Auckland Libraries has begun to add Chinese characters to its book records, and this has led to a significant improvement for its Chinese customers who access the online catalogue.
Assistant librarian, Yan Wang, says the addition of Chinese script to the catalogue is wonderful, and makes book browsing a much more enjoyable experience for our Chinese customers.
Example of a Chinese title record:
Jian yi jia chang cai = Everyday dishes /
简易家常菜 = Everyday dishes / 林淑莲著.
Shulian Lin
林淑莲, 1951-
Publish info:Beijing : Wai wen chu ban she, 2002.
北京 : 外文出版社, 2002.Subject:Cooking, Chinese Series:Zhonghua mei shi xi lie ; 1. Found:dishes (3) Beijing (1)
Previously, all the libraries’ Chinese book records were only displaying pinyin, a romanised form of Mandarin designed to mimic Mandarin pronunciation. Pinyin is used to teach students of Mandarin how words in Chinese are pronounced.
But because there are many Chinese characters that match the same pronunciation – e.g., the pinyin "yi" can mean many different things in Chinese: one, clothes, medical, aunty, etc – pinyin is confusing and time-consuming when trying to decipher book titles and author names.
It’s even more frustrating for the elderly, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan natives who do not understand pinyin at all.
Now, with the availability of characters in our book records, Chinese titles are instantly recognisable.