I'm definitely out of the loop. I just learned about this in a calendar I received in the mail this weekend:
National Conference on Establishing a National Collection on Asian Pacific Americans
The Asian Division of the Library of Congress will host a National Conference on Establishing a National Collection on Asian Pacific Americans at the Library of Congress. The Conference will be held on October 4-5, 2007 at the Whittall Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Attached are the tentative program of the Conference and a list of advisers, co-organizers and consultants. The Conference has the following main objectives:
-To review the current status of Asian Pacific American studies in the U.S.
-To review the existing Asian Pacific American collections in various forms in the U.S.
-To develop national and regional strategies for a coordinated effort in collecting and preserving research materials for Asian Pacific American histories and communities.
-To discuss the need for LC to establish an Asian Pacific American collection and to work with other Asian Pacific American collections in a cooperative and coordinated way.
Although the Conference is open and free to interested individuals only 50 spaces are available for anyone who has pre-registered online. This is due to the limit of the conference facility and other logistic considerations.
Pre-registration is accepted on a first-come-first-served basis until the 50 spaces are filled. The website for pre-registration is http://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/APA_Register.php
For more information about the Conference, please see the Tentative Program of the Conference and the List of Advisers, Co-organizers, and Consultants. If you have any other questions, please contact Dr. Anchi Hoh adia@loc.gov of the Asian Division.
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The conference seems like a good idea, but it seems to feature an overabundance of high profile names in Asian American studies.
Did the organizers really need so many to make the case for an APA collection? (And to add even more prestige, they included speeches by Asian American politicians. But, when I think about it, that's pretty convenient for the politicans. Heck, the Capitol building is only across the street.)
Is there such reluctance or inertia or lack of funds at the Library of Congress that a collection has never been considered until now?
(Is there even a catalogue or database?)
I know that for many decades there've been Asian collections at the LC.
Well, no matter. I've never really had high expectations for the LC.
I've been more a DIY-type. Lately, I've been working on my own library. I've been trying to unbox books, stacked in my garage, and organize them a bit in my personal library.
I probably should devote a bookcase or two to just Asian American stuff.
I'm not sure how I'm going to sort and store the boxes of periodicals and loose paper.
Of course, I've also got lotsa cassettes and reels of tape. Not to mention some vinyl and cd's. (In fact, I just bought some old records and used cd's at True Vine music store in Hampden, yesterday.)