Progress Report of the Asian Division, Library of Congress

1. Progress Report of the Asian Division,Library of Congress Hwa-Wei Lee Chief, Asian Division, Library of Congress hlee@loc.gov

2. Asian Division • The Asian Division, founded in 1928, is one of four area studies divisions under the Directorate of Collections and Services in the Library Services: • African and Middle Eastern Division • Asian Division • European Division • Hispanic Division

3. Reorganization Completed • Two sections: • Collection Services • Scholarly services • Five Area Collections: • China and Mongolia • Japan • Korea (South and North) • South Asia • Southeast Asia

4. Vision of the Asian Division • To establish the collection of the Asian Division as the premier research and scholarly resource on Asia, in most Asian languages, that is compatible with the dynamics of knowledge and creativity of the Asian people.

5. Mission of the Asian Division • The mission of the Asian Division is to make comprehensive collection resources and information services related to Asia available and useful to the Congress, the American people, and the scholarly community nationally and internationally.

6. The Size of Asian Collections (03/31/2006)

7. Asian Collections in Other Formats • Legal materials, maps, music, motion pictures, prints, and photographs are housed and cared for by other divisions in the Library in collaboration with the Asian Division: • the Law Library • the Geography and Map Division • the Prints and Photographs Division • the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division • the Performing Arts Division • the Manuscript Division, etc.

8. Collections not in Asian Languages • Other Asia-related publications not in Asian languages are also housed in: • the Main Reading Room • the Microform Reading Room • The Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room • The Performing Arts Reading Room • the Science Reading Room • some of the other area studies and special collections

9. Building Asian Digital Resources • In the digital age, the Asian Division is moving ahead in supplementing its printed collections by a growing body of electronic resources from e-books, e-journals, e-newspapers, to a wide range of e-materials, both digitized from printed version or born digital.

10. Types of Digital Resources • Subscription of e-bibliographic databases. • Acquisition of digitized full-text databases. • Digitization of rare books and other collections. • Capture of relevant web sites. • Online access and reference services.

11. Subscribed to E-Bibliographic Databases • At present forty-five of the Library’s 219 subscription databases deal with Asia or Asian studies. Some of these are: • Aardvark (Asian resources for librarians) • Asian Development Bank Economics & Statistics (Economics and Research Department of Asian Development Bank) • Asian Law Bibliographic Database (University of Melbourne) • Bibliography of Asian Studies (Association for Asian Studies) • Country Studies (Federal Research Division, the Library of Congress) • Treaties and International Agreements (Oceana Publications)

12. Acquired Digitized Full-text Databases • From China and Taiwan: • People’s Daily 人民日報電子版- 1946-2004. • China Data Online. • Chinese Journals 中國期刊全文數據庫 –7,240 titles. • Chinese Core Newspapers 中國重要報紙數據庫 -1,000 titles. • SuperStar Digital Library 超星電子圖書館 -100,000 titles. • Si Ku Quan Shu 四庫全書文渊阁版. • the Academia Sinica’s Chinese Civilization in Time & Space中國文明之時空基礎架構 and Taiwan History & Culture in Time & Space 臺灣歷史文化地圖系統. • The Encyclopedia of Taiwan 台湾百科全書.

13. Acquired Digitized Full-text Databases • From Japan: • Directory of Japanese Scientific Periodicals (from National Diet Library, covering 13,875 S/T serial titles). • Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (11,000 entries, based on the 1993 publication: Japan: an Illustrated Encyclopedia). • Several Japanese rare books have been digitized and are available in full text from the Library’s OPAC. • Full-text databases of five major Japanese newspapers including Mainichi, Sankei, Chunichi, Tokyo and Yomiuri Newspapers.

14. Acquired Digitized Full-text Databases • From Korea: • Chosun Daily Newspaper Archive (covering articles from the Chosun Ilbo, the most widely read newspaper in South Korea) • Korean Studies Database (by KRPIA, covering history, literature, and traditional medicines) • Korean Studies Information Service System (KISS, a database of full-text articles from 6,000 journals published by 1,200 Korean academic institutions) • Law n B-Korean Law Database (Law and business, available for access in the Law Library reading room)

15. Digitized Rare Books & Other Collections • The digitized Naxi 纳西collection is now accessible online: http://international.loc.gov/intldl/naxihtml/naxihome.html • In collaboration with the Academia Sinica, some 21,000 maps and 840 aerial photos have been digitized and will be incorporated into the historical geographic information system: Chinese Civilizations in Time and Space中國文明之時空基礎架構. • In collaboration with the National Central Library in Taiwan a three-year project to digitize the Chinese rare books in the Library of Congress has been launched since May 2005.

