Books are silent ambassadors: The Noma award for the translation of Japanese literature

Summary Now more than ever good translations are proving to be vitally important to fulfilling Shoichi Noma’s mission of advancing good relationships between cultures. With the emergence of dozens of world-class Japanese writers, the translators of Japanese literature have acquired a new significance and a new importance. No longer are they required to simply handle the language like an exotic and precious commodity but they must prepare a writer’s work to compete with literature from around the globe and let others understand the issues at their very heart of the Japanese people. Indeed, the selection committee’s choice of Murakami’s Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is an apt example of how literature at its very best can span cultural divides to promote mutual understanding of very complicated and important world issues. Written for Japanese to help them understand the devastation of war, it is a rare and timely book that confronts Japan’s experience head on. Ironically, Noma’s idea that books are silent ambassadors, an idea born from agony and defeat, so many years later is helping the world come together towards a unified vision of peace and understanding. “Literature has been described as a means of exchange between the hearts of people. Literary translation, then, is the building of bridges so that all peoples of the world can interact in this way.” Ye Weiqu, Chinese Institute of Social Studies.     

The case for acquisitions standards in the integrated library system

Acquisitions metadata within current library integrated systems is not based on any standard; rather, systems vendors generally define structure and content according to proprietary approaches. The authors argue that this cripples library acquisitions practitioners and managers in numerous ways. It renders routine tasks more difficult, jeopardizes the integrity of data during system migration, forces adoption of costly external tracking solutions, and hinders efforts to manage collections and budgets. The authors define acquisitions standards and relate them to existing bibliographic and e-commerce protocols. They discuss reasons for the lack of acquisitions standards and outline first steps in a project to develop them. This paper is based on a presentation given at the Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge, Fourth Annual Conference, held 17-20 May 2003.     

Indianapolis I3: the third generation Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems.

In 2001, the Regenstrief Institute for Health Care and the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) began an IAIMS planning effort to create a vision and a tactical plan for the first Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) implementation to cross a large area and include unaffiliated institutions. A number of elements made this planning effort unique. Among these elements were the existence of a network infrastructure that supported the Indianapolis Network for Patient Care, the existence of a mature medical informatics program at the Regenstrief Institute, and the existence of a wide-area knowledge network fostered by the IUSM libraries. However, the leadership for a strong information technology role in the IUSM that could promote collaboration in support of education and research across the diverse Indianapolis hospital systems had been lacking. By bringing together various groups, each with a commitment to improve health care quality and public health across the Indianapolis metropolitan area, regardless of individual institutional affiliation, the strategic directions for I3-Indianapolis IAIMS Initiative have been defined and the foundations for a third generation IAIMS construct have been laid in Indianapolis, Indiana.     

生态博物馆:是镜子,窗户还是展柜?

博物馆的新作用 新博物馆学的创始人之一，前美国华盛顿特区的阿那克斯亚邻里博物馆馆长约翰．科纳德将博物馆角色描述如下：“如果博物馆能够满足人们今天和明天的需求，必须将博物馆建设于人类生存的每一个地方。这就是对人类创造性资源的挑战性答复。而现在，他们面对着三种批评：没有对大多数人们的要求做出反应。没有应用过去铭刻的知识关联反映今天，或没有用它们解决今天的问题。