Almost 300 kids and their family members took over Asian Library on Sunday, February 19, as part of Kids Take Over UBC, creating crafts using discarded book covers and other recycled materials, learning origami, enjoying the pop-up library featuring books from X̱wi7x̱wa Library and Education Library, and listening to storytimes in Korean, Japanese and Mandarin. Asian Library also offered programming at the Alumni Centre where many more families enjoyed Tibetan and Persian storytimes and classical Indian dance. Thank you to Arts Alumni for helping sponsor the event!
Schedule for events at Asian Library
11am-4pm | Asian Library, Asian Centre | 1871 West Mall
11:00 am-4:00 pm
Pop-up Library: Enjoy reading and check out picture books from Asian Library, X̱wi7x̱wa Library and Education Library collections (with a valid UBC or Community Card).
11:00 am-11:45 am
Get Crafty Corner: Make cute bookmarks and figures with Taran Dhillon
11:10 am-11:30 am
Storytime in Korean and English with Saeyong Kim
1:00 pm-2:00 pm
Asian Crafts & Activities: Enjoy origami, games and more with Tomoko Kitayama Yen
1:30 pm-1:50 pm
Indian classical dance and storytime in Hindi and English with Swarnali Sarkar
2:15 pm-2:35 pm
Storytime in Japanese and English with Sherry Zhang
3:00 pm-3:20 pm
Storytime in Chinese and English with Zijing Liu
Schedule for Asian language storytime at Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre
12pm-1pm | Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre Ballroom | 6163 University Boulevard
12:05 pm-12:25 pm
Storytime in Tibetan and English with Sonam Chusang
12:25 pm-12:35 pm
Indian classical dance with Swarnali Sarkar
12:35 pm-12:55 pm
Storytime in Persian and English with Nima Norouzi and Ava Tabatabaei
Date: February 15 to April 6, 2023
Hours: Asian Library open hours
Location: Asian Centre foyer & Asian Library ground and upper floors (1871 West Mall) (map)
Co-presented by UBC Asian Library and the Department of Asian Studies, Leslie Cheung 張國榮: Hong Kong Icon (1956-2003) commemorates the 20th anniversary of the passing of the legendary Hong Kong actor, singer, and performer, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing. In addition to books and scholarly journals, the exhibition features a collection of original Asian-language film posters from some of Cheung’s most popular and critically acclaimed films. These include A Better Tomorrow (1986), Days of Being Wild (1990), Farewell My Concubine (1992), Ashes of Time (1994), and He’s a Woman, She’s a Man (1994). The display also highlights a selection of vinyl records and promotional posters from albums such as The Wind Blows On (1983), Leslie (Monica) (1984), Summer Romance (1987) and Final Encounter (1989), among many others.
Colloquially known as “Gor Gor” (“Big Brother” in Cantonese), Cheung’s career coincided with a “Golden Age” of television, music, and cinema in Hong Kong during the city’s colonial, transitional, and immediately postcolonial period in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to his talent as a performer and a composer, Cheung is remembered for his contribution to local and regional debates about LGBTQ identities at a time when queerness was far from being fully accepted. The exhibition draws attention to key dimensions of Cheung’s life and career, as well as to lesser known aspects, such as his migration to and residence in Vancouver from 1990 to 1992.
The film posters and music memorabilia in this exhibition appear courtesy of loans from private collections in Hong Kong and the U.S., the latter collection associated with the University of Virginia. The exhibition is co-curated and organized by Dr. Su-Anne Yeo, Asian Studies, and Phoebe Chow, Asian Library and is supported by UBC’s Hong Kong Studies Initiative and the Department of Theatre and Film. The organizers would like to acknowledge the generous support of Dr. Lori Morimoto, Mr. Tony Chow, Ms. Annie Wu, Ms. Clarisa Tsun, and Mr. Tad Doyle.
