Officials Dedicate East Asian Library

University and state officials convened Friday to dedicate the campus’s newly completed C.V. Starr East Asian Library and Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies, honoring the first freestanding East Asian library in the country.

The new library, which stands directly across Memorial Glade from Doe Library, has been in the works for more than 18 years and is scheduled to open to the public in spring 2008.

The library will house over 900,000 volumes as well as artifacts and historical pieces ranging from “the earliest bone scratchings to the most recently updated digital version of Godzilla,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

“(The library) will serve as a crossroads between East and West and will elevate Berkeley’s eminence in facilitating studies between the U.S. and Asia,” Birgeneau said.

The library was funded exclusively by private donations and will house four floors of volumes and study areas.

Tom Leonard, university librarian, said that in a research university, students require “countless hours in either the library, the lab or both.”

“The Starr library will provide a flowing space with many places for contemplation,” he said.

Also dedicating the new library were former U.S. secretary of transportation Norman Mineta and Chair of the UC Board of Regents Richard Blum, who both credited former UC Berkeley chancellor Chang-Lin Tien for much of the inspiration and impetus behind the new library.

“Today stands for discovery, and friends and family of Dr. Tien know and feel the passion with which he pursued discovery,” Mineta said.

Tien, who passed away in 2002, was UC Berkeley chancellor from 1990-97.

“My boss, (U.S. Senator) Diane Feinstein, presented me with a commendation certificate for the dedication of this building,” Blum said. “I can’t tell you how emotionally strong this (dedication of the Tien center) is for me.”

The library’s second namesake, C.V. Starr, was an American businessman who ran numerous insurance companies and philanthropy organizations in both the U.S. and Asia.

To close the ceremony, the new library’s director, Peter Zhou, invited Chancellor Birgeneau to cut the ribbon to commence a tour of the library. Though festivities came to a momentary halt as Birgeneau unknowingly blocked two Chinese dancing lions from entering the building, the eager crowd eventually made its way into the new library to view the facilities.

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