Starr News

Fall 1996

Welcome to those of you who are new to Starr East Asian Library, and welcome back to all of you who have been around for a while. This is the first issue of Starr's newsletter for the 1996-1997 academic year. Through this newsletter we hope to keep you informed, in a timely fashion, of what goes on in Starr. We are anticipating a busy and exciting year, with ongoing improvements and changes to both the collections and facilities. We always love to hear from you, so if there are any particular matters that you would like to see addressed in these pages, that you don't find here yet, do contact the newsletter editor (Ria Koopmans-de Bruijn) anytime, and we will do our best to include such topics in issues to come. Additional information about the library can also be found on the Starr Home Page on the World Wide Web. We hope to create an archive of our newsletters there in the near future as well. We encourage you to check us out on the Web. Our url is: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/eastasian/China/index.html

PROGRESS IN CARD CATALOG CONVERSION

Over the past few years, a significant portion of Starr's collections has been retrospectively converted to on-line format. With the addition of all the materials moved to Prentis to the on-line catalog, well over 60% of the collection is now in CLIO. As the new academic year begins, conversion of records has begun for all the materials previously shelved in the Annex on 131st Street, and now in Prentis. Also, records for the Korean Rare Book collection are being created on line -- to join records for all the other Korean material held in Starr. The reclassification of the entire former Dewey collection to the Library of Congress system has now been completed, and the card catalog records have been converted to the on-line catalog. In addition all Western-language card catalog records with call numbers starting with PL and DS are being converted to the on-line catalog as part of a larger Libraries-wide conversion project. Our long-range goal is to have the entire collection available through CLIO by the turn of the millennium (as it gets closer, we will argue whether that is the year 2000 or the year 2001). In the meantime, please don't forget to check the card catalogs as well as CLIO.

KOREAN STUDIES LIBRARIAN

Amy Hai Kyung Lee, our excellent Korean Studies librarian, retired last June after twenty-seven years working in this library, and we miss her. While she is irreplaceable, her position will be filled. A search committee chaired by Charles Wu, Head of Technical Services, is currently reviewing applications and planning interviews with candidates for the position. If you are interested in meeting candidates, please inform Charles Wu, or Library Director Amy V. Heinrich.

LING LUNG MAGAZINE

Thanks to a recent grant received from the United Board, a private foundation which funds many China-related projects, we will soon be preserving, digitizing and microfilming our holdings of the 1930s Shanghai women's magazine entitled Ling Lung I. frequently requested by scholars interested in social history, popular culture, and women's studies in China, and as far as we are able to determine, Columbia has the only relatively complete set available outside of China. Therefore our eventual goal is to make the full text version, including color graphics, available on the Internet, so that the fragile originals can be better preserved. Since microfilm is still the most stable medium known for long-range storage, we will also be making a black and white microfilm copy, and under the terms of our agreement with the United Board, positive copies will be offered to institutions in China which have an interest in women's studies. Ling Lung magazine catered to "the new urban woman" of Shanghai in the 1930s and included articles on fashion, interior decoration, pop psychology, new careers for women, interviews with famous celebrities, and advice on love, sex, and marriage. Its advertisements are also very interesting for what they reveal of the cosmopolitan economic situation of Shanghai and of the aspirations of the readers. A copy of one issue is currently on display in the Starr East Asian Library Reading Room.

MANCHURIAN FILMING PROJECT

Starr Library has been chosen to participate in a New York state-funded cooperative microfilm project to preserve Chinese, Japanese, and Western-language materials dealing with Manchuria from the years 1890-1950. More than 500 monograph and serial titles will be included, documenting the importance of Manchuria politically, economically, and militarily before, during and immediately after the Second World War. Cornell and New York Public Library will also participate in this initiative. Many of these materials are endangered because they were published on very low-grade paper, and they are also quite rare due to the vicissitudes of war and revolution in many of the countries where they were produced. Given the increase in scholarly interest in the region in the past decade with the general focus of attention brought by the recent fiftieth anniversary of World War II and the recent opening of many archives in the former Soviet Union, China, Taiwan, and Japan, this grant should help guarantee continued access of these local and often unique resources to scholars in years to come.

MAJOR ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION

The Starr Library was recently awarded, by the National Coordinating Committee for Japanese Library Resources, with funding from the Japan-US Friendship Commission, to support the purchase of the following titles:

Kanayomi Shinbun. Reprint edition. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten, 1992. 9 volumes.

This daily newspaper was published between 1875 and 1880, the most crucial time of Japan's modernization. Its editor was Kanagaki Robun; the paper was written in kana so that the uneducated would be able to read it.

Meiji Shoki Seiji Shiryo Shusei. Tokyo: Hokusensha. (microfilm)

1. Eto Shinpei Kankei Bunsho. 2. Kuroda Kiyotaka Kankei Bunsho. 3. Tani Kanjo Kankei Bunsho. 

The Library was also awarded a Japan Foundation Library Support Program grant of 3000,000.00 Yen, for the purchase of Meiji Shinbun Zasshi Bunko Shozo Zasshi. The Index of Meiji Shinbun Zasshi Bunko. the Law School of the University of Tokyo.

EXHIBITION NEWS

The Fragrance of Ink 

Although not a Starr production, this exhibition, in the Wallach Art Gallery, of Korean literati painting of the Yi period (1392-1910) deserves mention here, for its unique character and high quality. As the exhibition is about to close at the time this newsletter goes to print, we hope many of you have had the opportunity to see it. Your last chance to see the exhibition on this campus is Saturday, September 21. After that date it will travel on to the museums of the Universities of Chicago, Washington, and California, at Los Angeles and Berkeley.

The Starr Library 

Presently on, in our reading room, is a small exhibition highlighting the Starr Library and its collections. It includes examples of homepages, pointing to basic information about the Library, and samples from the respective collections. It also includes a tribute to the late Philip Yampolsky, who was the head of our Library from 1968-1981.

Coming Soon 

Have you ever wondered how Chinese materials are acquired for the library? Why it often takes so long? Why it is so difficult to replace lost or stolen materials? Why some regions are more exhaustively covered than others? Later this fall, we will feature an exhibit on the complicated art of Chinese book and journal collecting, through all the various channels -- legal, quasi-legal, and cloak-and-dagger -- that Fran LaFleur employs with the help of a network of commercial suppliers, academic and military institutions, and observant individuals inside and outside the East Asia. The exhibit won't answer your questions about that particular book you are trying to find, but it may give you added insight into the ways the Starr staff wrestle with thorny acquisitions problems, and may even suggest new avenues for your own future purchases.

PRIMARY PUBLIC SERVICE CONTACTS

Library Director: Amy V. Heinrich. 305M Kent. (212) 854-1508. heinrich@columbia.edu 

Library Secretary: D. John McClure. 300 Kent. (212) 854-2578. mcclure@columbia.edu 

Access Services: Kenneth Harlin. 319M Kent. (212) 854-1501. harlin@columbia.edu 

East Asian Studies: Ria Koopmans-de Bruijn. 310 Kent. (212) 854-1505. rkb7@columbia.edu 

Chinese Studies: Frances LaFleur. 307M Kent. (212) 854-3721. lafleur@columbia.edu 

Japanese Studies: Yasuko Makino. 308M Kent. (212) 854-1506. makino@columbia.edu 

Korean Studies: position currently open; contact any of the above.

Reference Desk hours: Monday through Friday, 2 to 5 pm.
Reference Desk telephone number: (212) 854-4319

Rare Book Reading Room hours:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 2 to 4 pm.
Tuesday and Thursday, 10 am to 12 noon.