The Edmonton China Town Library, located downtown, houses anything from items on political theory to military science. However, unlike the Confucius Institute, not every text can be generalized under the common theme of Chinese culture. Rather, this specialized library has material on a variety of topics. Like other libraries, it also has sections dedicated to children's books, newspapers, and electronic material.
While the Confucius Institute caters their material towards children, the China Town Library includes texts for all age groups. According to the librarian, this library is a place for different generations to foster "jin xin," or a patriotic spirit. Re-connecting with one's culture is extremely important within the Chinese community, so many value the ability to read and write in their native language.
I gained some insight into the reading practices of the librarian through an interview, learning how her habits affect her son. She considers reading in Chinese an important way to connect with the culture she left behind, and often wishes her son to experience a similar connection through reading and writing, especially since he grew up with English as his dominant language. She told me that she borrows material from the library for her son, but mentioned the material at Edmonton Public Libraries fails to fully represent Chinese culture. The material focuses on more trivial topics, such as DIYs, fiction novels, and lifestyle.
To learn more about the specifics of this library, I asked the librarian about the origins of the material. She explained that most of the material is obtained through oversea donors and donations from the local Chinese community. The China Town Library is a non-profit organization, and largely rely on oversea funding. Unfortunately, the relationship between the library and its donors is prone to change, affecting the type of material going onto the shelves. Whenever the library has to re-do their application process to get more material, they may find they're receiving different types of texts.
The librarian also mentioned that local donors donate books as well. Little traffic was noticed during my visit, but seeing what was donated by the local community gave me some ideas on what was being read: the material included children picture books, history books, science fiction novels, and--most popular of all--dictionaries. The China Town library also accepts material written in English. Unsurprisingly, it appears that the Chinese community enjoys reading a variety of genres in their native language.
Much of the material is old; many texts have stained pages or ripped covers. These materials are often sold to readers for a cheap price to make room for current, more appealing books. Some of the materials are sold in fundraiser events, and the funds generated usually goes towards buying stationary for the library.
The librarian was able to recall that books about philosophy, history, and children's genres are the most popular among readers. Many of the adult readers are professionals who work in fields like business and technology. Often, these readers are already proficient in reading and writing Chinese, and are less interested in books for educational purposes. Just as the profile of available material varies at this location, so to do the readers coming through the door.
