뉴스레터

Editor's Note: The Northeast Asian History Foundation publishes over forty books each year, research books and books for the general public, and distributes them to public libraries and research institutions for Korean studies in countries around the world, as well as in Korea, in an effort to make our research findings regarding historical and territorial issues widely known to the international community. The institutions overseas to which the NAHF's books are distributed include a number of libraries affiliated with CEAL (Council on East Asian Libraries). Miree Ku, Chair of the Committee on Korean Materials (CKM) of CEAL, was in Chicago to attend the 2015 AAS (Association of Asian Studies) and CEAL Annual Conference held from March 24 to 29, 2015, and she gave an interview to Kang, Jeung Mi, the Public Relations Team Manager at the NAHF, to discuss ways of cooperating between the two institutions.

Kang, Jeung Mi First of all, please give us a brief introduction to CEAL and the Committee on Korean Materials (CKM).

Miree Ku CEAL serves as a forum for the discussion of issues related to East Asian librarianship and information. The mission of CEAL is to formulate programs for the development of East Asian library resources, services, and systematic organization of all types of information, and to promote interlibrary and international cooperation in East Asian librarianship. The CKM is one of the three area committees of CEAL, and its major functions include planning programs for the development of Korean studies collections in university libraries and for the support of Korean Studies programs and researchers, and sharing experience, knowledge, and information for mutual cooperation. The CKM continually develops new initiatives to keep pace with changes in the academia and the library community.

Kang, Jeung Mi I understand that CKM's past projects include writing the rules for cataloging Korean materials and standardizing the Romanization of Korean. What are the CKM's main projects for 2015 to 2016?

Miree Ku CEAL has about 200 members, and about thirty of them, including Korean Studies librarians, cataloging librarians, and acquisition staff, are involved in CKM. There are a total of 60 to 70 people working in Korean-related librarianship in about 50 universities in North America, including those who are not Korean but support Korean Studies as East Asian librarians. CKM has recently published the Handbook for Korean Studies Librarianship Outside of Korea,written by nineteen Korean Studies librarians. This handbook is useful for libraries starting to build Korean Studies collections, libraries without Korean Studies librarians, future Korean Studies librarians, and researchers and students of Korean Studies. CKM also plans and organizes workshops for Korean Studies librarians overseas, in collaboration with Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at Seoul National University. While focusing on finding Korean materials that are little known or difficult to access in North America, CKM is trying to forge more practical and mutually beneficial relationships with a number of research institutes in Korea through exchange agreements. We are preparing a forum tentatively titled "Open Journals, E-books, and Newspapers in Korean History & Literature." This will be held during the 2016 CEAL Annual Conference, and the NAHF and other major research institutions in Korea will be invited. We are also planning a program tentatively titled "Trends and Prospects of Records and Archives Management: Focused on historical & cultural records related to Korean Studies in North America."

Miree Ku, Chair of the CKM,
in attendance at the AAS/CEAL
Annual Conference held in Chicago

Kang, Jeung Mi What do you think of the digital resources on Korean Studies that have been made public?

Miree Ku The databases of Korean materials provided by the Korean government, government-funded institutions, and university research centers are very precious resources for all researchers and students of Korean Studies not only in the United States but in other countries around the world. In particular, Korean Studies benefits greatly from the fact that databases which include records of historical importance are built by experts and made available to all for free.

Kang, Jeung Mi In East Asian studies, Korean Studies has a relatively short history compared with China or Japan. What is the portion of Korean books in East Asian Studies in terms of the size of its collections?

Miree Ku According to the CEAL Statistics, an annual publication of statistical data of fifty-three East Asian libraries in North America, fifty-one institutions provided their data on Korean collections in 2014. Fifty-one libraries hold 1,634,433 volumes in Korean, which accounts for 8.9% of the total holdings of East Asian language materials (18, 416, 138 volumes).

As for Chinese and Japanese collections, they account for 57.6% and 33.5%, respectively. The Library of Congress has 297,973 volumes in Korean, which accounts for 18% of the North American Korean collection. LC is followed by Harvard University with 180,000 volumes, the University of Washington at Seattle with 130,000 volumes, Columbia University with 115,000 volumes, and the University of California at Berkeley with 107,000 volumes. Duke University ranks 18th with 19,395 volumes.

Kang, Jeung Mi What are some of the challenges faced by university libraries in the United States in developing and maintaining Korean collections?

