The endowment, with initial principal funding of $500,000 was established by Chinese entrepreneur Jin Xu and his wife, Mengjun Song. The fund will support collection development, administration, public programming, and research at the Starr Library.
"In supporting Columbia University’s excellence in education and culture for the world, I am very pleased to establish an endowment fund in the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University for the benefit of Columbia University Libraries” Said Mr. Xu, “My parents were both school teachers, and I have always wanted to contribute to education.”
“There is a long historical relationship between Columbia University and China, specifically, during China’s turbulent eras in late 19th and early 20thcentury, when Columbia was one of the few top American universities accepting Chinese students, ” said Jim Cheng, Director of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, “I am very glad and grateful that Mr. Xu and his wife made this significant contribution to Columbia to honor our continued commitment to the Chinese academic community. This gift will directly support students, faculty, and scholars around the world who use our library.”
A private reception will be held at the Starr Library on December 9, 2015 to celebrate the establishment of the endowment fund.
The C.V. Starr East Asian Library is one of the major collections for the study of East Asia in the United States, with over 1 million volumes of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, and Western language materials, as well as some holdings in Mongol and Manchu, over 8,500 periodical titles, 4.5 million e-books, and many archival and special collections. The collection, established in 1902, is particularly strong in Chinese history, literature, and social sciences; Japanese literature, history, and religion, particularly Buddhism; Korean history, and modern Tibetan studies. For more information, please visit: http://library.columbia.edu/locations/eastasian.html
Columbia University Libraries/Information Services is one of the top five academic research library systems in North America. The collections include over 12 million volumes, over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, and graphic and audio-visual materials. The Libraries employs more than 450 professional and support staff and hosts over 3.5 million visitors each year. The website of the Libraries is the gateway to its services and resources: http://library.columbia.edu/
(This news was covered by the official website of Columbia University Libraries.)
