INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LIBRARIANSHIP, 2(2), 113 

ISSN:2474-3542 

 

CALA’s 21st Century Librarian Seminar Series – 2017 BALIS Conference 

On September 13 and 14, 2017, four Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA, an affiliate 

of American Library Association) members went to Beijing, China, to attend BALIS conference 

and give a presentation to BALIS members (Beijing Academic Library Information Systems, a 

consortium of close to ninety academic libraries in Beijing). 

This event is part of CALA’s 21st Century Librarian Seminar Series, which started in 2006. 

For the past 11 years, CALA has held a series of joint conferences with several Chinese 

counterparts including Yunnan Provincial Library Commission, Universities from Shanxi 

Province and Shanghai, to give lectures, exchange ideas, and discuss the practice and trends in 

international library fields. This is CALA’s first collaboration with Beijing academic libraries. 

CALA members’ presentation topics in BALIS conference are the current practice and 

development in American academic libraries. The topics are the role of library and librarian in the 

digital age: the knowledge and skill sets; data-driven decision-making methods and practices in 

American academic libraries; the practice of research data management in American universities; 

and managing electronic and print resources: a paradigm shift in library system design and 

bibliographic control. 

The BALIS conference was taking place at Beijing Normal University Library on 

September 13. About 170 Chinese academic librarians from Beijing area attended the presentation. 

On September 14, there was a round table discussion held at Beijing Foreign Studies University 

Library. More than twenty mid to upper level managers from Beijing academic libraries joined the 

CALA team to discuss a wide range of topics from electronic resource management to research 

data management, from next generation library system to library and librarian’s role and place in 

digital age..  

Both CALA and BALIS show strong interest to continue cooperation and exchange in the 

future.  

 

--- Yongming Wang, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, USA 

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.53  

  

https://doi.org/10.23974/ijol.2017.vol2.2.53