Miree Ku As in any collection or library, budget and personnel limitations are one of the biggest challenges. Korean collection budgets are considerably smaller than Chinese, Japanese or other library collection budgets. Seeking ways to stretch their limited means to build comprehensive collections beyond core subjects, the Korean Collections Consortium of North America (KCCNA) was formed in 1994 to cooperatively develop specialized library collections with the support of the Korea Foundation. The purposes of the KCCNA are to build comprehensive library resources in support of Korean Studies programs in North America via coordinated, cooperative collection development, and to provide services and leadership to librarians and scholars at institutions with limited or no Korean Studies library resources. Korean Studies librarians perform a wide variety of roles. As subject librarians, they develop, manage, and evaluate the collections from and about Korea and provide specialized reference assistance and instruction to library users as well as assistance to cataloging and acquisitions. Also, they serve as primary liaison to Korean Studies faculty and users in a variety of departments and academic programs.

Librarians strive for the development of Korean Studies through participation in various activities in North America and Korea as well as in their institutions to get more funding. There is no question that the best way to develop and expand the collection is to have a librarian. I hope to see more passionate and competent librarians with broad and in-depth knowledge about Korean Studies.

Kang, Jeung Mi What do you think can facilitate the promotion of Korean Studies overseas?

Miree Ku In terms of promoting Korean Studies from the point of view of a Korean Studies librarian, it is important to have close cooperation among faculty, researchers, and librarians in the institutional level. I believe that Korean Studies programs and collections, if developed together, can lead to the promotion of Korean Studies. The major responsibilities of librarians are to contribute to the promotion of Korean collection and program through their roles in collection development, fundraising, research consultation, user instruction, and liaison. In the national level, they are committed to the promotion and expansion of Korean Studies via national and international cooperation. It is necessary for Korean Studies librarians in North America to cooperate among themselves and with research institutions in Korea. In order to provide better service and promote programs, the CKM has been working on various programs, projects, and workshops.

Kang, Jeung Mi What are the topics of Korean Studies that most interest researchers or students at Duke University where you work? What are their favorite research topics?

Miree Ku The main areas of interest include: colonialism, post-colonialism and modernity; division of Korea and international politics; migration and cultural flows; Korean religion and culture; Korean Wave, Film and Image culture. Recently, inter or multi-disciplinary research in Korean Studies is a strong trend, especially in the context of East Asia.

Kang, Jeung Mi If we narrow research interests to the category of Korean history, which area do you think needs the most improvement?

Miree Ku In my view, thanks to the NAHF's efforts, there has been much improvement in the study of the histories of Koguryo and Balhae, which have been relatively less studied in Korean academia. In North America, interest in pre-modern Korean history is not particularly strong. Modern Korean history, on the other hand, has been actively studied. Interdisciplinary area studies including Korean studies became increasing common in North America after World War II and the Korean War. Korean studies has developed and expanded into many areas such as society, politics, economy, and religion, as well as language and history.

Korean Studies Collection
at Duke University

Kang, Jeung Mi The NAHF has published up to 40 books each year and continued to distribute them to institutions overseas. It has also built databases of materials on Dokdo and Koguryo and made them public. As an observer of these activities, do you have anything you want to say to the NAHF?

Miree Ku As one can see easily by searching WorldCat, books published by the NAHF are available at university libraries in North America and across the world. A majority of the NAHF's publications are held by, on average, 40 to 50 university libraries, and also available for interlibrary loan service through WorldCat and other library resource sharing systems. Duke's Korean collection holds about 240 titles published by the NAHF as of March, 2014.

Faculty, researchers, and students benefit from the NAHF's resources, such as publications, databases, and programs on Korean history. Actually, I had no idea that the NAHF was established as recently as 2006. The NAHF's projects and their results have been so remarkable that I assumed that it had been around longer than that. Unlike other similar institutions, the NAHF deals with historical topics that are linked to diplomatic issues. I suppose that makes research a challenge. But I hope that the NAHF will, by sticking to its goal of pursuing peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia through the correct understanding of history, become a hub and leading institution in research in Northeast Asian history, policy development, and exchange and cooperation.

Kang, Jeung Mi Finally, please tell us about what made you decide to study Library Studies, or Library and Information Science. And what advice would you give to young people interested in studying this field?

Miree Ku I began my library studies in 1987 when I came to the America with my husband for his study. I became interested in the library field while preparing to go to graduate school. What drove me was my curiosity to learn something new. I heard that Library Studies in Korea was called Library and Information Science in North America, which made me curious about the field of information science. My curiosity to explore things that I hadn't learned or known before and the academic atmosphere of university libraries also contributed to my decision to apply for the graduate program on Library and Information Science. Libraries that have accumulated a huge volume of human knowledge over a long period are the most precious intellectual resource of universities. I am happy with my decision to study library and information science. Finally, my advice to those who are interested in the library field is to have passion, energy and pride in their studies and career. These assets will keep them motivated and make them successful.