I would like to recognize all the hard work and commitment of the Executive Board members and their leadership. Also, I would like to thank the CEAL members for your ongoing valuable feedback and inputs as well as your resilience.
I hope that you are continuing to stay safe and well in these extraordinary and tough times.
Sincerely,
Hana Kim
President, Council on East Asian Libraries
