An Open letter to IFLA Secretary General

Date: May 23

From: Ms. Tang Gengsheng,

          Secretary General

Library Society of China

Dear Mr. Peter Lor,

A major earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan County of southwest China`s Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m., May 12, 2008. Most parts of China also reported tremors. The sudden earthquake caused serious damages in several provinces in China, and killed 55,239 so far.

The Library Society of China, National Library of China and other libraries in China managed to contact major libraries in Sichuan, including the Sichuan Provincial Library and Sichuan University Library, which are located in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan, as well as the Library of Sichuan Agriculture University, which is situated close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Fortunately, there is no report of casualties in these libraries. However, there are cracks in the walls of some library buildings, some bookshelves toppled down, causing damages to the library collections.

There are serious damages reported from the small-and-medium-sized libraries around the epicenter. Apart from casualty reports from 21 city and prefecture libraries, the buildings of Mianyang City Library, Guangyuan City Library and Chaotian District Library of Guangyuan City reported serious damages. In addition, the building of Qionglai City Library reported cracks that penetrate the entire building. There are also reports from Neijiang City Library, Meishan City Library, Suining City Library, the Nanchong City Old Library and Ya’an City Library, of major cracks in the wall of library buildings. Wall cracks are also reported from Ziyang City Library, a new library that was built shortly before the earthquake.

Even more serious damages are seen in libraries at the county and town levels. Beichuan County Library entirely collapsed, and the Tianquan County Library was also seriously damaged. As the telecommunication service has not fully returned to normal, the situation of many more libraries in the earthquake-affected areas are yet to be collected.

Based on information we have so far received, all the collections at the earthquake-affected libraries suffered damages of various degrees. And more details are to be reported upon follow-up investigation.

The Library Society of China is taking active measures to help the libraries in the earth-quake affected areas, advocating the Chinese library community to offer every aid to our colleagues there and do our bid in the reconstruction of libraries damaged and destroyed in the earthquake. The Library Society of China established Donation and Relief Office on May 13, and contact email is tushuguanzhenzaijuanzhu@yahoo.com.cn.

Please visit /CN/EarthquakeDonation.html for more information in Chinese. Please visit /CN/ED.html for more information in English.

Hope IFLA and colleagues from all part of the world will concern above information.

Ms. Tang Gengsheng,

Secretary General

Library Society of China