By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CASEY has taken another step in recognising multiculturalism after the Endeavour Hills library received 1000 Chinese books that were donated this week.
Organised by the South Eastern Region Chinese Friendship Centre of Victoria to recognise Cultural Diversity Week, the Chinese books were formally welcomed to the library’s Chinese section on Monday at a special community event attended by Chinese dignitaries, local politicians and Casey councillors.
President of the Chinese Friendship Centre Shirley Aolei said the donated books would be of great benefit to the Casey community with its growing Chinese population.
“We know this area has many Chinese young people and this new generation need to learn some Chinese mandarin,” Ms Aolei said during the launch.
“They need help.”
People of Australia Ambassador Chap B. Chow said Shirley was the driving force in organising the donation of these books.
“It started from Shirley who came to me. Apparently she has 1000s of volumes of books from China, but she didn’t know how to distribute them,” Mr Chow said.
“So she came to me and asked me to help out. She specifically wanted to donate these books to three cities – the City of Glen Eira, the City of Casey and the City of Greater Dandenong.”
Mr Chow said the donated books covered a wide range of topics, including tourism, philosophy, literature, culture, cooking and even health science.
Monday’s launch was attended by Deputy-Consul General of the People’s Republic of China Jing Lin, Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan and Casey Councillors Amanda Stapledon and Wayne Smith.
First launched in 2001, the Endeavour Hills Library’s Chinese collection already boasts about 4500 print items and 1000 audio-visual items.
And 1180 current members of the Endeavour Hills Library indicated that they spoke Chinese.
Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation Customer Services manager Pru Menzies said it was a “special honour” for the Endeavour Hills Library to take on the additional Chinese books.
“This donation of 1000 Chinese non-fiction books is important as it will provide additional new information materials across a range of subjects,” she said.
“The staff are currently working hard to complete cataloguing and processing these new items to make them all ready for lending as soon as possible.
“Some are already available to borrow from today, and I hope they are enjoyed for years to come,” she said.
