With other material from the collections, the diary will be displayed in the Library's Visitors Centre in October to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Interaction between communities and the Library has been a continuing theme of the development of the Chinese language collections. Staff members command a high standard of both written and oral Chinese and this has proved useful in the many exchanges over the years with Chinese libraries. Relationships with the National Library of China extend back to the 1940s. There were acquisition and exchange trips and delegations through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Professional exchanges are now routine.
Andrew Gosling says that, while learning automated cataloguing skills, visitors also help the Library with cataloguing its own collections, and are able to experience other areas and other libraries. They are invaluable contacts on their return home. There is also a well developed network of gift and exchange agreements with institutions in China and Taiwan. They receive Australian Government and National Library material and send monographs and serials, an important method of acquiring such material. North of the Yangtze, they collect, and south, we do.