For updated information concerning the library and services in the Fall Semester, check NYU Returns.
For updated information on Remote Library Services.
For updated information on access to physical collections, and delivery services check Library Collections Access
For NYU's hub for COVID-19 related guidance and information, check NYU Returns - COVID-19 Guidance.
The NYU Division of Libraries has endorsed the pledge of the Asian/Pacific American Library Association, which has released a statement condemning racism and xenophobia in the midst of the current Covid-19 pandemic. See this list of resources.
You can search the library catalog and WorldCat using the Korean alphabet, Hangul 한글! Give it a try. You can search either in original Korean scripts or the McCune-Reischauer romanization system. The Catalog and WorldCat both use the Library of Congress romanization system for Korean, based on the principles of the McCune-Reischauer system. McCune-Reischauer romanization was created in 1937. In 2009, the Library of Congress released the revised McCune-Reischauer Romanization system and word division.
Online Korean Dictionary
Naver Korean Dictionary
Ask a Korean Studies Librarian
Virtual reference service provided by the members of the Korean Collections Consortium of North America. Reference inquiries may be emailed to askkorea@googlegroups.com and expert Korean Studies librarians provide answers in English or Korean within two business days.
Bibliography of East Asian Periodicals (Colonial Korea 1900-1945), University of Chicago Library
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.
To find Korean language literature in translation at NYU, try a search in the library catalog for:
Korean literature -- Translations into English -- Bibliography
The East Asian Collection has moved!
The East Asian Collection has moved to a new location on the 9th floor, West side of Bobst Library (next to the General Reference Collection).
The collection will continue to be a standalone collection of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language (CJK) materials, allowing for easy browsing, collocation of similar materials (for example, the manga collections, and the CJK reference collections), while still maintaining relative proximity to reader spaces.
From South to North, the order on the West Wing of the 9th floor goes like this:
books in the H call number range, general Reference, East Asian Reference, East Asian books.
CJK materials that are currently off-site will continue to be available for request online through the library catalog.
Please visit and check out some CJK books!
Moazine
Moazine is a full-text database of over 200 popular Korean magazines of various topics currently published in South Korea. The database covers popular culture, arts, education, literature, politics, economy and society.
YeonHaengRok Chonggan (燕行錄) (Englarged 6th edition)
To access, search within the KRpia database (search with this title: 燕行錄).
YeonHaengRok is a collection of the private records of Korean envoys who visited Beijing, China on their envoy mission, and had a royal audience with the Chinese emperor. The Enlarged Yeonhaengrok-Collections contains 562 personal records by the identified authors about 314 envoys and delegation that visited Beijing during the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasty (from the 13th to the 19th century). It includes references, and photographic images consisting of approximately 101,000 pages, Tongmungwanji (通文館志)’, ‘Dongmunhwigo (同文彙考)’
Digital Library of the National Assembly Library of Korea
NYU Library has a new library partnership! The National Assembly Library is the South Korean equivalent of the Library of Congress.
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://dl.nanet.go.kr/index.do
If you prefer an English User interface, use this URL: https://www.nanet.go.kr/
under "Core Services," choose the link for digital access.
Or, https://dl.nanet.go.kr/main.do
Requires ID and Password (request through the EA Studies Librarian)
NLK Full-text DB Service
NLK Digitized Materials Service (National Library of Korea)
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). (full text access started in 2021)
This link opens in a new windowBibliography of East Asian Periodicals (Colonial Korea 1900-1945), University of Chicago Library
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, It covers politics, economy, industry, society, literature, education, religion, women, children, medicine, science, friendship societies, etc.
National Library of Korea Newspaper Archives
This is an integrated database for historical newspapers from 1,880’s to 1950’s in full-text providing keyword, directory, trend and chronicle searching.
Korean News Big Data and Analysis (BIGKinds)
This is an integrated searchable database for 54 Korean newspaper articles in full-text since 1990
Korea Modern and Contemporary Periodicals / Han’guk kŭnhyŏndae yŏnsok kanhaengmul
This is an integrated database of many historic newspapers and magazines published from 1905–1999, offering browsable full images by specific dates.
Committee on Korean Studies Library Resources
Includes Open Access resources, databases, and useful search tools
Major Korean Collections in North America
Committee on Korean Materials, Council on East Asian Libraries.
Korean Collections Consortium of North America (KCCNA)
Members of this cooperative collection development/resource-sharing program receive annual grants from the Korea Foundation to develop specialized subject collections and freely share them with any Korean Studies scholars or general users in North America.
Korean History: A Bibliography
A very comprehensive bibliography of works about Korea in English is available online. Formulated as a browseable list sorted by topic, the list is modestly entitled Korean History: A Bibliography. It encompasses resources covering disciplines outside history as well. It was compiled by Kenneth R. Robinson of International Christian University and is maintained by the University of Hawaii's Center for Korean Studies.
Korean History Online / Han’guk Yŏksa Chŏngbo T’onghap Sisŭt’em | 한국역사정보통합시스템
This reputable portal site provides a one-stop search engine for numerous historical databases built and shared by nearly twenty organizations including the National Institute of Korean History, Academy of Korean Studies, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, etc. There is a directory organizing materials according to the type: historic books and documents, periodicals, classical translations, research data, bibliographies and catalogs, biographies, maps, dictionaries, chronologies, multimedia, historical relics and sites, epigraphs, the chronicles of the Chosŏn dynasty, and old newspapers. The federated search engine provides bibliographic information fetched from various sources—one can easily get carried away while exploring different interfaces and catalogs.
