East Asian Studies

East Asian Collection and Reading Room Re-opened

The East Asian Collection in the 10th Floor North Reading Room of Bobst Library is fully open to researchers. Come see where the reference materials are located, find your CJK books and serials, browse our Japanese manga collection, and enjoy the views of Washington Square Park.

The East Asian Studies Collection at Bobst Library reflects the history of East Asian Studies at NYU. An East Asian Studies program came into existence in the 1980s and the East Asian Studies Department was created in the late 1990s. Graduate degree candidates were admitted in the Fall of 2004. With assistance from faculty in the East Asian Studies Department, the East Asian Studies Librarian began building the library collection in the 1990s.

The Collection includes materials in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages, as well as resources in English and other languages about the region of East Asia. For assistance with locating materials or with conducting research on East Asia in English, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, please contact the East Asian Studies Librarian. 

Searching at Bobst Library 

Start your search with our library catalog. 

• You can search by title, author, keyword, subject heading, ISBN, and more.
• You can limit your search to Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language holdings, or also search directly in East Asian languages.
• Searching for CJK materials can be done before OR after your search. For before, just type in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or romanized equivalents, or limit the language in the Advanced Search screen drop down box under language to the language of your choice. For after, once your search results appear, scroll down the left-hand side filters until you get to language. Then select the language of the results you want to see.  
• E-books are available from the online catalog, print materials can be retrieved by you, or if they are off-site, they can be requested online with some scanning and contactless pickup or delivery options available. For example, choose Bobst circulation desk from the drop down box if you are in Bobst Library. 

If you are looking for journal articles, try searching our many databases.

• With EBSCO Discovery Services, you can search over 400 databases at once, or use many of the online CJK databases at NYU.
• Check the individual Chinese, Japanese, and Korean E-Resource Collection tabs for lists of related e-resources. 
• From the Articles and Databases tab ("the Arch"), you can browse East Asian Studies databases, or search a particular database if you know its name.

Contact the East Asian Studies librarian to learn how to do all of this and more!

Locating Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language materials within the library

Books

• Books, reference books, and non-current periodicals written in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) languages are located in the 10th Floor North Reading Room. If a CJK book you need is non-circulating (reference), it can be used in the reading room. If CJK books are located offsite, they can be requested through our Library Catalog. 
• Books, reference books, and bound journals about East Asia written in English and Western languages are located on floors 1-9 and can be retrieved by you, or may be offsite and then requested through our Library Catalog.

Journals, Articles, & Online Databases

• Current issues of print periodicals are in the Current Periodicals room on the 3rd floor. Older issues are on the 10th Floor, or may be offsite and can be requested through our Library Catalog.
• If you want to read popular magazines in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (or in English from the region), try the database PressReader. Sign in with your NYU email and create a password for your PressReader account. Then under Publications, select Countries and Choose China, Japan, and Korea, or wherever else you are interested, of course. 
• Databases, e-Books, and online resources can be used from any NYU Library computer, or your own by logging on with your NYU Net ID, whether in the library or not.

Visual Materials

Films, Videorecordings, DVDs, and other visual materials are in the Avery Fisher Center for Music and Media, 7th floor (search the Library Catalog to locate them as you would books, reference books, and journals. In the Advanced Search screen, you can limit "Material Type" to video for your search. You can also limit the language to Chinese, Japanese, or Korean).

• For online videos of documentary and feature films, try: 
  • Films on Demand: Area Studies Video Collection, and search by country, or
  • Kanopy Streaming,
  • Criterion Collection
  • Asian Films Online
  • Docuseek2
  • Docuseek2 Complete Collection (Alexander Street Press)
• The Avery Fisher Center's collaborative media rooms (721-724, 716-717) are now part of the Libcal reservation system. All uses of these rooms from now on will require a reservation at least 12 hours in advance. The online reservation form is on our web page.

Looking for images of East Asian art? Try ArtStor.  Artstor is now available in its new home on JSTOR!

Archival Materials

Archival material and special collections resources related to East Asia are held in the Special Collections Center, which includes Fales Library, Special Collections, and the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Check their websites for hours and to search their finding aids in advance of any visit. 

For example: for archival collections at NYU Library, try these searches (many include Asian American content)
Japan: https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/?q=japan
China: https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=china
Korea: https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=korea

interested in East Asian or Asian American serials in the archives? Check out this collection: Asia Serials TAM.779

Data & GIS

For finding data or GIS, please check with our Data Services Department. It is located on the 5th Floor, Research Commons, Bobst Library. Send Email to data.services@nyu.edu

Guide to Finding Online Resources

• How to Find EBooks
• How to Find Articles
• How to Find Video & Audio

Search Tips

• To find Chinese, Japanese, and Korean materials (books, articles, video & audio), you can always select the language from the drop-down box under language, or use the filters to select language (on the left-hand side of the Advanced Search screen in the Library Catalog).
• When searching EBSCO Discovery Services for articles, you can also select language as a filter on the left-hand side of the search screen, and select FULL TEXT for online.  Selecting "peer reviewed" is always a good idea too!
• Try the New Feature: Always Available Online filter option.  From the Advanced Search screen, click on Always Available Online 

Online Database:

Mango is an online language-learning system that provides instruction for Spanish, French, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Italian, Russian and other languages. Includes audio and video learning tools. (requires individual user login).

