Asian Division at Library of Congress (#280, Topic D)

One of the nation's treasures is the Library of Congress, on a site next to the capitol and easily accessible by public transportation (a bus stops at the door; a Metro stop is less 2 blocks away; another Metro stop, next to the Union Station, is 5 blocks away). Better yet, it is open to the public -- free of charge -- with convenient hours (8:30 to 5 on M, F, and S; 8:30 to 9 on T,W, andTh) at its main reading rooms. And its collection is truly vast, covering, geographically, not only USA and the Americas, but around the world; topically, not only legal and technical treatises, but works on fictions and games as well (LC, being in charge of copyright registration, is a depository of every book published in USA); stylistically, not only books, but newspapers, magazines, even music recordings and microfilms. I have benefitted from it ever since my doctoral-student days (I needed a German document done during WWII, too expensive for a needy graduate student to acquire; LC did not have it, but managed to get it, microfilmed it as a 600-frame roll, and sold a copy to me at 1 cent per frame -- I still have it as a momento). Ever since I moved to DC, I tried to go to LC once a week -- my two books on Kriegspiel benefitted from LC's excellent collection of books/magazines on chess; its Asian Division has an equally excellent collection of books/magazines on Mah-Jong and Xiangqi (Chinese chess), from which I benefitted when writing my books on the two subjects. The Asian Division Reading Room, being a special-purpose reading room, was open only 8:30 to 5, M-F -- inconvenient to those with full-time jobs (and even to me after we moved to a retirement community). Luckily, about 2 years ago, the Asian Division had a new Division Chief, Dr. Hwa-wei Lee, formerly Librarian at a university in Ohio. Seeing the underutilized resources in the Asian Division (its Japanese collection, the largest, has about 1.25 million volumes; its Chinese collection, 1.1 million), Dr. Lee took immediate action to improve the Division's visibility on several fronts. One, by instituting The LC Asian Division Friends Society and inviting VIPs (senators, congressmen, ambassadors, senior government officials, celebrities) as honorary board members and public-spirited citizens and researchers as working members. (I was honored by being invited to be a member.) Two, by opening the Asian Division reading room on Saturdays -- an "experiment" at first, but, with the increased utilization on Saturdays, the experiment is being continued "until further notice" -- to the delight of many researchers, myself included. Three, by sponsoring or co-sponsoring lectures and book readings on Asian subjects about once a month -- the variety and depth of various regional offerings are truly astonishing. Four, by having open houses to make members of the public aware of the ready availability this truly valuable national treasure -- indeed, last Saturday, 12/2, there was an Asian Reading Room Holiday Open House; about 100 came to enjoy demonstrations in Indian dance, Qigong, Holiday-theme books in various Asian languages, and, of course, delicious Asian refreshments. Five, by speaking in front of community meetings -- indeed, this afternoon, Dr. Lee will be giving a talk on LC's collection of books and maps on Zheng He before a meeting of the Zheng He Society of the Americas. Well done, Dr. Lee. We look forward to listening to your lecture this afternoon and on other occasions. We also wish to thank your dedicated staff willing to work on weekends, making Saturday openings a success.