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UMass Libraries > Research by Subject > UMass East Asian CollectionPrintable Version

East Asian Collection SealQuick links to Frequently Used Resources in the East Asian Collection:

Chinese language: Siku Quanshu  CHANT (Chinese Ancient Texts)(choose institutional login)  China Academic Journals Full Text
                               People's Daily (1946-2006)    China Data Online   ReadNCL (Taiwan)
Chinese Internet resource links: Internet Guide for China Studies   Calvin Hsu's guide to Chinese Databases

Japanese language:  Zasshi Kiji Sakuin     JapanKnowledge     CiNii
Japanese Internet Resource links: Sharon Domier's Links for Japanese Studies

Course guides and subject guides for East Asian Studies   --- NEW LibGuides for Chinese Dictionaries and Chinese Bibliography
Introduction to the Collection
[General Description] [ Finding Materials in the Library ] [ Recent Notable Acquisitions] [East Asian Collection Staff] 
General Description The East Asian Collection is located on the 21st and 22nd floors of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library. The circulating collection is located on the 21st floor. The Collection currently contains approximately 50,000 volumes, of which approximately 60% are in Chinese, 40% are in Japanese, and a small number of materials are written in Korean. The reference collection, which does not circulate, is located on the 22nd floor in Rm. 2267. All materials in the East Asian Reference room are searchable in the online catalog. 

East Asian Studies materials written in English or in European languages are shelved in the regular collection, unless they are reference materials written in English.  Current and bound periodicals are interfiled with the regular collection. Very rare materials, such as those in the Lyman Collection, are housed in Special Collections. The Japanese books in the Lyman Collection are now being added to the online catalog. You can track the progress by searching for Lyman as an author, or clicking here:Lyman Benjamin Smith 1835 1920.   Materials relating to the founding of Hokkaido University and William S. Clark are found in the Archives.

Finding Materials in the LibraryUsing the online catalog is a good way to begin searching for East Asian language materials because you can search by either the romanized form of the word or using East Asian scripts. The system is set up to display in Unicode and you can use the Chinese Japanese or Korean language keyboards installed on all public machinese (look for the EN) to type.  70% of the collection has been entered in the online library catalog, but if you cannot find something, please come in and check the card catalog as well. The card catalog is located in the East Asian Reference Room on the 22nd floor.

Whether you use the online catalog or the old card catalog to search for materials written in East Asian languages, it is important that you use the correct romanization scheme. The Collection follows Library of Congress rules for cataloging and classification.

Chinese - use Pinyin, not Wade-Giles   (please note that the card catalog  uses Wade-Giles)
e.g. Beijing, Mao Zedong  not Pei-ching or Mao Tse-tung
Japanese - use Modified Hepburn, not Kunreishiki
e.g. Tsukamoto not Tukamoto
Korean - use McCune-Reishauer not the new Korean Government system
        e.g. Hangugo not Hangeugeo
Recent Notable Acquisitions East Asian Collection StaffCurrently located in room 249/2258, off the East Asian Reference Room, East Asian staff members are available and eager to provide assistance to users of the East Asian collection. Please do not hesitate to contact us for help finding/requesting materials in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. We can also provide guidance on searching the Internet for research in those languages.
       Sharon Domier, East Asian Studies Librarian (sdomier@library.umass.edu)
  •  UMass schedule : Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays tel: 1-413-577-2633
  •  Amherst College: Tuesdays  tel: 1-413-542-2215
  •  Smith College:    Thursdays tel: 1-413-585-2922
    •   Updated April. 2008, comments to: Sharon Domier
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