Library Exhibit

Exhibit of Gift Books from Nanjing University Library

（November 1 – 30, 2007， East Asian Library， 2 Floor, Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh）

Celebrating the partnership between the University Library System and Nanjing University Library, each partner has exchanged gifts of local books.  The collection here, given to the East Asian Library of the University Library System, is composed of 961 titles (978 volumes) of Chinese books.  The exhibit in the library showcases a selection of 600 books with subjects ranging from ancient Chinese philosophy, to modern Chinese architectures, and to contemporary Chinese societal and economical transformation.  Of special note, is the 200-volume series of Critical Biography Series of Chinese Thinkers (中国思想家评传丛书) edited by Dr. Kuang Yaming, the former President of Nanjing University.

The University Library System established a book exchange program with Nanjing University Library in 1982.  Since then the two libraries have expanded the exchange to include electronic delivery of materials and a training exchange program with library faculty.  This gift collection is a welcome addition to the East Asian Library.

Modern China Studies Digital Project

We are very pleased to announce the release of the Modern China Studies website which provides access to 36 titles (37 volumes) about Modern China published in the first half of the twentieth century.

During the past year, the Digital Research Library (DRL), the East Asian Library, and Preservation Department of the University Library System (ULS) have worked closely to digitize selected monographs from the Chinese collection as part of an NEH grant awarded to the ULS. The grant called for the microfilming of 3,000 acidic texts as well as the digitization of several dozen texts that formed a pilot project.

We selected the pre-1955 texts that document aspects of the Modern China period. The books are divided into two main categories (Primary Sources and Reference Tools), then subdivided by subject or type. Subjects within the primary sources consist of history, law, literature, political science and social science. The reference tools contain bibliographies, chronologies, directories, handbooks, statistics, and yearbooks. A browse page provides primary access to the digital texts.

We welcome any comments and feedback from you.

SERVICE UPDATES

New Chinese Document Delivery Partner Library in Macau, China

In November 2007, University of Macau Library joins in the partnership between the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh, and academic and research libraries in China, for global document delivery, and gift and exchange programs.

The partnership was reported on Macau Daily, the local Chinese newspaper.

Constructed in 1999, the University of Macau Library is one of the most wired and technology advanced library structures in Macau today. It has a working space area of 15,000 square meters in five stories. In order to give adequate resources support to the University expanding curricula, changing pedagogy stimulated by an emerging mobile computing environment, and intensified research activities, the Library exerts its efforts in keeping pace with these breath-taking development and challenges  …For more information, please the library website: http://library.umac.mo/lib.html

Research Guide to Chinese Local History / Gazetteers

Research Guide to Chinese Statistic Information

Research Guide to Japanese History

Guide to Basic Reference Works in Chinese Studies

Guide to Start a New Chinese Collection

China Data Online Available

China Data Online is provided by the China Data Center at the University of Michigan. This resource provides statistical data on China: national, regional, and local; economic, social, and historical. Census data is included. You may access the database through Database A-Z at the library's home .

You may access the database through Database A-Z at the library's home page. Off-campus users please first login to the SSL VPN Service: https://sslvpn.pitt.edu/. As always, if you have any problems accessing this resource, please report via the online feedback mechanism using the "Contact Us" button available on any page of the ULS web site.

PITTCat Upgraded with Unicode Enhancement

PITTCat, the online catalog of the University Library System has recently been upgraded with Unicode enhancement. It is now capable of displaying bibliographic information in the original Chinese, Japanese, or Korean characters. In addition, users now can search PITTCat for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean materials using the original characters as the search terms. This is an important feature that is particularly useful for patrons looking for East Asian materials. Searching guides are available for users to effectively search PITTCat for East Asian materials. Please refer to the Searching Guides for more information.

Service Guideline Update on Chinese East Asian Gateway Service

Effective immediately, the Chinese East Asian Gateway Service will provide document delivery service to individual researchers or non-profit institutions / organizations only. If you need an academic jouranl article for reserch or teaching, but the needed item is not held by any libraries in the United States, you or your Interlibrary Loan staff on your behalf may submit the request to the East Asian Gateway Service by filling out the request form. We will try to obtain it for you from our partner libraries in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Korean Document Delivery Service (KDDS)

We are pleased to offer Korean Document Delivery Service at the East Asian Gateway Service, East Asian Library, University of Pittsburgh. The KDDS at Pitt is focused on Korean academic publications not held by or available from libraries in the United States. We will provide this service in collaboration with KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), one of prestigious IT schools, in Asia. It operates strictly under the copyright laws of the United States and Korea. Any Pitt faculty/students who need full-text Korean academic journal article(s) for their research/teaching may request documents via the Web.

Click to visit the EAL East Asian Gateway Service.

Bibliography of Pre-war Books in Mitsui Collection is Available for Online Access

The University Library is pleased to announce that the Mitsui Collection is open for circulation. More modes of access to the collection have been added, such as by card catalogue, online bibliography of pre-war books, and on-site browsing. Click here for details.

OUTREACH

Visit of the Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China

On November 2-4, 2006, Mr. Liu Biwei, Consul-General, the Consulate-General of People’s Republic of China in New York, and his delegate visited the University of Pittsburgh. During their stay in Pittsburgh, they visited the East Asian Library of the University Library System. Dr. Rush Miller, Director of the University Library System, and Dr. Hong Xu, Head of the East Asian Library, briefed the delegate on the partnership and cooperation between the University Library System and libraries and research institutions in China.

For Mr. Liu’s visit and activities at Pitt, please refer to the news at the website of the Consulate-General in New York: http://www.nyconsulate.prchina.org/chn/lgxw/t278890.htm

Dr. Kim Hakjoon's Visit

On October 18 2006, Pitt Alumnus KIM Hakjoon visited the East Asian Library in conjunction with his designation as a 2006 Legacy Laureate, an honor bestowed by Chancellor Nordenberg on a selected few alumni who have achieved exceptional success and whose personal and career achievements inspire by their example.

