The Sage in the Cathedral of Books. Yang Sun Yang
positions, but also for their perfect marriage as a model couple. They were assisted by Dr. Yantao Pan, a senior faculty member, and a number of doctoral students. They spent nearly a year, including the entire summer of 2011 to work on the project, which resulted in the publication of two beautiful volumes (1565 pages) of my collected works by the Sun Yat-Sen University Press. As I learned later, despite his busy work, Professor Huanwen Cheng reviewed the entire manuscript before its publication.
For my biography, I am deeply grateful to Professor Huanwen Cheng, Director Xi Wu, university librarian Shoujing Zhuang, and Director Zhejiang Dong, all of whom are my dear friends and library colleagues in China, for their writing of the forewords. In addition to their friendship, I also benefited from their professional counsel in a joint effort to speed up library development in China as well as to promote U.S.-China library cooperation.
Before the publication of this English edition of my biography, the original Chinese edition written by Yang Yang was first published in China in 2011 in simplified Chinese characters. Later on, a Taiwanese edition in traditional Chinese characters was published in Taiwan in 2014. The Taiwan edition, which was published by Showwe Information Technology Ltd in Taipei, included not only more photographs, but also some of the sections deleted from the Chinese edition.
Since the publication of both the mainland Chinese edition and the Taiwan edition, many of my American friends and my family members wanted to know if I was to have the biography translated into English and published in the U.S. It was very fortunate that another of my good friends, Dr. Ying Zhang, a former graduate student at Sun Yat-Sen University who later completed her Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, volunteered to translate the Taiwan edition of my biography into English. Ying has a full-time job as an Asian Studies’ research librarian at the University of California at Irvine, but like Yang Yang, she devoted more than a year of her leisure time doing the translation. Owning to her tireless efforts, the translation was completed in August 2014.
Because the original biography was written more than three years ago, I took the opportunity to revise and update many parts of it. Both my wife, Mary, and our son, Robert, also spent many hours editing the English translation.
I am especially grateful to Scott Seaman, dean of Ohio University Libraries, for his strong encouragement in having the biography translated from Chinese into English. Dean Seaman also contacted the Ohio University Press to have the English edition published as one of the volumes in the Ohio University “1804 Books Imprint.”
As the former dean of Ohio University Libraries, from 1978 to 1999, a major part of this biography covers the significant development of the Libraries during the period of drastic transformation from a paper-based library to a computer, networked, electronic, digital, and web-based library in fast progression. It also documented: the endeavors in creating the ALICE library automation system; the formation of OhioLINK; major endeavors in fundraising; the expansion of world renowned international collections; providing service to Ohio Valley Area Libraries; the promotion of international librarianship; and the attainment of membership status in the Association of Research Libraries.
All of these could not have been accomplished without the guidance and support of President Charles J. Ping and his successor, President Robert Glidden. Their superior leadership and the extraordinary administrative team including all the provosts, vice presidents, deans, and directors, with whom I had the privilege to be associated contributed to the success of my work. I must also acknowledge the superior teamwork of my library colleagues whose dedication, diligence, and hard work had enabled my many accomplishments. I am forever indebted to all of them.
For this English edition of my biography, I am deeply indebted to Scott Seaman, dean of Ohio University Libraries; Kate Mason, coordinator of communications & assistant to the dean; and Rob Dakin, records management specialist, who provided the necessary professional copy editing of the entire manuscript for publication. I also want to thank Ms. Gillian Berchowitz, director of Ohio University Press, and her able staff for their expertise and professionalism in the final editing and publication of this biography, which is far beyond my expectation.
After spending twenty-one years of my library career at Ohio University, it is my great honor to dedicate this biography to Ohio University for which I owe my profound gratitude.
Hwa-Wei Lee
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
IT IS already autumn in Beijing at the time of the completion of the biography of Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee. The trees outside the window, in the garden, have already begun to turn golden fall colors. This reminds me of Athens, Ohio, the beautiful and tranquil university town in the central U.S., where the fall scenery is just as gorgeous as the trees in Beijing. Back in 1993, I was pursuing a MBA and a master’s degree in communication and development studies, while working as a part-time student assistant to Dr. Lee, who was then the dean of Ohio University Libraries.
I started writing this biography in 2008. Back then, Dr. Lee had just retired from the Library of Congress, but he remained as the project evaluator for the Sino-U.S. Library Professional Exchange Program. He continued to travel between China and the United States for the program and to attend other conferences, allowing me the opportunity to interview him and record his story and to complete the wish of several Ohio University alumni, of which I am one, who had been respectful and thankful to Dr. Lee.
It has been a happy writing experience. Every day, I had two highly anticipated and enjoyable time slots: one in the morning, after sending my two daughters to school and before going to the office; and the other in the evening, after the girls went to sleep. Sitting in front of the computer, I went through Dr. Lee’s life as if I were experiencing an expedition. What has impressed me most, from time to time, were his trust of humanity, his calmness and firmness, and his dedication and professionalism, as well as the responsibility he had taken for his family, relatives, and friends. To me, his life has been so wise, so rich, and so balanced, even beyond his success in the library field.
In recent years, I have met and interviewed, in my role working for CCTV News Center, people from various socioeconomic backgrounds, including government and business VIPs, celebrities, tycoons, civilians, migrant workers, and mothers and children in poverty. Their personal beliefs, ideologies, and conducts have shaped my way of looking at contemporary Chinese society, and have also triggered my concerns and thoughts. I was even at the age of innocence, asking myself what kind of life would be most worthy. Over the course of writing this biography, I came to understand that a moment of glory and victory could be an astonishing magnificence, but what is really meant for a life is a sustained and balanced style, of which the quality would be measured by its breadth. The richness of Dr. Lee’s life just lies in the “breadth” of his constant calmness and composure, whether granted favors or subjected to humiliation.
Through personal contact with him, I have witnessed his diligence and sincerity. He was always busy and always worked overtime. And work seemed to be the only thing he enjoyed. One day around the end of 1993, I stayed late for work. Upon walking into his office, I saw him lying on the carpet along with piles of documents while holding one document to read. I was deeply shocked by the scene, which still remains in my memory. He explained, with an apologetic smile, that his back hurt a lot and lying down made him feel better. He also told me that a surgery had already been scheduled. Thinking him always a forebear-ing gentleman, I guessed his pain must have been too severe to endure. I quickly handed him the document and rushed out of the office with tears in my eyes.
Most Chinese students and visiting librarians from China, like me, have been taken care of by Dr. Lee in Athens. Sometimes, he cares for people who come to him with a sense of humor. I still remember a mishap I had on campus—a falling tree branch hit me and injured my forehead. I was urged by Dr. Lee, as soon as he learned of my accident, to go to the university’s health center for treatment. He also jokingly comforted me, saying that being hit by a falling tree branch would have the same low probability as winning a lottery, and I might have become lucky and should try the lottery. Later, he did drive me out to purchase a lottery ticket, which failed to win me anything. He laughed, “Too bad. Your luck seems to have run out. No wonder you did not win.”
Dr.