Mr Sidney Wang honoured

Mr Sidney Wang (Wang Sing-wu), formerly Chief Librarian, Orientalia Section, National Library of Australia from 1964-1985 recently returned to the Library with members of his family to attend a small gathering in acknowledgment of his considerable contribution to the development of the Asian Collections. A plaque in Mr Wang's honour was placed in the long term readers' room of the refurbished Asian Collections Reading Room; although, at Mr Wang's typically modest request, the room was not formally named after him.

Colleagues attending the gathering included many former colleagues from the National Library and the Australian National University. The Hon Kevin Rudd MP, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs opened proceedings with an account of his days spent in the Orientalia Reading Room as an undergraduate studying Chinese language and Asian studies at ANU. Mr Rudd spoke of the importance of the encouragement that librarians can give to those new to scholarship, and acknowledged (in faultless Chinese) the personal friendship extended to him by Mr Wang and his family.

In a gracious and simple reply Mr Wang expressed his pleasure at visiting the Library again and praised the continued growth and development of the Chinese collections.

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