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China's rise as a major player in world affairs has contributed significantly to the global interest in the study of Chinese language, society, and culture. Its emerging importance has also increased the need for China‐related library materials and information provision to China scholars and the general public in recent years. This paper seeks to trace the historical transformation and renewed interest in China studies and the growing demand placed on Asian or East Asian libraries that support China studies in the USA.

The paper is a general review of the issues and challenges facing libraries in the West, which serve Chinese scholars, with the increasing demand for China‐related library materials and information resources, as well as for delivery of such information resources.

The paper identifies the issues and challenges facing libraries in the West that serve China scholars. The importance of collection building in China studies, the role of Chinese studies librarians, professional support for East Asian studies librarians in North America, and the changing outlook of academic libraries is highlighted.

In a world that is increasingly more global, Asian or East Asian libraries must gain better understanding if the issues and best practices to effectively provide information service through collaboration and resource sharing with partners in Asia to achieve true global collections.

The paper presents possible measures that can be undertaken to bridge the difference between the East and West. Specifically, the paper addresses concerns libraries outside China encounter and proposes suggestions regarding resource sharing, balancing a Chinese collection in a networked environment, financial challenges, continuing education, and bibliographic control.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the great contributions made by the American library expert, Mary Elizabeth Wood, to Chinese library development.

As a pioneer of the modern library movement Mary Elizabeth Wood devoted herself to a Chinese library career. It was structured according to the following theme: setting up the Boone Library and introducing the modern American public library into China; establishing Boone Library School and initiating Chinese library science education; raising money and appealing for China's library development; helping forward the foundation of the Library Association of China; as well as promoting Chinese library intercommunion and cooperation with the West.

With the background of underdeveloped Chinese librarianship, Mary Elizabeth Wood introduced modern American public library spirit into China, opened the gate of Chinese library science, and promoted Chinese library science.

The paper discusses the library history of China and the role of an American librarian in Chinese library history; thus, it should be of wide interest to researchers involved in library history.

Mary Elizabeth Wood devoted herself to a Chinese library career, and promoted Chinese library science greatly, but research on her is limited. This paper considers her contribution to Chinese library science.

This paper records the development of a final year project by Alan Seatwo, undergraduate studying BSc (Hon) Libraries and Information Management at Liverpool John Moores University. The project involved the development of an OPAC for cataloguing Chinese language material which can be used by both Chinese and non‐Chinese speaking staff. The project highlighted some important issues regarding information management in community languages. It also pointed out the lack of provision of software to support librarian, in addressing community language needs. At the same time librarians should also be aware of the latest information technologies and be able to apply them to the needs of the community.

This paper is a study of the current trends and conditions of electronic resources for Chinese studies, based on a recent survey on the Internet of 29 Chinese libraries in North America and eight Chinese libraries in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The survey discussed current electronic resources for Chinese studies, with a union list of major Chinese language databases currently used in libraries in Asia and the US. Current views on the use and development of electronic resources for Chinese studies were summarised.

An emerging, globally Web‐based Chinese language virtual library offers unprecedented content availability and user accessibility. Virtual and physical libraries are defined, and compared, in terms of bibliographical searching. Then, the size of the Chinese language virtual library is estimated and its future development is predicted. The quantitative analysis concentrates on the content of this virtual library through examining the subject directories of more than 100 of its search engines. The findings show that 20 percent of the subject categories provide 80 percent of online access activities. Many subject categories characterise values of the Chinese‐speaking world. Discussion continues with structural and functional analyses of Chinese language search engines that support this virtual library. Further, an analytic overview is presented of Chinese language applications that render the necessary and sufficient computational linguistic conditions for utilising Chinese language online resources.

This paper examines electronic resources, including journals and databases for Chinese studies, collected in North American East Asian academic libraries. A small survey of 26 East Asian academic libraries in North America was conducted in May 2003 in order to learn more about collection development practices and accessibility issues for Chinese electronic resources. Based on the eight‐question survey, 57 per cent of the responding libraries have collection development policies for their electronic resources, 36 per cent do not, while 7 per cent were unsure. Budget constraints, time constraints, lack of technical support, lack of training, and Chinese/English computer operating system incompatibilities were given as the top five constraints in the collection of Chinese electronic resources and providing access to them. After analyzing the collection, classification, and accessibility issues, the author provides some suggestions on the future development of Chinese electronic resources in East Asian academic libraries.

The Internet is full of resources on China and Chinese studies. However, many new users are often overwhelmed by the vast amount of information on the Web. This paper is to offer a starting point for inexperienced users interested in finding information over the Internet on Chinese culture, art, language, literature, history, philosophy and current affairs, etc. It focuses on the World Wide Web resources only, and choices of entry are selective rather than exhaustive.

China has two separate systems engaged in library and information work. They have their own organizations, functions and tasks under their respective government departments. In China one of the major problems is that documents are not widely available. There is an obvious gap between the demands of users and their satisfaction. In view of China's present situation, interlending activities alone cannot cope completely with the problem of Chinese information needs. In the new situation following China's economic reformation, the structure of Chinese information users has greatly changed. To meet the increasing needs of the Chinese people, library and information systems must improve their methods of service and augment the scope of their service. Viewed as a whole, China needs to set up a nationwide document supply system in order to promote the supply of literature and the dissemination of information. The system may take a hierarchical form in which a number of regional systems are involved. Under the leadership of a central system, services would be provided not only to major scientific research and production and construction projects, but also to the general public at all levels of the country.