Source: School of Information Management
Written by: Huang Peifang
Translated by: Chen Zhiyong
On the afternoon of October 24, the project concluding meeting of the Public Welfare Learning Project of Post-Disaster Reconstruction of Wenchuan Library and Beichuan Library was successfully held on the 1st floor of SYSU Library on East Campus, Sun Yat-sen University. Prof. Cheng Huanwen, Principal Investigator (PI), Prof. Tan Xiangjin, former head of Department of Information Management, Prof. Zhao Yanqun, former Chief Librarian of SYSU Libraries, Prof. Pan Yantao at the School of Information Management and other project supervisors and project volunteers from the School of Information Management and the Liberal Arts College attended the meeting. Mo Hua, Director of the Office of Graduate Student Affairs of the SYSU Committee of the CPC, Zhu Zhihui, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the SYSU Committee of the CPC, and Huang Tao, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of School of Information Management attended the meeting by invitation.
The meeting consisted of four parts: work report of volunteering service groups, comment of project supervisors, concluding address of Principal Investigator and awarding of volunteering credentials. Representatives from four volunteering groups introduced their respective work and shared their experiences and gains. Project supervisors made wonderful and touching comments on the volunteers’ services. In his concluding address, Principal Investigator Prof. Cheng Huanwen pointed out that public welfare is a responsibility, an undertaking, and even an embodiment of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s spirit of “The world is for all” and“Universal Love”and he hoped that students would continue to contribute to public welfare and volunteering with their wisdom, knowledge and ability in the days to come.
Volunteers helping to build Farmer’s Book House demonstration site
Volunteers offering information literacy training to senior citizens at Beichuan Library
As a part of the summer public welfare education scheme of the Graduate School and the liberal education project, this public welfare education project was jointly organized by the School of Information Management and the Liberal Arts College. Under the principle of “carrying forward the attitude of learning extensively and practising earnestly, and inheriting the spirit of wisdom and service”, the project has been held for two years and has achieved remarkable success in terms of cultivating students’ abilities, practical teaching reform and local reconstruction. This year’s project continued its aim of “achieving all-round development of students, enhancing specialty skills and theoretical knowledge, and promoting the spirit of service and humanity through participation in public welfare”, and strived to make more contribution to the library reconstruction in disaster-stricken areas and scale new heights in the quality and quantity of volunteering services.
There were 44 volunteers in this year’s project, including10 graduate students from the School of Information Management and 34 undergraduate students from the Liberal Arts College. Before their departure, they attended theory training courses including information organization and practice and community library service for a week. Then from mid July to early September, four volunteer groups were sent in two shifts to Wenchuan Library and Beichuan Library and started their volunteer services spanning a month and a half. The services included the construction of Farmer’s Book House demonstration sites and library catalogue database, children’s summer activities, lectures on information literacy training, cultural exhibitions, and the daily work of libraries. Volunteers went deep into local communities in order to enrich the residents’ cultural life. They sent out questionnaires and leaflets, played outdoor films, which became the moving scenery in Wenchuan and Beichuan. During the project, volunteers reflected on their services by keeping diaries, writing reports and organizing project exhibitions in words and pictures.
In terms of achievements, Prof. Tan Xiangjin and Prof. Zhao Yanqun in their 70s compiled Classification Thesaurus for Ethnic Documents of over 45,000 words in a score of days when they supervised the project in Wenchuan. Volunteers prepared several work regulations for long-term use and built 14 farmer’s book houses in 11 towns. Their dedicated efforts were greatly appreciated by the service units, local residents, media, and local governments. They demonstrated excellent abilities and outstanding qualities of SYSU students, earning undisputed reputation for Sun Yat-sen University.
