On June 7, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony was held between Thammasat University Library and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) Library. The event took place in Conference Room 1 on the ground floor of the Pridi Banomyong Library, Tha Prachan Campus. The guests, welcomed by Assistant Professor Akekarin Yolrabil, Director of the Thammasat University Library, included Dr. Ren Shu Huai, Director of SISU Library; Dr. Wang Yilin, Executive Dean of the School of Asian and African Studies; and Dr. Song Fan, Head of the Department of Thai, SISU.
Founded in 1949 after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China as the Shanghai Russian School affiliated with East China People’s Revolution University, SISU was one of the first Chinese institutions of higher learning in foreign language education. The university’s first president was Jiang Chunfang (1912–1987) a noted translator from the Russian and founder of the Encyclopedia of China. After working as a Russian translator at the England–Asia Telegraphic Agency, Dr. Jiang translated Russian films for the Asian Motion Pictures Company in Shanghai. In 1941, working in coordination with the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS), he started the Times Weekly, serving as editor-in-chief to promote the Soviet side during the Second World War. Among his many other responsibilities after the war was as Deputy Director and Consultant at the Communist Party Central Committee’s Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin. During the Cultural Revolution, Jiang was imprisoned at the Qincheng Prison for seven years. SISU, the university he helped to found, adopted the motto Integrity, Vision and Academic Excellence. Today its goals are to be a multidisciplinary, multicultural institution, preparing innovative professionals and future global leaders with international expertise to address critical challenges. SISU offers courses in 33 modern languages including:
English, Russian, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Persian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Swedish, Dutch, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Turkish, Hindi, Hungarian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Polish, Czech, Urdu, Malay, Swahili, Javanese, Pashto, Tajik and Chinese.
It also teaches Latin, Ancient Greek, Old English, Sanskrit, Classical Syriac, and Esperanto.
TU students who are interested in becoming conference interpreters may wish to note that the Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation (GIIT) of SISU is given a top ranking by the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), representing over 3,000 professionals in over 100 countries, as the only university in Asia among the top 15 professional conference interpreting training institutions. SISU’s mission is to introduce the rest of the world to China and present China globally. As professionals in the field of language study know, knowledge of foreign languages is an essential element of international diplomacy and political science. In addition to SISU’s language training excellence, it also operates over 70 research institutes and academic think tanks, providing advice on language policy, diplomatic strategy, and international public opinion in China. SISU publishes 13 peer-reviewed academic journals, including the Journal of Foreign Languages, funded by China’s National Social Science Foundation.
Core Values
SISU’s Multilingual+ Initiative program requires students to master at least two foreign languages. The plus sign in the program’s name refers to interdisciplinary education, connecting different disciplines and subjects with area studies as a core. SISU has partnerships with over 400 universities and institutions in 60 countries and regions. It has two campuses, Hongkou Campus and Songjiang Campus, and the SISU Library has around 1 million volumes, with almost half of them in English. The website of the SISU librarian includes a quote from a famous Argentinian author and librarian, Jorge Luis Borges from his short story The Library of Babel:
I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
TU students may enjoy this story in the collection by Borges, Ficciones, in a copy generously donated to the TU Library by Ajarn Charnvit Kasetsiri and Professor Benedict Anderson. The book is shelved in the Charnvit Kasetsiri Room of the Pridi Banomyong Library, Tha Prachan campus. Branches of the SISU Library include the Run Run Shaw Library on the Hongkou Campus and Library and Information Center of the Songjiang Campus. Named after Sir Run Run Shaw (1907 – 2014), a Hong Kong entertainment tycoon and philanthropist, the library honors one of the most influential figures in the Asian entertainment industry, founder of Shaw Brothers Studio, a major film production company, and TVB, a leading television company, both in Hong Kong. Shaw donated billions of Hong Kong dollars to educational institutions in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Distinguished visitors
Among the distinguished visitors to TU on June 7, Dr. Ren Shuhuai, Professor of the Department of Information Management, has particular expertise with computer science and databases, having earned degrees at the University of Science & Technology Beijing and the Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology. As a Professor in the College of International Business, SISU, Dr. Ren has participated in many research projects and published over 50 research papers in domestic and international academic journals as well as conferences. His research interests include knowledge management, digital library, information commons, semantic web, modern library science, and artificial intelligence. His teaching interests include knowledge management, modern information technology, digital library theory and technology, artificial intelligence, operating systems, database theory, and information management systems. In 2014 Dr. Ren published in China’s Library Journal research on the role of subject librarians in terms of data regulation, which is part of the study of data protection and privacy. In his coauthored research, Dr. Ren noted:
After analyzing the process of data management and discussing the advantages of subject librarians in data management and management, based on the data management and management life cycle model, the roles and responsibilities of subject librarians can be discussed from ten main aspects. We believe that subject librarians will play an important role in many aspects of the data management and management life cycle. Data management and management will create a good opportunity for subject librarians to develop their expertise and achieve service innovation, and subject librarians will also face many challenges.
His work explores the significant issue of how data may be curated. What has been termed the Data Curation Life Cycle Model explores the roles and responsibilities subject librarians may assume. When data arrives, it must be wisely curated and preserved by careful planning, starting with when the data is first thought of, to when it is received and then used repeatedly. Data curation means managing data throughout an entire cycle, from when it is first created and stored to when it is archived for posterity or becomes obsolete and may be deleted. Data curation ensures that data may be efficiently retrieved for future research and reuse. The TU Library owns a number of books about the ongoing challenges of dealing with data curation and what they mean for knowledge management in the future.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)