The Asian American Studies collections of Ethnic Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley, collects materials with information on the historical and current issues of the cultural, political and socio-economic life of Asian Americans and Asians Overseas.  These collections must be differentiated from East Asian collections at major institutions such as the University of California at Berkeley and at Los Angeles, Stanford University, Harvard University, Yale University and the University of Washington. Those collections have traditionally focused on East Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and China, rather than to focus on the unique experiences of Asians in America as well as Asians in other countries, that is, Asians Overseas.  Asian Americans include the following groups: Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Korean, South Asians (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka American), and Southeast Asians (Burmese, Cambodian (Kampuchean), Lao, Lao Hmong, Lao Mien, Thai, Vietnamese Americans).  As a means of making the most of budgets and human resources, the Asian American Studies collections at UC Berkeley have entered into cooperative collection agreements with other UC campuses.

 I. The History of the Establishment of the Former Asian American Studies Library

        The former Asian American Studies Library (AASL) was established in 1970 in response to the student movements in the 1960s and 1970s and was a special academic departmental library. Administratively, AASL was not part of the Main Library.  Speaking of the Asian American movement, the Asian American Encyclopedia editor Franklin Ng (New York:  Marshall Cavendish, 1995, vol. 1, p. 67) wrote:  "It was and is mainly a reformist movement that unites diverse Asian ethnic groups to work toward racial equality, social justice, and political empowerment in a culturally pluralist society. The emergence of the movement implies that Asians of different national background share a common ethnicity and experience in America.?

        Community activists and students demanded that higher education institutions include the Asian American experience as part of the regular curriculum and that they establish Asian American studies (AAS) programs. The students of San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley were in the forefront of this movement. In the late 1960s, the Asian American Studies Program at Berkeley was established.  The Library was an important component of the AAS program. The history of the development of the Asian American Studies Library (AASL) can be divided roughly into the following four stages:

A.  Student operation (1971-1974): the former AASL was begun with donations from individuals.  It was managed and operated by students but without a defined focus.  As a consequence, the Library was mainly used as a place for political gatherings.

B.  Paraprofessional Operation (1975-1979): a full time library assistant, who did not have library work experience or training, managed the library with the assistance of student workers.  However, the Library still served mostly as a center of political activity and a place for students to socialize. There was neither systematic bibliographic control of the collection nor any policies or regulations for its use.

C.  Professional Librarian Operation (1979-1997): the first professional librarian was hired in July 1979. Since then, the objectives of the Library have been clearly defined. The collections have been growing steadily. The library became professionalized.

D.  Merging of the Three Ethnic Studies Libraries into the Ethnic Studies Library (1997)
 

II. The Formation of the Ethnic Studies Library

        In 1992 the Asian American Studies Library, Chicano Studies Library (CSL) and Native American Studies Library were grouped under the administration of a head librarian.  It was not until February 1997, however that the three libraries moved in under one roof and became three separate collections and under one structure.  The three ethnic studies libraries had been administratively independent for more than twenty-five years.  Each library had established its own mission according to the needs and the support of their respective ethnic studies programs.

        In the late 1980s to mid-1990s, the political environment was not been favorable to people of color and immigrants in California.  Budget cuts and the corporate mergers led to a record high unemployment rate in the nation.  Often, people of color and immigrants were scapegoats.  In 1994 and 1996, California passed two anti-immigrant and anti-people of color propositions: Propositions 187 and 209.  Proposition 187 was voted in by the people of California in the November 1994 election to stop undocumented children from going to public schools and from receiving health care.  In November 1996, Proposition 209 was passed.  Its purpose was to end race and gender-based preferences in state programs, including university admissions.  Over the years, some administrators had suggested to the Chancellor that he merge the three libraries into Main Library.  Under campus pressure to economize and merge units, and the unfavorable political situation of people of color nationwide but particularly in California, the three ethnic studies programs consolidated into one Department and the decision was made to merge the three separate ethnic studies libraries into one library.  After the merging of the three programs and libraries, UC Regent Ward Connerly again launched an attack on ethnic studies programs.  He questioned the validity of ethnic studies programs, stating his belief that these courses are merely exercises in racial and ethnic pride and that "people can learn from their parents at home, without taxpayers paying for it.?

        The new ESL opened to the public on July 14, 1997.  Because the three separate collections had been administered autonomously for more than twenty-five years, their development was uneven, with resultant strengths and weaknesses.  While the former AASL and Chicano Studies Library had been under the supervision of professional librarians for 20 years plus, the former Native American Studies Library been guided by a professional librarian for only two and a half years.

