On 19th July, 2012, “A Window to the World” - the panel discussion in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Shanghai Library’s “Window of Shanghai” Program (2002 - 2012) - was held in Seminar Room 5304. The discussion is also one of the celebrating series for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Library. It was attended by more than 70 delegates from over 20 countries/regions like China, U.S., Russia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Croatia, Mozambique, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, and so forth. Among these delegates, 42 were experts or scholars from the Window partners. The panel discussion was chaired by Dr. WU Jianzhong, director of the Shanghai Library.

The panel discussion kicked off with a promotional film of “Window of Shanghai”, which had profiled the 10-year-development of this international cultural exchange programme. Then, three partners shared what they wanted to say to the Window. They were Ms. Andra Seceleanu, vice rector of Andrei Saguna University from Constanta, Romania; Mr. Paweł Braun, director of The Joseph Conrad – Korzeniowski’s Voivodship and Municipal Public Library of Gdańsk, Poland; Mrs. Tebogo Mzizi, director of eThekwini Municipal Libraries, South Africa.  

After that, presentations were given by Dr. Cheng Hong from Library of University of California, Los Angeles, USA, whose topic is “Collecting Shanghai: Rise with a Global City”; by Ms. Li Danni from University of Southern California, USA, whose topic is “Entering the Arena of Public Diplomacy: A Case Study of ‘Window of Shanghai’ of Shanghai Library”; and by Mr. John FitzGerald, University Librarian & Director of Information Services, University College Cork, Ireland, whose topic is “Cork-China Connections”.

During the discussion, some of the foreign delegates expressed best wishes to the Window on their own initiatives, such as Mrs. Raisa Samsonova, deputy director general of Moscow Central Universal Scientific Library after N.A. Nekrasov, Russia; Mr. Aldo Pirola, director of the public library system of municipality of Milan, Italy; Ms. Ching-chih Chen, professor emeritus of Simmons College, Founder of Global CC, USA. As did some domestic delegates like Mr. Ren Jing, director of China’s Chongqing Library, and representative from the tourism bureau of Shanghai municipality.

A “Window of Shanghai” exhibition was also held in Seminar Room 5304 during the panel discussion, which was visited and took photos with by many of the delegates. At the same time, congratulatory messages and gifts for the 10th anniversary of “Window of Shanghai” from its partners were displayed, attracting attention from almost every participant.

“Window of Shanghai” is an integral part of the “China Book International” (CBI) project. It is also an important program of the international exchange initiated by the Shanghai Library in 2002. The main idea is that the Shanghai Library signs a friendship agreement for the establishment of “Window of Shanghai” with libraries or relevant organizations in various countries and regions. With three years as a cooperation period, the Shanghai Library donates to the agreement libraries and institutions the official publications reflecting the cultural and construction achievements in ancient and contemporary China, produced by domestic publishers.  On the basis of the first donation of 500 titles, the Shanghai Library also donates annually thereafter an additional 100 titles, so that the recipient library can increase and update its collection of Chinese publications. A decade after its launch, “Window of Shanghai” has been set up in over 80 public libraries, university libraries, Confucius Institutes and other organizations in 48 countries and regions. A total of over 40,000 books and electronic materials were sent, covering art, economy, biography, philosophy, literature, culture and folk traditions, history, natural and cultural landscapes, traditional Chinese medicine, culinary arts, and architecture of ancient and modern China and Shanghai in particular. Versions in multiple languages are available, including Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese-English. Due to its great contribution to the cultural exchange, the “Window of Shanghai” was awarded many cultural promotion prizes in municipal level such as the third prize of “the 8th Shanghai Sliver Dove”, the second prize of “the 11th Shanghai Sliver Dove” and the outstanding project of “Shanghai Cultural Work in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in 2011”.

Looking into the future, the Shanghai Library plans to focus on the sister cities of Shanghai all over the globe and to step up its efforts to bring more “Windows of Shanghai” to foreign readers. By means of the Window, the Library aims to provide more collections and services, such as electronic resources, on-line exhibitions, interlibrary loan, online knowledge navigation and reference services, for overseas libraries. The Library will maximize its active role as a “window” to Shanghai in IFLA and its network organizations. It will also continue to invite more librarians to visit the Library and to promote exchange and cooperation, so as to polish and reinforce “Window of Shanghai” as a new window, a new bridge and a new platform that connects Chinese and foreign cultures, Chinese and foreign libraries.