Japanese Language Learning:

• Try the Tadoku books (readers)
• Access Japanese language learning e-book readers with Maruzen ebook Library
  • にほんご多読ブックス/Nihongo tadoku bukkusu (34 vols.)
  • にほんごよむよむ文庫/Nihongo Yomuyomu bunko (43 vols.)

National Collections

This is a selection of useful online collections (if you know of other fantastic ones, contact the EA Studies Librarian). 
Library of Congress:

• China - World Digital Library (Library of Congress and others)
• Japan  - World Digital Library (Library of Congress and others)
• Korea - World Digital Library (Library of Congress and others)
• Library of Congress Digital Collections 
• Collection of Japanese Posters at The Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division: This is an ongoing project from LC to digitize its Japanese posters. 

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

The China Collection
East Asia

British Library

• Japanese pattern and design books: Exquisite Patterns.
• Holdings of hiinagata-bon: Japanese textile design books and zuanchō: Japanese design albums in the late Meiji Period with links to catalog records and digitized items

Cultural Japan

A digital platform that connects collections related to Japanese culture published in museums and libraries from around the world

Digital Library

NDLTD in Taiwan

National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan

National Diet Library of Japan

• National Digital Library 
• Birth of the Constitution of Japan
• Kaleidoscope of Books (Digital exhibition of English translations of Japanese books)
• NDL Image Bank (new in English as of November, 2023)
   

National Library of Korea

• Digital Collections
• NLK Digitized Materials Service
  The NLK Full-text Database Service contains digitized books, old books, newspapers, serials and more held at the National Library of Korea. For use in Bobst Library on registered computers PC01-PC06 on Lower Level 1 (LL1).  We have installed the software, so you just need to go to the URL: http://www.nl.go.kr/EN
  For information about the service: https://inkslib.nl.go.kr/IN/contents/120401000000.do

Academic Libraries and others with academic e-collections

University of Chicago

• Bibliography of East Asian Periodicals (Colonial Korea 1900-1945)
  A comprehensive bibliography that contains 913 periodicals from the colonial period (1910-1945), pre-colonial period (1896-1910), and post-colonial period from liberation in 1945 to the establishment of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 1948.

Duke University

• Celebrating Thirty Years of East Asian Collections at Duke University Libraries - celebrates the creation of the East Asian Collection at Duke University Libraries since 1990. Includes Chinese, Japanese, and Korean materials from the collection as well as photographs. 

Harvard University

• Carter D. Holton Collection - more than 5,000 historical photos taken in Northwestern China
• Testament to Manchukuo - a recent acquisition of 2,000 items from Manchukuo
• Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection: Harvard Art Museum's current exhibition was moved online (5/2020).

Lafayette

• East Asia Image Collection

Okinawa Prefecture Library

• Okinawan Migration Record Database: You can search about 50,000 travel records of Okinawan immigrants who traveled from Okinawa to overseas between 1900 (Meiji 33) and 1937 (Showa 12).
   

Princeton University, East Asian Library

• Chinese archival handbooks 档案馆指南 at the East Asian Library of Princeton University
   

University of Oregon

• e-Asia Digital Library

University of Pittsburgh

• Chinese Political Prisoners - Collection includes 104 photographs of Chinese political prisoners taken between 1924-1946. Each photograph is  2 x 1 inches in size. Possibly political prisoners from the French concession in Shanghai during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
• Overseas Chinese Studies Newsletters - Content reflects literary and artistic creations, thoughts on social, economic, and political issues in the 1960s and 1970s. 832 individual newsletters from 169 serial newsletters. 15,833 scanned pages.

University of Hawaii at Manoa Library

• Bell Historical Postcard Collection
  The Bell Historical Postcard Collection consists of over 300 postcards, bromides, and prints that were created before WWII. Most of the postcards were created in Japan along with some made in Hawai'i, China, and Taiwan (Formosa).
• The Emery D. Middleton Collection: Photos during the Allied Occupation of Japan - The image site contains over 600 photo images taken in Okinawa and elsewhere in Japan between 1945-1947 while Middleton served in the Okinawa Campaign of the Pacific and then during the Occupation of Japan as Battalion Commander of the Military Police.

UC San Diego Libraries

• Chinese News 加華時報 (1983-1998) The weekly newspaper contains local and international news articles written in Chinese in addition to advertising in English and Chinese. The Chinese News has the inaugural content for the Sally T. Wong Avery collection, and features a digital archive of the newspaper created from the print archive.
• Norman Spencer Photographs (1999-2019) Norman A. Spencer, Ph.D. has taught at universities in Africa, China, and the U.S. including the China Communications University in Beijing. From 1999 to 2019 he repeatedly traveled to China documenting notable artists, writers, directors, and musicians active in the Chinese independent and underground film and art scene. Most of the photographs were taken in Beijing and later in Dali in Yunnan Province in the southwest of China. 