III. Mission of the Asian American Studies Collections

        The mission of the Asian American Studies collections is primarily to support the curriculum programs of the graduate and undergraduate students and the research of the faculty in the Asian American Studies program at UC Berkeley as well as to meet the needs of the entire nine campus system.  The Asian American Studies Collections obtain, provide, and preserve both historical materials and current information for purposes of examining and learning about the Asian American experience.  Its mission is also to develop a research collection with a special emphasis on the Chinese American experience in view of the large Chinese American community and numerous archival materials in the San Francisco Bay area. It is hoped that the significant contributions of Asian Americans will be recognized in this way.

        This mission, along with clearly stated guidelines, has allowed us to develop one of the best and the most comprehensive Asian American Studies collections in the nation, particularly the Chinese American Research Collection.

IV.  The Chinese American and the Chinese Overseas

The Chinese Americans

Why does the University of California at Berkeley emphasize the development of Chinese American research sources?

        This emphasis is based on the fact that the San Francisco Bay area had been the center of the settlement of the earliest Chinese immigrants.  With the arrival of more and more Chinese immigrants, many Chinese community organizations were established for the purpose of mutual protection.  Bundles of materials are often scattered within these organizations and individuals may not even recognize their historical value.  Our professors understand that an urgent need exists to collect and indeed rescue primary source materials not only for instructional support but also for research purposes for future generations.  Secondly, the field of Asian American Studies is relatively new to the academic community.  There are many more untouched areas of research for scholars and students to explore.  Thus, the Chinese American archives have been in high demand by researchers.  The former AASL was the first to establish a Chinese American research collection that focuses on collecting Chinese American archives. Yet, in the early studies of Chinese Americans the most readily available materials for scholars were English-language sources.   As Him Mark Lai, a renowned Chinese American historian, has written:

        Cultural and language gaps between Chinese and Westerners have often resulted in superficial observations and erroneous conclusions.  Colored by the racist attitudes of the period, these English-language sources seldom reflected the attitudes and experiences of the Chinese themselves.  In order to obtain more in-depth, objective studies of Chinese American culture and society, the researcher must necessarily use source materials that originate from the Chinese community "The Chinese Language Sources Bibliography Project: Preliminary Findings?in Amerasia Journal 5:2 (1978, 95-6).

        The Chinese American research collections include hundreds of rear books and thousands of Chinese American archives.   There are manuscripts, letters, diaries, bylaws of organizations and photography collections such as the Chinese Women of America collection and the work of Kem Lee (Àî ÉÙ Ò÷) , a Chinatown "official?photographer, just to name a few.  It also has a most comprehensive newspaper collection in English and Chinese from January 2, 1882 to the present.  Some examples are The Chinese Record (»ª ÈË ¼Ç ¼), January 2, 1882; The Weekly Occidental (ÖÐ Íâ РÎÅ), February 8, 1894 (rare); Chung Sai Yat Po (ÖÐ Î÷ ÈÕ±¨), 1900-1906 (on microfilm), 1919-1923 (original).

        In addition, the secondary collection includes monographs, newspapers, journals, magazines, newsletters, unpublished student papers, theses and dissertations, and newspaper clippings on current issues relevant to Chinese Americans from 1986 to the present, such as the cases of Lee wen Ho and Vincent Chan and newsletter files on Asian Americans.

