Committee
on Korean Materials
Minutes
of the meeting of March 25, 1998, Washington Hilton, Washington D.C.
Presenters: Yoon-Whan Choe, University of
Washington, Seattle
Hyonggun
Choi, University of Chicago
Yong
Kyu Choo, University of California, Berkeley
Mikyung
Kang, University of California, Los Angeles
Joy
Kim, University of Southern California
Kyungmi
Chun, Chair of the committee, called meeting to order at 7:00 pm. A short review of the agenda was followed by a word of welcome to the audience.
1. Report on NITR (Name Index of Trial Records)
Yoon-Whan
Choe reported on the NITR project which was launched in 1997 in an attempt to
compile a comprehensive name index based on the reprint entitled, Ilche ha kongpan kirok charyojip [일제하
공판 기록 자료집]. The set of 385 volumes consists mainly of trial records of the
Japanese court in Korea from late 1920s to 1944, including official summons,
descriptions of defendants on trial and charges against them, as well as the
actual court proceedings. Ms Choe
explained how to search the Korean Name Index.
She emphasized that only the McCune-Reischauer romanized forms are
searchable. The result can be displayed
in Korean and English along with other information such as record number,
address, volumes and notes. Ms Choe
noted that the index will be updated with case information to each record
providing the capability of searching by trial case. The index is currently available on the Web. The URL for NITR is:
http://www.lib.washington.edu/ASP/DATABASES/NITR.
2. Electronic Resources for Korean Studies
2.1. Rethinking CD-ROMs in East
Asian setting
Hyonggun
Choi shared his experience in housing a new format of library materials,
CD-ROM. He found it advantageous when
compared to other types of electronic media considering that a small number of
CD-ROM could handle a great amount of information with speed. Moreover, data on a CD-ROM can not be erased
accidentally by users. However, Mr. Choi pointed that the adoption of
CD-ROMs in libraries created new concerns for libraries in terms of the need to
provide more workstations with CD-ROM drives and ample space to install them adequately
while the space in libraries is decreasing more and more. Mr. Choi identified three types of CD-ROMs,
(1) collected works of writers, or the many editions of a specific work such as
Ssu-ku-chuan-shu [四庫全書 ]and Choson Wangjo Sillok [조선왕조실록=Annals of the Chosun
Dynasty]; (2) reference tools such as Kyemongsa
tae paekkwa sajon [계명사 대백과
» ]and Asuki
Shuppans Ji-ten-ban [Asuki Publication's 辭-典-盤]; (3) full-text journals on CD-ROM such as Yeju Images Korean academic
journals and Maruzens Meiji kanko tosho
micro ban shusei [丸善's 明治 刊行 圖書
micro 版 集成]. He concluded that librarians should participate in determining
the standards for how information is published and presented in terms of both
content and interface of CD-ROM products.
2.2. Korean Studies Resources on
the WWW
Joy
Kim introduced Internet resources on Korean studies compiled by her in joint
efforts with Yong Pyo Hong, Hanyang University. The handout distributed by Ms Kim at her presentation gave
further information about 44 major databases covering all kinds of Korean
studies related subject areas in various type of databases from bibliographic
indexes to full-text journals. Ms. Kim encouraged the audience to try out
actual sites in the list to learn more about the possible usage of each
different database. She explained how
exciting an experience it was to find so many valuable resources available on
the Web free of charge. Ms. Kim was
requested to place her handout on the Committee's home page on CEAL's website
by the audience.
2.3. Commercial Online Databases
on Korean Studies in Korea
Mikyung
Kang reported on major commercial online databases in Korea introducing her
experience with Chollian, Hitel, Unitel and Nownuri (Nowcom). Services from these systems include, in
most cases, internet services, web-hosting services, interest group support
services such as group chatting, bulletin boards and newsgroups, as well as
practical information on stock quotes, shopping, and much more. Ms. Kang summarized her overview of the
issues related to the services she tested by dividing them into six categories:
1)
there
are relatively few scholarly information resources
2)
freely
accessible databases are on the increase
3)
controlling
entertainment resources is difficult
4)
searching
is inexpensive (or) rates for searching are low
5)
interfaces
are often not user-friendly
6)
software
environment is not standardized
She
noted that we have access to a great variety of resources across the world, but
if connections are attempted at bad times, use of these resource may be
unworkable.
3. Report on Korean Collections Consortium of North America
Yong
Kyu Choo, chair of the Korean Collections Consortium, presented an activity
report of the Korean Collections Consortium of North America for the year
1997. He announced that the University
of Toronto became the latest new member of the Consortium, which is now made up
of nine members-institutions. The
homepage of Korean Collections Consortium, created and developed by Mr. Choo,
has links to each individual member library for further information regarding
the specialized subject areas of each member library. The URL is http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/KConsort/index.html. He reported also about the change in budget
allocation for next year, the last contract year from Korea Foundation to the
Consortium members, a consequence of the economic crisis in Korea. Providing US$10,000 twice over the next two
years, 1998 and 1999, Korea Foundation will fulfill its commitment to the
development of Korean cooperative collections in North America. In conclusion, Mr. Choo also reported on
decisions made by members at the last meeting in Chicago about following items:
1.
North
Korean materials: As there is only a
very limited number of titles at this subject to be divided by the members, it
was agreed that each institution will collect as much as they can.
2.
Annual
report of KF (Korea Foundation) funded materials: Annually the list of titles purchased with KF funds is submitted
by the Consortium members to the Foundation along with a financial report. For any recommendations of titles, it is
acceptable to send suggestions to individual libraries in accordance with their
specialized subject areas.
4. Announcement
1.
Sonya
Lee from the Library of Congress announced that the Korean Bibliography
Databases, prepared by the Korean Section in LC, will be available on the Asian
Division Homepage sometime this summer.
Consisting of about 7,500 records of English-language books on Korea,
the database is expected to make a valuable contribution to research in the
field of Korean studies.
2.
Hyonggun
Choi from the University of Chicago Library announced that a meeting of the CIC
(Committee on Institutional Cooperation) Initiatives for Korean collections
will be held in the same room following the meeting of the Korean Materials
Committee. The meeting will further
discuss the proposal for the CIC Korean Collections Consortium Task Force,
submitted in January to the CIC libraries during the ALA Mid-Winter Conference.
3.
Maureen
Donovan, publisher/editor of Asian Database Online Community Electronic
Newsletter announced that any comments, suggestions, and relevant contributions
are always welcome.
Hyokyoung Lee / Notetaker