Abstract:

Under the inevitable trend of globalization, intercultural communication seems to become a crucial part of education in today’s culturally diverse societies, confronting educators around the world with both new opportunities as well as challenges. Libraries, as an indispensable support of higher education experience, nowadays have a role that is far more than a passive storage of information. Many libraries are proactively seeking to adjust to their new roles and involve technologies to improve its services.

This paper will present two university libraries, regarding how they utilize latest technologies to promote cross-cultural communication to enrich users' learning and extracurricular experience, through a comparative perspectives based on one author's involvement with each library respectively. The key issue will be the increasingly important role of intercultural communication in education and how modern libraries can serve as a well-equipped platform and how they motivate and involve users to engage in cross-cultural learning experience. The paper also seeks to pave way for further discussion on how libraries across borders can join forces in terms of culture, resources and ideas on education.

David B. Weigle Information Commons (WIC), an innovative section of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center at University of Pennsylvania Libraries (UPenn) in the United States, has explored the uses of new media technologies to support intercultural communication. WIC uses a variety of communication tools (social media, video) to engage students and faculty in new ways of capturing learning outcomes. Many aspects of the Commons are staffed by undergraduate and graduate students. Students provide technology, public speaking and program assistance, and present a variety of workshops to peers. Each year, the Commons hosts an International Experiences Festival. WIC has also collected examples of exemplary student work for a multimedia student showcase. (http://wic.library.upenn.edu)

As one of the major “out-classroom” learning centres in the campus, Hong Kong City University Library, one of the best-reputed in the region, endeavors to take advantage of the existing collections and resources, while seeking opportunities for cross-regional cooperation for more shared resources to reposition the library as an intellectual hub and to raise the functionality of space so that a balance can be struck between the ever-expanding collection, evolving technologies and growing user needs. Special focus will be given on 1) the Outstanding Academic Papers by Students (OPAS) program, which is an online portal jointly contributed by 7 best universities in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, aiming at promoting academic achievement and collaborative learning through innovation and multicultural exchange; 2) the newly announced Digital Collections cum Rare Book Exhibition. (http://www.cityu.edu.hk/lib/)

WIC and HK CityU Library, both as active players among libraries in their regions and vivid representatives of western and eastern ideology of education respectively, are now seeking opportunities for future collaboration. Outline of potential cooperative projects of will be proposed, taking into account the advantages and characteristics of technology use and resource of each of them as well as their different culture and approaches to support higher education, which is expected to serve as a blue print with maximal effectiveness and feasibility.

Keywords:

Library, digital, technologies, intercultural communication, international cooperation, innovative learning experience.