The Chinese Overseas

        The Southeast Asian studies centers in major institutions have housed the area studies of Chinese Overseas.   Many scholars have written about Chinese Overseas in Southeast Asia.  For example, Dr. Wang Gungwn, one of the noted Southeast Asian Studies scholars has published many essays and works on this subject.    Perhaps because of China's closed door policy to the outside world for more than two decades, many Chinese have the strong desire to leave China to see other parts of the world and many scholars and graduate students want to study aboard.  After China established diplomatic relations with the United States in 1979, there was a large movement to emigrate and to study abroad.  Having been ceded by China to Great Britain for 156 years in order to end the first Opium War, on July 1, 1997 Hong Kong returned to its motherland.  The uncertainty of the future of Hong Kong under the new government led to many people emigrating from Hong Kong.  On the other hand, People of Taiwan equally desire to leave Taiwan, because of the fear Taiwan will be returned to China.  Therefore, the population of Chinese Overseas has been steadily growing.  According to Fang Xiong-Pu (·½ ÐÛ ÆÕ) and Xie Cheng-Jia (л ³É ¼Ñ) in their publication Huaqio Huaren Gaikuang, 1993 (»ª ÇÈ »ª ÈË ¸Å ¿ö), there were approximately thirty million Chinese Overseas in 140 countries up to that time. This phenomenon has caught the attention of scholars and inspired them to take a close look at the status of the Chinese Overseas and to compare similar and different experiences between the study abroad students, the immigrants and the native born of different countries.  Since then, many institutions have sponsored conferences to explore these area studies of Chinese Overseas and to establish Chinese Overseas Studies Programs.  After the student movements of the 1960s and the 1970s in the United States, San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley were the first to establish Asian American studies programs which focus on the experiences of Asian Americans from the Asian American perspective.  UC Berkeley was also the first to establish an Ethnic Studies Ph.D. Program in the U.S. in the mid-1980s.  In the 1990s, many major institutions have begun to either establish a separate Asian American program or offer courses on Asian Americans.  In response to the needs of these programs, the burgeoning Asian American resource centers across the nation have grown rapidly.

        The Society of Overseas Chinese Studies, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China sponsored the first International Conference on Overseas Chinese Studies on January 20-21, 1987.  In September 1987, an international conference on The Overseas Chinese (in Asia) between the two world wars was held in the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  The Overseas Chinese Archives of the South Seas Society of Singapore sponsored it.  On November 26-29, 1992, the Department of Ethnic studies and the Asian American Studies Program at the University of California sponsored the Luodi-shenggen (Âä µØ Éú ¸ù) International Conference on Overseas Chinese.  It was a great success.  I believe it was a turning point in the development of Chinese Overseas studies.  The International Society for the Studies of Chinese Overseas (ISSCO) was established immediately after this 1992 conference.  This organization has become the world center for Chinese Overseas studies.  Prof. Ling-chi Wang, the ISSCO Secretary-Treasurer and one of the founders of this organization, wrote in his status report of November 28, 1998 that "the study of Chinese overseas or the Chinese Diaspora studies is one of the fastest growing fields of research and teaching. Throughout this decade, books and journal articles have been published rapidly throughout the world and several local, regional and international conferences on the subject are held every year.  Several research centers have been established in recent years in several countries to sustain and further this intellectual enterprise?ISSCO "played a leading role in promoting research and understanding of the Chinese overseas.? Dr Wang Gunwu in his essay "The Status of Overseas Chinese Studies?(The Chinese Diaspora: Selected Essays V.1 edited By Wang Ling-Chi and Wang Gunwu, 1998) wrote "But there are significant changes ahead in the way the Chinese overseas have succeeded economically and in the way China has reformed its economic structure in the recent years. There is now a distinct chance that subject will be at least a key part of sinology.  But I believe it can go further as a sub-field of ethnic and minority studies and even achieve a similar status among other social science disciplines.  There is a great deal to work for.  This conference has provided a fine new start.?nbsp; On November 27-December 2, 1993, the Center for Studies of Southeast Asia of Shantou University, Institute of Overseas Chinese History of China and the China Society of Overseas Chinese History sponsored the International Symposium on Ethnic Chinese Economy which was held in Shantou University, Guangdong, China; and in 1996 a regional conference was hosted by Xiamen University, Fujian, China.  In January 1995, The University of Hong Kong was host to a major international conference.  In 1998, the Chinese Overseas conference was held in Manila, the Philippines.  In 1999, another international Chinese Overseas conference was held in Cuba.  I attended a few of the aforementioned conferences.  I feel these conferences have raised the awareness of the importance of Chinese Overseas studies and brought this research to a higher level.

V. Cooperation among Different institutions

        Funding levels are seldom adequate for research libraries, and this was especially true during the difficult budgetary times experienced by the University of California in the 1980s and early 1990s.  So, cooperation among different institutions and solicitation of outside donations are and will be ways to provide better services to our patrons.   I would like to share my experiences with you about how cooperation with other institutions has helped us to achieve our goal of providing better services to our researchers and below I have described some examples.  The former AASL and the Asian American Studies collections have had very limited annual budgets over the past twenty-five years.  However, I have been able to develop one of the best AAS Collections in the nation because I am able to cooperate with different institutions.  I believe the crucial elements for a successful cooperative project are to negotiate under the principle of mutual benefit, to work as a team rather than one party dominating, and to define the needs of both parties when planning a project.