BL2017.85 T45 N57 2021
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib ji : di bani da bhav arthi kaav-steek / by Giani Kewal Singh ‘Nirdosh’ / Ludhiāṇā : Lahaura Bukka Shāpa
DS421 D37 2022
Bikhri sipiyan / by Dr. Sunil Deodhar / Dillī : Ākāśa Gaṅgā Pablikeśana
DS485 C545 S585 2022
Ab ke pahle ab ke baad / by Taran Prakash Sinha / Nayī Dillī : Vāṇī Prakāśana
PK2098.25 A885 L35 2022
Lal deewaron ka makan / by Jaishankar / Nayī Dillī : Vāṇī Prakāśana
PK2098.26 A464 D43 2022
ढलती साँझ का सूरज / मधु कांकरिया = Dhalti sanjh ka suraj / novel by Madhu Kankaria / Naī Dillī : Rājakamala Peparabaiksa
Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives is currently operating out of a satellite reading room.
Due to ongoing upgrades, the Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room has temporarily relocated down the hall to Irving K. Barber Learning Centre room 142.
Reading Room hours for Winter Term II (Jan. – Apr., 2025) will be Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Scheduled class visits will be accommodated outside of public reading room hours.
To make your visit more efficient and to ensure that materials are available, please contact Rare Book and Special Collections or University Archives with your materials request before visiting the satellite reading room.
UBC librarians are embarking on a new collaborative research project that aims to address a fundamental problem in how open educational practices approach Indigenous Knowledges, and instead replicate colonial concepts of ownership and knowledge transfer.
The research project, titled Foregrounding Indigenous Perspectives: Community and Collaborator Affinities and Conflicts in Open Education, was recently awarded a grant by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). The Practicing Librarian Grant, awarded by CARL’s Strengthening Capacity Committee, supports Canadian research in the field of academic librarianship for projects that use structured, evidence-based research to tackle real-world issues.
“I’ve been a part of a number of provincial and national open education committees and working groups, and there is always a struggle when discussions about Indigenous communities’ interest and engagement in open education arises,” says Erin Fields, principal investigator and Open Education and Scholarly Communications Librarian at UBC Library. “My hope for this project is to have some sense of how we can engage in open education practices that are grounded in research on Indigenous perspectives. This will be able to unearth our gaps in understanding and balance our advocacy efforts with research-informed practice.”
The project group includes co-investigators from UBC’s Vancouver and Okanagan campuses as well as Toronto Metropolitan University and BCcampus. Together, the group will identify gaps in the open education communities’ understanding of Indigenous perspectives through surveys of OER creators and interviews with Canadian Indigenous faculty, academic educators, librarians and others involved in the creation of OER and OER initiatives at various universities and colleges.
“From our findings, we will be able to provide suggestions for people working within open education on how they can engage respectfully with Indigenous communities and Knowledge Keepers and, in doing so, we can help to eliminate the colonial violence being done to Indigenous communities within open education and the broader field of education,” says Donna Langille, Community Engagement and Open Education Librarian at UBCO Library.
“There are a lot of complexities in regards to Indigenous Knowledges and how they are shared, so it’s great to have a group of advocates who can come together to begin to address the concerns that many communities have, while thinking more within a national scope,” says Kayla Lar-Son, Indigenous Programs and Services Librarian at Xwi7xwa Library. “This grant allows us to support Indigenous communities in an area where they are often forgotten and in a way that makes sense with their own protocols and uplifts their voices.”
This project is part of UBC Library’s strategic direction to engage with communities.
Women, Life, Freedom provides a glimpse into the historical movements leading up to today’s protests in Iran. From the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the subsequent introduction of the morality police, to the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, learn about the human rights concerns and the culture of resistance that have put Iranian women at the forefront of the protests. Made possible through the contributions of UBC students and employees.
The display is located on the Asian Library upper floor and ground floor from now until February 7, 2023.
Librarians at Asian Library have compiled recommendations for you to read while you relax during the upcoming winter holiday break. You are welcome to visit the Asian Library and check them out.
The pace of life is sometimes too fast to recall how we want to live our lives. Wang Zengqi has experienced the flood of the times, but still lives with grace and ease. He was obsessed with having fun and eating, but people said he was a funny old man. Most of the things in the world are not as they should be, so why not face life head on, get involved, listen to the stories of the grass, the wood, the insects and the fish, taste tea and one’s meals, feel everyday life, in order to understand the recklessness of life in the world.
