![\"xiuying\"](\"https:\/\/www.eastasianlib.org\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/XZou-1-edited-256x300.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHow did your journey in working with East Asian libraries and collections begin?<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve always been interested in international cooperation. I came to the US as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to study political science at the University of Pittsburgh. While earning my master\u2019s degree, I began working in East Asian Library and gradually developed an interest in library science as I came to understand the important role libraries play in building relationships between countries and cultures. Haihui Zhang, who was the Chinese Studies Librarian at the time, was a great mentor to me. I began to see librarianship as another way of advancing the intercultural understanding that had initially brought me to Pittsburgh. As my scholarly interests shifted towards libraries, I decided to pursue a master\u2019s degree in library science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My first job after receiving my MLS was at SUNY Binghamton. When I started in 2002, the university had not previously had a dedicated East Asian Studies Librarian. It was a transformative start to my career as a Librarian. Being responsible for materials from China, Japan, and Korea established my professional identity as an East Asian studies librarian who looked across boundaries and sought to understand more deeply the connections among the three countries and beyond. I worked simultaneously as a cataloger and a liaison, while also establishing workflows for acquiring CJK materials. Those early years gave me a deep appreciation for the many kinds of work that happen in libraries and have stayed with me throughout my career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What did you enjoy most about your career in East Asian librarianship?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Librarianship is one of the best careers for continuing to learn, grow, and enrich yourself while also helping others learn and conduct research. Every day is an opportunity to discover something new, whether through working with collections, answering reference questions, or interacting with students and faculty. I also think it is exciting to use East Asian collections to promote cross-cultural understanding. I especially enjoy community events where our materials can engage people beyond East-Asian studies majors and researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I enjoy connecting people with our collections, especially primary source materials. I’m particularly passionate about the intersection of information literacy and primary resources. Our materials are not only meant to be stored and preserved; we need scholars and especially students to engage with them. These resources can inspire questions and broaden horizons and open people’s eyes. Historical resources naturally raise questions beyond their immediate contents. I love teaching students to work with primary resources and rare materials, encouraging them to think critically about why these materials exist and what their contents mean. Most recently, I worked with other scholars and librarians to help coordinate Training the Trainers: Materiality of Ming Books and Manuscripts, <\/em>a program focused on how to teach with original Ming texts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I think about what I\u2019m most proud of, it is almost always related to improving access to materials. When I returned to work at the University of Pittsburgh, I helped expand the Gateway Service Center to provide greater access to Chinese journals, including publications from Hong Kong, Macau, and other regional libraries in mainland China. At Claremont I have continued to improve access to Asian Studies archival and rare book collections. I also hired a visiting librarian specializing in Chinese rare books to help authenticate and catalog Chinese rare books, and to seek grants to digitize approximately 60 titles. Both efforts have helped provide access to unique materials that are otherwise unavailable in China. I am also proud of my work on CEAL\u2019s Electronic Resources Metadata Standards and Best Practices (ERMB) Committee to improve the discoverability of eResources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am also excited about an exhibit I recently curated at The Claremont Colleges Library: Scattered Leaves: East Asian Rare Books across Borders, Regions, and Cultures<\/em>. The exhibition is a tribute to the many librarians and supporters who helped create the collections at The Claremont Colleges. I am especially proud of how the exhibit explores the movement of culture and knowledge among China, Japan, and Korea. The books in the exhibits tell so many stories, about Buddhism, Confucianism, writing, medicine, and the movement of ideas across borders. I often think about how these materials have survived both natural and human-made disasters to be with us today, thanks to the immense human effort devoted to preserving them and sharing them with the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I see several trends emerging in the field. I think East Asian Librarians are transitioning from being specialists focused primarily on one specific country to taking a broader, more interconnected view of Asia as a whole. The shift requires stronger skills in resource management and sharing across collections and institutions. There will be growing attention to historical archives, including efforts to rediscover overlooked collections and tell stories of how they came to be. These collections are everywhere and waiting to be discovered and connected with new audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also think there will be lots of emerging technologies we will need to develop expertise in. It is no surprise that AI will change our field, but we don\u2019t yet know exactly how. Librarians and human mediators will remain critical, and we have much to learn about AI and information literacy. We also need to understand how emerging technologies can help to improve our preservation and conservation of resources. There is still much to explore and learn from the broader field of digital humanities and digital scholarships. Ultimately, I think librarians will continue to evolve beyond their traditional core duties. We will not only be resource keepers, but also knowledge creators, educators, collaborators, and scholars to help people navigate an increasingly complex information landscape while connecting collections and ideas across boundaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Xiuying Zou (she\/her\/hers) is the Head of the Asian Library at the Claremont Colleges. She has been in the position since 2016. 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What change(s) and trend(s) in East Asian librarianship had you witnessed and envisioned?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n