A. Collection Development
        Obviously with the rapid expansion of information and budget constraints, no one library can do all that is needed to meet the demands of its users.  Modern technology makes cooperating and networking possible. Cooperation among the ethnic studies collections on the nine campuses of the University of California is unavoidable and welcome.  The UC campuswide Ethnic Studies Librarians Network was established to coordinate collection development projects in Ethnic Studies.  Ethnic Studies librarians meet annually to discuss the status of each collection and any cooperative projects.  The librarians of the Asian American Studies collections at the University of California at Berkeley, Los Angeles and Irvine have clearly defined the objectives of their libraries according to the budget constraints and the different population concentrations of their ethnic communities.  The Asian American Studies collections at UC Berkeley will continue to develop the Chinese American research collection; the Los Angeles campus will develop the Japanese American research collection; and UC Irvine will be the center of the Southeast Asian American research resources.

B.  Joint Grant Proposal with the Bancroft Library
        In October 1999, our Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) of the California State Library joint grant proposal with the Bancroft Library was funded.  We were thrilled to receive a one-year grant of $85,162 plus an in-kind grant of $65,651 making a grand total of $150,813 to fully process, rehouse, and catalog the Chinese American Archival collections and to digitize the Chinese American Studies archival finding aids.  Through cooperation with the Bancroft Library, more visibility of the Asian American studies collections and much more national and statewide demand for ethnic materials, we are now able to make these collections much more research-friendly. The finding aids to these collections will be digitized and made accessible through GLADIS, the campus on-line catalog, and the California Digital Library.  Knowing that financial support from the Ethnic Studies Department is limited for large projects, I have been seeking opportunities for outside funding for the AAS collections for more than a decade.  In late 1997, I consulted with Librarian Jack Von Euw, former head of Technical Services in the Bancroft Library, about the Chinese American archives and he suggested the joint LSTA grant proposal.   Our AAS collections have the best Chinese American research resources.   Scholars and graduate students have made very heavy use of this collection for many years for their research.  At the same time, the Bancroft Library has the most advanced archive processing technology.  Together, we can make the Chinese American archives more accessible to scholars.  So far, the project is well under control and meets the guidelines of the grant.  I am confident that this project will be successful.

C. The Collaboration of the Ethnic Studies Library and the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco in Presenting the Kem Lee Exhibition, in February, 1997.
        Kem Lee was the San Francisco Chinatown "official?photographer from 1940-1980.  As a photojournalist, Lee provided nearly all of the photographs for the local Chinese newspapers.  He took photos of thousands of Chinatown residents, everyone from bachelors to newlyweds to large families.  He photographed Miss Chinatown every year and covered Chinatown family associations and political events.  These photos depict people and events at different phases in Chinatown history and illustrate how one ethnic community changed over time.  There is no other photographic collection that comes close to the breadth and depth of the Kem Lee collection in terms of covering San Francisco's Chinatown during those four decades.  After Kem Lee passed away in 1986, the former AASL obtained his entire photographic and manuscript collections from his wife.  Unfortunately, the majority of his photos have no citations or identification, so this exhibition would provide an opportunity for us to ask members of the Chinese American community to help us identify some of the people and events.  In addition, we hoped that the display would motivate the community to donate much-needed funds for the research, cataloging, and preservation of this valuable collection, and also to strengthen the relationship between the university and the community.  I hoped to raise the visibility of the Ethnic Studies Library in the community to pave the way for future cooperation.
I was able to obtain a grant of  $10,000 from the Chinatown New Year Parade Committee as well as the sponsorship of Eastman Kodak for the exhibition Chinatown Stories (1940-1980): Photography by Kem Lee.  It was a successful display. There were many people who came to help identify the photos.  There is much more work to be done, however, to make them accessible to the public.

Conclusion
        According to the 1990 population count, the total number of Chinese Americans is 1,645,472 or 7% of the U.S. total population.  California has the largest Chinese American population (704,850) and New York is the second largest  (284,144).  Is there any significant impact to the home country and the adopted country because of this?  Why is Chinese Overseas studies important?  Which major institutions support the area studies of Chinese Overseas?  What is the status of Chinese Overseas Studies in the U.S. as well as in the world?  We must able to answer those questions before defining the objectives of cooperation and we must also prioritize them.  Then, we have to find out where the resources are and how we are going to tap them.  I hope this brainstorming conference is the first step to working together toward this goal.