ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 656 / C&RL News ■ October 2002 NEW REALITIES, NEW RELATIONSHIPSCrossing borders Exploring new realities with our neighbors by Deborah B. Dancik T h e o th e r d ay I re c e iv e d a call stating th at Canada Customs w as holding a “suspicious” package addressed to m e at the library. It turned out to b e a com pletely innocent item from o ne o f o u r lo n g -sta n d in g library v e n d o rs lo c a te d o u tsid e th e country, a n d I w a s a ble to readily alleviate c u sto m s’ concerns. T he incid e n t re ­ m inded m e once again a bout borders. O n e o f the n e w realities in the last year has b e en ou r heightened consciousness of borders: the crossing o f borders, w h o is inside a nd w h o is out; o u r re la tio n sh ip s w ith n e ig h b o rs w h o sh a re o u r b orders; reco g n izin g th e initiatives a n d issues surrounding the World T rade O rga­ n iz a tio n (W TO ), w ith its v e ry re a l im p lic a ­ tio n s fo r b re a c h in g b o rd e rs in e c o n o m ic a n d cultural w ays; a n d N orth A m erica’s efforts to secure borders, w hile at the sam e tim e recog­ nizing the c o n tin e n t’s history o f d e v elo p m en t th ro u g h im m ig ratio n a n d trad e . T h e se have b e e n p art o f o u r re n e w e d thinking a b o u t o u r­ se lv es a n d o u r re la tio n s h ip s w ith th e re st of th e world. F o r t h o s e o f u s w h o c ro ss b o r d e rs fre ­ quently, live proxim ate to a border, or live a nd w ork in another country, w e k n o w borders not o n ly as p o litical a n d g e o g ra p h ic e n titie s b u t also as a m ental construct. W hile latitudes a nd longitudes describe political a n d physical b o r­ ders, culture, language, a n d form s o f g o v e rn ­ m en t play a significant p art in h o w p e o p le d e ­ fine and think a bout them selves a nd h o w they re la te to p e o p le b e y o n d th o s e in ta n g ib le b o u n d a rie s. W hile th e la n d sc a p e m ay b e th e sa m e o n b o th sid e s o f th e “l in e .” w e just “k n o w ” things are different o n w h a te v e r side w e are standing. Extensive travels or living in a country other th an o n e ’s o w n provide valuable perspectives. In le a rn in g a b o u t the in ta n g ib le s o f a n o th e r place w e com e to understand ourselves in n ew ways. In his recent book From Paris to the M o o n ', A dam G o p n ik offers insight in to th e d istinc­ tions, differences, a n d sim ilarities that define France a n d th e U n ited States. His discoveries w hile in France a b o u t the nature of his Ameri­ canism are the cultural experience— the aspects o f daily life, h u m a n interactions, a n d his o ri­ e n tation to politics large a n d sm all that define him as m uch as does his passport. G o p n ik recognizes h o w a spects o f Ameri­ can culture a n d new s h a d b ecom e com m on in France, as they have in m any places. While this is often w elcom ed and decried at the same time, c o u n trie s m a k e c o n sid e ra b le effort to m a in ­ tain the u n d e rp in n in g s o f th eir o w n c u ltural institutions that d efine w h a t is w ithin the bor­ d e r o f w h o they are. In Canada, for example, the publishing indus­ try continues to receive government support in an e ffo rt to e n s u r e a v e n u e s fo r C a n a d i a n (c o n tin u e d on p a g e 677j About the author Deborah B. Dancik is a member o f the ACRL Board and associate director o f libraries a t the University o f Alberta, e-mail: deborah.dancik@ualberta.ca mailto:deborah.dancik@uaiberta.ca C&RL News ■ October 2002 / 657 C&RL News ■ October 2002 / 677 Baltimore from the 1930s through the 1950s. Gibson is a current faculty member o f the law school and has b een active in the civil rights movement in Baltimore as a practicing attorney and p o litica l figu re. T o g e th e r th e p ap ers represent the initial collections o f the African A m erican s in th e Law S p e cia l C o llectio n project. A birch bark manuscript from a Buddhist monastery, believed to have been written in the first or second century A.D., was recently ac­ quired by the University of Washington and will ( “Crossing borders” continuedf rom p a g e656) creative output, perspective, and national voice. W hether countries will b e able to see the im plications for their cultural in­ stitutions or to protect them in W TO treaty negotiations remains to b e seen. Our professional literature offers insights into cultural distinctions as they are reflected in academic librarianship. Two recent articles provide very different but equally interesting cross-border perspectives. Dale Askey’s article “Academics Abroad”2 delineates the challenges to scholars doing research in German libraries. In “B o o k s in Bill Clinton’s D o n a tio n ,”3 Hongyang Zhang and T. D. Webb review the background and implications o f two donations to academic libraries in China and the United States. From both of these we can learn as much about our own orientation and points o f view as w e can about those elsewhere. Exploring academic library practice and cooperation, their relationship to scholarship, and the relationship of the latter to cultural institutions are part o f understanding and appreciating the new reali­ ties that borders play in the flow o f informa­ tion and knowledge. For academ ic librarians concerned with availability and access to scholarly and cultural output, the openness or permeability o f bor­ ders and their influence on cultural institutions, and vice versa, will continue to be important to monitor. Next summer, when ALA and CLA (Cana­ dian Libraiy Association) hold their joint con­ ference in Toronto, Ontario, will be an oppor­ tunity for the kind o f exchange and learning that com es from exp osure to practice and becom e a key com ponent o f the Early Bud­ dhist Manuscripts Project. T he manuscript, among the earliest Buddhist writings known to exist, is from a private co llecto r who re­ cen tly died. T h e chain o f p o ssessio n from its location o f origin to the c o llecto r is un­ know n. T h e m anu script c o n sists o f eight fragm ents o f a scro ll and is w ritten in the Gandhari language, a derivative o f Sanskrit. The style of script and the language suggest the manuscript com es from Gandhara, a re­ gion o f what is now eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. ■ perspectives on both sides of that particular shared border. Canada has long been the United States’ biggest trading partner and the two countries function as very good neighbors. The air waves, which have never been good about respecting borders, allow those people who live within broadcast range on either side o f the “line” to enjoy Canada’s CBC and the United States’ National Public Radio. While Canada has two official languages, it is not a bilingual country. Its government is democratic and parliamentary and it shares with the United States common roots in British com­ mon law. Canada was founded on the concepts o f peace, order, and good government, as dis­ tinct from life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap­ piness. The countries share many values, yet there are definitely differences between them, many o f them nuanced. For the ALA/CLA conference next summer, th ese distinctions serve as an incentive for crossing the border to take advantage o f the opportunity for exchange, discovery, and the development of new relationships, which can only strengthen us in the world o f new reali­ ties. Notes 1. Adam Gopnik, From Paris to theM oon (New York: Random House, 2001). 2. Dale Askey, “Academic Abroad: Conduct­ ing Scholarly research in German Libraries,” por­ tal: Libraries and the Academy 1, no. 4 (October 2001): 445-53. 3. Hongyang Zhang and T. D. Webb, “The Books in Bill Clinton’s Donation,” College and Re­ search Libraries63, no. 4 (July 2002): 367-75- ■