Korean Studies : Collection Policy

Overview

The Korean Studies Collection is a part of the East Asian Collection of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. The collection is currently being expanded. UW-Madison's Department of East Asian Languages and Literature was founded in 1967. In the past few years, the UW Korea Initiative began training a new generation of graduates from across all disciplines to combine linguistic and cultural competence with historical and contemporary knowledge about Korea. The Korean Studies collection's primary goal is to support this increase in research and teaching in Korean Studies at UW-Madison.  As of 2020, the Korean Studies Collection in UW-Madison contains over 8,500 physical volumes and other digital resources in the Korean language. The collection also consists of approximately 15,000 physical volumes and electronic resources in non-Korean languages related to Korean Studies.

Selection Criteria

• Subject Coverage

  The majority of the Korean Studies Collection concentrates on history, social science, international relations, linguistics, and second language acquisition. The collection emphasizes modern and contemporary Korean history, US-Korea relations, Korean language acquisition, as well as fulfillment of the research and teaching development. The donation is welcome from extensive categories of materials when waiving the duplicates. The collection is also acquired upon requests.

• Collection Languages

  The significant language at the Collection is Korean. The Chinese, Japanese, and English materials associated with Korean Studies are also primary. The other language materials are supplementary. 

• Type of Materials

  The collection covers multiple types of materials in physical and electronic formats. The physical and electronic items include books, periodicals/serials, references, catalogs, pamphlets, microforms, maps, woodblock prints, audios (tapes, VHS, CD-ROM, etc.), videos (VCD, DVD, blue ray, etc.), etc. The electronic formats also consist of databases, open access, streaming media, etc. 

• Chronological Limits

  The chronological range is from medieval eras to the present. The emphasis covers modern and contemporary times.

• Place of Publication

  The collection comprises the publication worldwide. The principal focus is the publication in Korea, U.S., and other East Asian areas.

Collection Strategies

• Location

  Most Korean Studies physical resources are located at the East Asian Collection, which is on the 4th floor in the Memorial Library. Some items associated with art, law, music, and historical documents may be added in Kohler Art Library, Law Library, Mills Music Library, and Wisconsin Historical Society Archives.
  
  Parts of the print items in Western languages on Korean Studies are interfiled with the Library’s general collections.

• Classification and Romanization 

  The Korean Studies Collection adopted the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) scheme. The LC call numbers begin with an alphabetical prefix. A fraction of the collection might stock in the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC).
  
  The collection provides both Korean and Romanization catalog descriptions. Please see the document of Korean Romanization and Word Division from ALA-LC as a reference.

• Consortia and Collaborative Collection

  With the development of the BIG collection among the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) collaboration, the Korean Studies Collection in the UW-Madison Libraries aims to launch increased communication and cooperation with other Big Ten Korean Studies Collections. 
  
  As a participant of the Korean Collections Consortium of North America (KCCNA), the auxiliary reference service for Korean Studies is ready for a quick response.

• Digitization and Preservation

  The Korean Studies Collection retains the cooperation and collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Digital Collection Center (UWDCC) to promote potential digitalization projects. These projects will develop for the preservation of rare books and the requests for research and teaching.
  
  Except for the digitalization project, when the unique and old materials are identified in the Korean Studies Collection, these materials will locate in the UW-Madison Special Collections for preservation.  

• Promotion of the Collection

  The Korean Studies Collection is in growth through collaborations with other libraries in North America and Korea. With the supports from International Area Studies (IAS) group and other colleagues in UW-Madison Libraries, the collection is prompted to achieve resources with multiple languages and broad perspectives. 
  
  The Korean Studies Collection will also progress various service helps for the community except for fulfilling the faculty members and students on campus.
   

Last updated: April 2021