North American libraries have used the Wade-Giles system to romanize Chinese texts for more than eighty years. However, increasing international acceptance of the pinyin system as the standard for romanization of Chinese prompted a change from Wade-Giles to pinyin. This took effect on Oct. 1, 2000 and most libraries in the United States and Canada are now using pinyin.

This page provides background on the change to pinyin at the national level and information on the pinyin conversion project in the East Asia Library.

Get Started Now: Searching the Catalog in Pinyin

Detailed information on the romanization system and the pinyin conversion project can be found on the following pages:

Background Information Background Library of Congress Version of Pinyin Romanization

Pinyin Conversion in EAL What's in Pinyin and What's in Wade-Giles Recent Updates on the Project