16. Digitized Rare Books & Other Collections • In collaboration with the International Research Center of Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) in Japan four rare books in the Nara Ehon collection were digitized and are accessible online through LC’s OPAC. • Also in collaboration with Nichibunken some 3,000 prints from the Japanese Ukiyo-e collection were digitized and will be available online in 2006. • The complete set of 207 large-scale maps of Japan made by Inoh Tadataka伊能忠敬(1816-1819) were digitized and is now accessible from the Library’s webpage: http://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/

17. Capturing Relevant Web Sites • The portals of the Asian Division are increasingly a useful web resource on all the Asian countries and regions. http://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/area_AD.html • Planning is being made to begin web harvesting and archiving on special topics or events of importance. Example: the tsunami disaster.

18. Providing Online Access and Services • The Library’s online public access catalog.http://catalog.loc.gov • American Memory.http://memory.loc.gov/ • Global Gateway.http://international.loc.gov/intldl/intldlhome.html • The portals of the Asian Divisionhttp://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/area_AD.html • QuestionPoint. http://www.oclc.org/questionpoint • Asking a Librarian.http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-asian.html

19. The World Digital Library • Proposed by Dr. James Billington in June 2005. • To bring together online rare and unique cultural materials held by libraries and repositories in all parts of the world. • Digitization will be done through public and private collaboration. • On November 22, 2005, Google Inc. responded with an initial funding of $3 million.

20. The World Digital Library • The current large-scale digitization projects undertaken by the Asian Division in collaboration with major libraries in Asia will be the first group of projects which will make up the World Digital Library.

21. Published Report on E-Resources • Dr. Mi Chu Wiens’ article, “World Digital Library and E-Resources in the Asian Division, Library of Congress,” published in the February 2006 issue of the Journal of East Asian Libraries, No. 138, pp. 1-4.

22. The Friends Society of Asian Division • It was established on January 20, 2004 as a mean of outreach to a broader user community. • We now have more than 200 individual and corporate members. • Through the generosity of Florence Tan Moeson, up to 15 research fellowships will be awarded each year. • For information about the Friends Society, please visit the website: http://www.lcasianfriends.org.

23. The Florence Tan Moeson Research Fellowship • Established through the generosity of Florence Tan Moeson, the Moeson Fellowship provides individuals with the opportunity to pursue research on East, Southeast, or South Asia (including the overseas Asian communities), using the unparalleled Asian collections of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

24. Scholarly Programs Launched • An International Symposium on the Significance of Admiral Zheng He’s Voyages (1405-1433). • In the Footsteps of Marco Polo: An International Symposium on Italy-China Cultural Exchangein the 13th--17th Centuries. • America Is in the Heart for the 21st Century: The Carlos Bulosan Symposium - In Commemorating the Centennial of the First Wave Migration to Hawaii by Filipino Nationals.

25. An International SymposiumOn the Significance of Admiral Zheng He’s Voyages (1405-1433)In Commemoration of the 600th Anniversary of Zheng He’s First Voyage Monday, May 16, 2005, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Mumford Room (6th floor) Madison Building The Library of Congress

26. Asian Division, The Library of Congress Embassy of Italy/Italian Cultural Institute, Washington D.C. & The Honorable Henry E. Brown, Jr. Present In the Footsteps of Marco Polo:An International Symposium on Italy-China Cultural Exchangein the 13th--17th Centuries Thursday, March 23, 2006 8:30am-12:00pm Members Room LJ-162, Jefferson Building Sponsored by:The National Italian American Foundation - Frank J. Guarini Public Policy Forum Alitalia

27. The Asian Division Friends Society The Embassy of The Republic of The Philippines Our Own Voice Invite You to Attend America Is in the HeartFor the 21st CenturyThe Carlos Bulosan SymposiumIn Commemorating the Centennial of the First Wave Migration to Hawaii by Filipino Nationals Friday April 28, 2006 9:15am-5:00pm Room LJ-119 Jefferson Building Carlos Bulosan is the literary icon of early Filipino migrant experience in the United States. SPONSORS: Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. (PAWA, Inc.) / The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA AFL-CIO) / Carayan Press, San Francisco / Remedios G. Cabacungan

28. Thank You