This book chronicles director Wu Nian-zhen’s life after experiencing the storms and the greatest lows of his life. He writes about the family he misses the most, the hometown he misses day and night, the friends he has fought for his whole life, and the most real touches in every corner of Taiwan. These people and events, through his heartfelt words, live so vividly in front of you and me, laughing and crying at the same time. It is a beautiful microcosm of this era that is burned in our hearts.
In Daiōika wa shiranai de shō [The giant squid does not know], two amazing writers learn to compose waka poems by carrying out regular utakai [poetry reading party] get-togethers for a year and a half. One of the authors, Nishi Kanako, visited UBC this past year, and you may already have enjoyed her essays and novels. As Nishi is joined by others in this book, the tremendous joy you receive when you read her prose is doubled and tripled as you read her interactions with others in this book. A wonderful read to involve all your senses — you will smile, cry, and laugh as you observe the process and appreciate the creations.
The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) is perhaps the best known of all the Japanese literary classics, written by Lady Murasaki (Murasaki Shikibu) in the early 11th century. Since the Edo period (1603-1868) there has been a massive number of contemporary translations, adaptations, and parodies created of this work. A 2016 reworking, Iine! Hikaru Genji kun [Like! for Hikaru Genji] is a delightful manga series in which the handsome but quirky Heian aristocrat inadvertently time-travels to the present-day Tokyo. As he encounters the delights Tokyo offers (female roommates, smart phones, specialty coffee drinks), he composes one waka poem after another as the spirit moves him. There is a TV adaptation of this manga by Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK.
Call number: ND1069 C54 A4 2019
Book title: 그날들 이 참 좋았습니다 : 따뜻한 아랫목 같은 기억들
Author/Illustrator: 초록담쟁이 그리고 쓰다
Nostalgia for an idealized childhood in the countryside. A little girl with braided pigtails and her black cat live through four seasons together. The author/illustrator draws heartwarming moments from their life in rural Korea in pastel colored pencils, accompanied by short paragraphs of text. It is the perfect coffee table book; you can flip though it casually, read bits of it out of order, or spend a whole afternoon on reading it through. This one is soft and fuzzy.
Call number: PL994.38 C44 S27
Book title: 살인자 의 쇼핑 목록
Author: 강 지영 소설
A collection of seven short stories that focus on a moment of splintering truth. In the titular story, “The Murderer’s Shopping List,” your friendly neighborhood cashier is the protagonist. Their hobby is to deduce the lives of customers from their items of purchase: the slender young lady who buys the same amount of nipple patches, cabbage and chicken breasts every week, is she a model or a sex worker? The well-to-do lady who bought candles, fish and yakkwa, she must be preparing for a chesa tonight, etc. When the cashier sees a news report of a murder which could have been committed with items bought by a customer, they are intrigued…살인자의 쇼핑목록 has also been made into a tv drama series and a webtoon. This one is bright and sharp.
Call Number: PK2098.32.A82 H57 2017
Book title: Hīrā pherī हीरा फेरी
Author: Surendra Mohana Pāṭhaka
Language: Hindi
Taxi driver Jeet Singh is cruising for fare when a man being tailed by a bunch of goons blocks his way. Entrusting him with a briefcase full of secret, classified government documents to be delivered in lieu of a huge sum to a girl in Jogeshwari, he jumps off the moving taxi. His dead body is found by the railway track in a Mumbai suburb the next morning, while Jeet Singh finds he has nobody to give the briefcase to – the girl died mysteriously the previous night. He opens the briefcase, and discovers diamonds worth millions….
The word Pinjar (Piñjara) means skeleton. It has no shape, no appearance, no mind, no will, just skeleton. ‘Pinjar’ is the story of India of the post-independence era. That part, which became Pakistan after being cut off from India. In the cage, there is pain of the woman, there is anger, there is sacrifice, and there is motherhood. At the same time, there are crimes of men and also repentance. There are Hindus, there are Muslims. The bite of division. Standing against bigotry are human values, and after finally accepting the reality of the present, the heroine of the novel forgives all the sins and rises again, with infinite possibilities for the future.