Dr. Hong Xu, head of the East Asian Library, met Dr. Kim. She briefed Dr. Kim with the Korean Collection development at Pitt, and partnership that Pitt has established with Korean and Chinese libraries concerning collecting Korean materials. Dr.Kim was very impressed by the significant progress of the collection in recent years. He donated his latest book, North and South Korea: Internal Politics and External Relations since 1988, to the East Asian Library. He also donated the book to 18 other libraries in the United States, and the East Asian Library help distribute them.

At the meeting were Ms. Eileen Weiner, the Director of International Advancement, University Center for International Studies, Ms. Xiuying Zou, the Public Services Librarian, and Ms. Donghee Sinn, the Korean specialist at the East Asian Library .

East Asian Library Interacts with Community Users at Local Events

The 2006 Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival was celebrated on Saturday, September 16th at Southside Riverfront Park. The festival featured dragon boat races with teams from around the country, stage performance of Asian songs and dances, artist drawings, delicious food, and much more.

As in the past, the University Library System in cooperation with the Asian Studies Center set up a display booth showcasing the resources and services of the East Asian Library and the Asian Studies Center. Staff from the East Asian Library were there from 10am-6pm, talking and interacting with people from local communities and other parts of the country. In addition to introducing our resources and services, we held various cultural activities such as calligraphy for the transliteration of people’s names, and teaching and demonstrating paper folding art (popularly known in Japanese as Origami), East Asian culture quizzes for people to answer and win various prizes such as beautifully-made bookmarks. It was a day of great of fun! Click here to see pictures from the event.

Asian Karaoke Night at the International Week

Cosponsored by the Asian Studies Center, East Asian Library, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, the Asian Karaoke Night was successfully held 7-10:30pm, September 29, at Kurtzman Room, William Pitt Union. The Asian Karaoke Night was part of the International Week coordinated by University Center for International Studies , Office of International Services, and Student Affairs (www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu).

Following an exciting talk on adult karaoke learning in Japan at Asia Over Lunch by Dr. Watanabe, Assistant Professor from William Paterson University, the Koraoke Night featured fabulous Asian food and snacks, and attracted 217 visitors to sing along, 18 solos and 8 groups to participate in the contest. 3 individual prizes, 3 group prizes, and 4 honorary prizes were awarded.

The East Asian Library set up a table to display materials, brochures, art-crafts, etc. East Asian Library staff participated in organizing the event, serving as one of the judges for the contest, and introducing the East Asian Library services and resources. Click here to see the photo.

STAFF NEWS

Sachie Kobayashi assumed her new position

Ms. Sachie Kobayashi has joined us at the East Asia Library of University of Pittsburgh as the Japanese Cataloger starting from June 15, 2007.

Ms. Kobayashi received her bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Maryland and MLS from the same university. She had worked as a contract cataloger at the National Library of Medicine for three years for the Japanese History of Medicine project and created bibliographic and authority records of the Library's Japanese rare medical books published between the 15th and 19th century. From 2005 to May 2007, being a contract cataloger for Kinokuniya, she cataloged records for the Library of Congress and university libraries in the U.S. Ms. Kobayashi’s rich cataloging experience will be of great benefit to the East Asian Library at the University of Pittsburgh.

Ms. Kobayashi can be reached at the East Asia Library by phone (412-648-8842)  or email (pikos3@pitt.edu).

East Asian Library Welcomes New Visiting Scholar from Japan

The East Asian Library is pleased to welcome Mr. Takeshi Kuboyama for a three-month stay until February 2008 at the East Asian Library and participate in library-wide service and research activities. Mr. Kuboyama is a Technical Librarian at the Electronic Library Section, Department of Information and Communication Technology Services of the Osaka University Library, Japan. He can be reached at 412-648-7048 or at kuboyama@pitt.edu . His office is 207F Hillman Library.

TRAVEL GRANTS

Travel Grant for Calendar Year 2007

The East Asian Library at the University of Pittsburgh is pleased to announce travel grants for the 2007 calendar year. The purpose of these grants is to support scholars who wish to do research at the East Asian Library, University of Pittsburgh. They are sponsored by the Asian Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. The grants are available at the range of $250-$500 for each candidate depending on the need and the location of the individual. Special consideration will be given to those researchers in Pennsylvania and the nearby region who have no major East Asian collections.

The East Asian Library at Pitt consists of over 376,000 volumes in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The primary focus of the collection is on humanities and social sciences. For further information about the East Asian Library and its collection, please visit our web site at http://www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/eal/Resources.htm.

To apply, please send a letter of application with a brief description of your research topic, a curriculum vitae, the type/subject of materials you need, and an estimated budget to:

Hong Xu, Head of the East Asian Library
207L Hillman Library
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Email: hgxu@pitt.edu

The application deadline is February 25, 2007. Grants will be awarded on March 16, 2007. The awards must be used before July 18, 2007.

2007 Travel Grant Recipient

The East Asian Library is pleased to announce the recipient of two travel grant recipients:

Dr. Lisa Yun
Co-founder of the Asian and Asian American Studies Program
Binghamton University, SUNY

Dr. Yun will be using the East Asian Library for her research on Chinese immigration to Cuba in the 19th century.

Yurong Yang Atwil
Asian Studies Lbrarian
University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University

Ms. Atwill will be using the East Asian Library for her research project on compiling a sourcebook of Chinese documents that supports multidisciplinary courses in Chinese studies.

EAL ARCHIVED NEWS

Click here for Archived News of East Asian Library.