Page 72 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

Jianxin GU, Fang TIAN & Lei SHI / Research on Hong Fanwu’s remarkable contribution to the modern library cause of China 071

reached the national scale. At the beginning of 1930’s, when Hong Fanwu was the chief librarian of
Tsinghua University Library, he established the system of interlibrary loan, which was a rudiment.
And the total annual number of the borrowed books was more than three hundred and sixty species
(“Record for this memorial week”, 1931).
After 1949, Hong Fanwu still paid attention to the system of interlibrary loan. In September
1956, as the associate librarian of East China Normal University Library, Hong Fanwu offered a
proposal to Shanghai Higher Education Authority to establish the system of interlibrary loan among
higher schools and technical secondary schools with the aim of promoting the communication and
application among university libraries. And the idea was adopted. Since 1956, East China Normal
University had established interlibrary loan relationships with colleges, universities, and scientific
research institutes in China. According to the filings, the library of East China Normal University
had established interlibrary loan relationship with 72 libraries and it could even borrow books from
The Soviet Union National Library of Lenin through the Beijing Library. In that year, it lent 1 598
books to 51 libraries, and in the meanwhile, borrowed 1 762 books from 42 libraries (H. X. Yu,
Chen, & W. H. Hu, 2013).
The detailed catalogue was the premise of carrying out the library service of interlibrary loan.
At the end of 1957, Hong Fanwu was entrusted by the Ministry of Education to take charge of the
compilation of the Union catalogue of journals in western languages in libraries of forty seven
universities and colleges. He discussed with some famous experts, such as Huang Weilian and He
Jingduo, and then formulated the unified cataloging standard and format, and Chinese and foreign
book titles for union catalogue. He took a part of proof-reading by himself. It was the first national
union catalogue for journals of colleges and universities after liberation.

2 Developing library undertakings, paying attention to practice

2.1 Building library, improving equipment

In the period of Nanjing Higher Normal School, the library was in poor condition, only covering
10 rooms in a square-model building with courtyard in the middle in the east of the campus.
Hong returned home from abroad in June, 1921, while Nanjing Higher Normal School was being
expanded to Southeast University, and Hong was hired as the director of the library and the
professor instructing the course“Summary of Library Scholarship”. Hong considered that an ideal
college should have a well-equipped library, which was agreed by President Guo Bingwen. The
treasury was bare, and the government and business community were declined to offer support,
so the university had to raise fund by making donations. The governor of Jiangsu Province Qi
Xieyuan sponsored 150 000 silver dollars to build the library and purchase equipment. The new
library, designed by Hong Fanwu and American architect Pascal, broke ground on 4th January,
1922, and completed in 1923, opened in April 1924. The library was named Mengfang Library