USC Libraries

• Unpinning History--Japanese Posters in the Age of Commercialism, Imperialism, and Modernism - A unique collection of Japanese posters that were produced in the 1910s and 1920s. Curated by the “Later Japanese Art” class of Spring 2020, the exhibition focuses on approximately half of the collection to illuminate themes emblematic of Japan in the tumultuous Taishō (1912-1926) and early Shōwa (1926-1989) periods. 

Ritsumeikan University, Art Research Center (ARC)

• The Gion Festival Digital Museum 2020: The Past, Present, and Future of the Gion Festival - Digitized cultural resources related to the summer Gion festival, including the Funeboko and Hachiman-yama floats, as well as the Nagae Family Residence, a large-scale Kyo-machiya designated a cultural property by the city of Kyoto. This collection contains maps, audio-visual materials, photographs and images, paintings, old videos, and documents.

Digital Scholarship Resources for East Asian Studies and Beyond (PDF) compiled by the Committee on Technical Processing (CEAL) in summer 2018

This list includes:

• Biographic Databases
• Geographic Databases
• Bibliographic Databases
• Dictionaries
• Digital Platforms
• Digital Infrastructure and Frameworks
• DH Tools
• DH Library Resources
• Thesauri

• Department of East Asian Studies, Arts and Sciences, New York University
• NYU China House
• U.S.-Asia Law Institute, NYU School of Law
• NYU Shanghai Library

• Asia Society
• China Institute
• Japan Society
• Korea Society

Columbia University's Starr East Asian Library will temporarily close from May 22, 2023-January 2024 for renovations.
https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/eastasian/temporary-closure.html

Onsite access for NYU students and faculty to Columbia materials is possible with activation of your NYU card at the Library Information Office (LIO), Butler Library. Circulating materials can be requested online through the CLIO library catalog for pickup and use at Butler Library. The general collection of Starr materials currently held at ReCAP (Columbia's offsite storage facility) can be requested through ILL. For non-circulating Starr Library items, MaRLI and NYU users without MaRLI can request to use onsite at Rare Books Manuscript Collection (RBML) in Butler Library. An appointment is required.

To use the Starr Library Special Collections, you can make an appointment with the Rare Books Manuscript Collection (RBML) in Butler Library. (plan your visit). 

Those Ph.D. students and faculty with MaRLI access (borrowing privileges) can page the onsite collection of Starr Library through the CLIO catalog (location code will change to StarrStor) for pickup at Butler Library's Circulation Desk. 

New York Historical Society Library is temporarily closed until 2024 for renovations. Please check their visitor page for the latest updates.
https://www.nyhistory.org/library/visit

For the Department, contact the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU

The NYU Division of Libraries has endorsed the pledge of the Asian/Pacific American Library Association, which released a statement condemning racism and xenophobia in the midst of the current Covid-19 pandemic. See this list of resources.

For student support, contact Counseling and Wellness Service’s Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Students Support Space 

AT NYU LIBRARY:
Special Collections at NYU have  Asian American materials
For archival collections at NYU Library, try these searches (many include Asian American content)
Japan: https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/?q=japan
China: https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=china
Korea: https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=korea

An Interview with Dylan Yeats, National Diet Library Newsletter, no. 2040, August 2021, about his time with Yoshio Kishi
https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/download/digidepo_11712534_po_NDL-Newsletter240.pdf?contentNo=1&alternativeNo=#page=9

New Asian American Arts Publication Draws on Unique Documents From NYU Libraries Fales Downtown Collection
https://guides.nyu.edu/blog/New-Asian-American-Arts-Publication-Draws-on-Unique-NYU-Libraries-Fales-Downtown-Collection-Doc

AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS:
Hoji Shinbun Digital Collection
https://hojishinbun.hoover.org/
open-access, full image Japanese American and other overseas Japanese newspapers in Asia and South America. Some content is currently restricted to Stanford University users due to copyright agreement with the publishers. To date 214 titles and photo archives, comprising 1,124,797 images, have been made available in the online collection

War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement (University of California)

Writing & Stylistics Guides: Publishing, Thesis Writing, and Perspectives on Professional/Academic Writing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) at NYU
Machines and Society (NYU Shanghai)

Need help with translating East Asian language resources?
There is not a center for translation at the Library.
Please ask for suggestions at the East Asian Studies Department, or the School of Professional Studies (their program - Master's in Translation and Interpreting Online).  
In addition, NYU Steinhardt shares this resource for translation services: https://docs.steinhardt.nyu.edu/pdfs/metrocenter/atn293/pdf/translation-services-june2019.pdf

The Internet Archive
For digital books to borrow, the Internet Archive includes East Asian content.