Bulletin Vol. 6 No. 2 Oct 1969

has been allocated at the Centre to accommodate the Library's growing collection unti l the completion of the new library building early in 1971. The University Library has at present 45,777 titles with a total of 88,789 volumes classified by language as follows: Language Titles Volumes Chinese 29,458 65,235 Japanese 4,241 6,855 Western 12,078 16,699 45,777 88,789 The University Librar y is primarily a research library for the use of the faculty, staff and graduate students of the University, It does not duplicate the functions of the three College Libraries, which, together with the University Library, form one coordinated university library system. In building up its collection the Library works closely with the Boards of Studies to ensure that the teaching and research needs of the faculties are met. The allocation o f the book budget among the different disciplines, the acquisition of special collections, and the placing o f subscriptions to journals are decided by the Central Library Committee appointed by the Vice-Chancellor in October 1968. Acquisition of Korean ' T r i p i t a k a ' This summer the University Library acquired a major addition to it s growing collection of rare books, the Korean Tripitaka. This publication is printed from woodblocks cut in A.D. 1200-1250. It consists of 1,341 volumes of 15 1/2" X 11 1/2" with 100 to 110 leaves to a volume. This great Buddhist Tripitaka, printed in Korea during the Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) of China, is entirely in Chinese, and is most important for research in philosophy, religion, history, art and archaeology of the Far East. It is popularly known as the "Haeunsa T r i p i t a k a " , because the wooden printing blocks are preserved in that famous Buddhist monastery. Coordination of University Library System The coordination of the university library system is at present being carried out by use of a central union card catalogue. This catalogue includes data on all books and journals in the three College Libraries and the University Library. The central union catalogue is divided into two card files: ( I ) an author and title combined catalogue of Chinese, Japanese and Korean cards filed according to Wong's "four-corner numeral system", and (2) an author and titl e combined catalogue of cards in Western languages. 室 覽 閱 之 館 書 圖 學 大 Reading Room of the University Library I n M a y 1969, a b o o k - f o rm Union Catalogue of Serials in the Central and College Libraries of The Chinese University of Hong Kong was p u b l i s h e d, as was reported in the May-June issue of this Bulletin. Further coordination of the university library system is effected by a Library Administrative Committee, consisting of the Universit y Librarian and the three College Librarians. This Committee studies, formulates and recommends to the Central Library Committee university-wide library policy and technical procedure. Adoption of Library of Congress Classification System With more specific subject matter emerging in the world of knowledge today, the coverage of the Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme has proven inadequate. There has also been inconsistency in the numbers designated for the same title by different libraries in the University. The Library of Congress Classification Scheme, a broader, more flexible and yet mor e precise scheme, has therefore been introduced in the centralized cataloguing of publications in Western languages. The Library of Congress acquires, by direct purchase and through the Copyright Office, a very high percentage of books and journals published world wide in all languages. A National Union Catalog of printed books and journals is published by the Library of Congress both currently and cumulatively. The University Librar y has acquired the cumulative Catalog from its very beginning and subscribes to its current Catalog. These catalogues are used for reference primarily by the Library of Congress Classification Unit of the University, which consists of a supervisor an d eight staff members, two from the University Library and two from each College Library. The Unit started its cooperative — 5 —