Asian Studies: In English

About the Collection

Established in 1990, the UC Irvine Libraries’ East Asian (EA) Collection serves the needs of the EA research and teaching community on campus, which currently includes some 30 core faculty members and their graduate students who are affiliates with the Center for Asian Studies and mainly from the departments of history, art history, anthropology, East Asian languages and literatures, comparative literature, film and media, drama, sociology, political science. It is also open to any other faculty, students and local residents with a need for EA materials. In a relatively short span of 30 years, the Collection has grown from the original 8,000 Chinese books acquired from a noted historian in China to nearly 120,000 volumes in Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages as of June 30, 2019, making it one of the fastest growing Collections of this kind in the nation and the largest East Asian Collection in Orange County.

In addition to the rapid growth in quantity, the quality of the Collection has also been built up through the diversity and strength of its subject, format, chronological and geographic coverage. Over the years, with generous and continued support from library administrations, faculty, as well as generous friends and partners of the Libraries, we have acquired rich resources in modern East Asian literature and history, and Chinese classics, including many unique items as showcased below.

• I-Ching Collection of some 2,000 volumes, largely in Chinese and Japanese traditional binding format and with publication date back to 1911 and earlier. Donated by the family of Ni Tseh (1916-1997), a former librarian at Cornell. Many, such as Xuan Xue San Shu (China, manuscript from the Qing dynasty) and Ekikyo Chokkai (Japan, cir.1660), are the only holdings in North America;
• Shūkan Shōnen Magajin (1959-1995) from the very first issue to issues from its peak publication era. A unique resource for Japanese cultural and visual art studies, this weekly magazine was one of the many generous donations from Mrs. Sawako Noma, President and CEO of Kodansha Ltd.;
• Hanʼguk Hojŏk Sŏngchʻaek (1904-193?) and Koseki Daicho (1834-1902), two sets of microcopies of significant Korean census records, of which the originals are kept in two Japanese universities (Kyoto and Gakushuin) respectively. The acquisition of these rare census records is a result of a close collaboration between the library and a former UCI historian.

Locations

Primarily located on the first floor of Langson Library, EA Collection resources can also be found in other library locations or online, as shown below:

• The 1^st floor of Langson Library : all EA reference materials, monographs and bound periodicals;
• The 2^nd floor (the lobby level) of Langson Library: current EA periodicals and newspapers;
• The 5^th floor of Langson Library (Special Collections and Archives): rare and expensive EA materials;
• The 1^st floor of Science Library (Multimedia Resource Center): Multimedia materials, including film DVDs;
• The 2^nd floor of Science Library (the microform cabinets): microform materials;
• Online: see the Asian Studies Subject Guide

Access and Circulation

The majority of EA print materials is accessible during normal Langson Library hours With a few exceptions (e.g., films and special collection materials), the Collection is open to all, and is heavily used by UCI faculty and students, as well as users from other institutions and local communities.  EA Collection resources are also discoverable through Library Search and Melvyl.

As with other materials in the library, a valid library card is required to borrow EA materials. UC faculty, staff and students may use their campus ID as a library card. Non-UC community users may purchase a fee-based card. For inquiries about getting a library card and borrowing EA books, please contact the Langson Library Check-out Desk in the lobby area at (949)824-6842 or circadm@uci.edu, or visit the website.

User Services

The Research Librarian for Asian Studies, Dr. Ying Zhang, is available to help users with their research needs concerning the collection. Dr. Zhang can be reached during weekdays (Monday – Friday) from 9am to 5pm in her office (Room 466 Langson Library), by phone (949-824-0489), via email (yingz@uci.edu) or through online chat . However, appointments are highly recommended so as to ensure service availability.

Last updated September 15, 2014 [Chinese/Japanese]

Last updated August 1, 2017 [Korean]