Korean Studies Portal: This portal has links to many useful resources for Korean Studies research. It covers Korean Studies, Korean TV and Video, News, and many subjects of interest, including art, academia, computing, history, literature, news, maps, and more.
The Asian Division of the Library of Congress has just published its new research guide on the South Korean Democratization Movement, or "Minjuhwa Undong" written by Korean reference librarian Dr. Elli Kim and Korea Foundation junior librarian, Migyeong Jeon.
The guide can be found here: https://guides.loc.gov/south-
National Library of Korea Catalog
National Archives of Korea
The holdings of this searchable database include 3.6 million archival sources including the colonial period, 2.9 million audio-visual and photographs, and 560,000 serials from government and non-government sources. It also holds presidential archives, foreign documents related to Korea, oral histories, etc.
Photo Postcard Image Collection of Colonial Korea
A digital collection from the University of Chicago, the Photo Postcard Image Collection includes over 7000 postcard images of Korea and was created during the first half of the 20th century.
LITERATURE
DB of Korean Classics
Full text images of ancient classics, original and translated text files, catalogs, and bibliographies. Includes a classical term thesaurus.
Literature Translation Institute of Korea, KLTI
Translated books and information on Korean literature. Includes the full-text of books on Korean literature in English.
Frederick McCormick Korean Collection
Contains books, journals, and newspapers, as well as movable-type books printed in Korea that cover a range of topics, including literature,
history, Chinese classics, as well as the humanities and sciences. (Claremont College Library, Special Collections)
Korean War Propaganda Leaflet Collection at the Library of Congress
The Korean War Propaganda Leaflet Collection was donated to the Library of Congress in 1994 by the late Gordon K. Ellis (1926-2013), who served as an American army lieutenant during the Korean War. The Collection is available onsite in the Asian Division Reading Room for registered readers to study. To view this collection, please contact Korean reference staff through the Asian Division’s Ask-a-Librarian form prior to visiting the Library.
National Archives of Korea
The holdings of this searchable database include 3.6 million archival sources including the colonial period, 2.9 million audio-visual and photographs, and 560,000 serials from government and non-government sources. It also holds presidential archives, foreign documents related to Korea, oral histories, etc.
North Korean Posters
Newly digitized collection (2024) at Leiden University Library
Leiden has a digital collection of over 1200 North Korean propaganda posters from the 1950's up to the early 2000's. These items are from a private collection.
For news, intelligence analysis, travel reports, and other data about North Korea, go to NK News.
Try NK News Pro for "a wide range of research tools, databases, comprehensive media monitoring services and long-form, expert analysis on contemporary issues."
NKSIP (North Korean Serials Indexing Project) at The Library of Congress (LC)
The North Korean Serials Databases is an online article index database that provides access to articles about a variety topics included in the North Korean serials collection of LC. There are an estimated 278 North Korean serial titles.
July 6, 2018 article about the North Korean Serials Collection at LC
Library of Congress Offers Unprecedented Access to North Korean Serial Collection
Daum sajŏn | Daum dictionaries
Naver sajŏn | Naver dictionaries
YBM ol in ol t’onghap sajŏn | YBM ALL IN ALL dictionaries
Teikoku Kinema Engei Kabushiki Kaisha / 帝国キネマ演芸株式会社 (Teikine 帝キネ).
This collection summarizes the activities of Teikoku Kinema in Osaka. Openly available and created by Prof. Keiko Sasakawa at Kansai University.
Japan Film Resources Online (JFRO) / 「映画資料所在地情報検索システム(JFROL)」
JFRO is a film resource location information search system of multiple libraries in Japan (collections of Toei Uzumasa, Shochiku Otani, Kawakita, Matsunaga Bunko, and the Waseda Enpaku), developed by VIPO (the Visual Industry Promotion Organization). The search indicates where non-film materials such as scenarios and posters, flyers, still photos, magazines, and more, are located. For more information, check here.
Korean Laws A-Z (originally created by Rob Britt, University of Washington)
This is an excellent guide to law and Korea. Includes bibliographies, court decisions, dictionaries, law statutes and regulations, and more law related material.
We subscribe to the following Korean print journals, most of which are now available online. Current issues are in the Current Periodical room on the 3rd floor of Bobst; bound back issues are found in the stacks of the 10th Floor Bobst East Asian Reading Room at the call number indicated in the Library Catalog.
Ch'angjak kwa pip'yŏng 창작과비평 - also available online
Kyŏngje wa sahoe 경제와 사회 - also available online
Munhak kwa sahoe 문학과사회 - also available online
Munhak tongne 문학동네 - print only
Sindonga 新東亜 - also available online
Tangdae pipʻyŏng 당대비평 - also available online
Tonghyang kwa chŏnmang 동향과전망 - also available online
Wŏlgan Chosŏn 月刊朝鮮 - also available online
Yŏksa pipʻyŏng 역사비평 - also available online
Yŏsŏng kwa sahoe 여성과 사회 - also available online
If you need a resource that we don't appear to have yet, try Interlibrary Loan. To make a book purchase request for the library, please contact the East Asian Studies librarian.
MaRLI
The Manhattan Research Library Initiative (MaRLI) enables NYU and Columbia doctoral students, full-time faculty and librarians, and approved New York Public Library cardholders to borrow materials from all three institutions. Columbia University Libraries, New York Public Library and New York University Libraries agree to extend reciprocal access to library facilities and borrowing privileges for selected categories of advanced scholars. Eligible users must register with their home institution for privileges.
