1. Purpose of the collection

The Library collects works in Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Korean and Indonesian, as well as works of Asian studies primarily to support the teaching and research needs of the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies. The Library also collects a substantial amount of English-language material relating to Japan, China, Korea and Indonesia and much of this is acquired to support research and teaching interests of other schools in the humanities.

2. Primary user groups served

Undergraduate and postgraduate students of the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies areas of study include:

Japanese:

  • language studies
  • linguistics
  • modern literature
  • translation and interpretation
  • culture and society
  • women in Asian languages

Chinese:

  • Chinese art
  • language studies
  • linguistics
  • modern Chinese literature
  • traditional Chinese literature
  • culture and society
  • women in Asian languages

Korean:

  • language studies
  • linguistics
  • women in Asian languages
  • culture and society

Indonesian:

  • language studies
  • linguistics
  • women in Asian languages
  • contemporary Indonesian society
  • regional cultures

3. Description of the collection

Japanese: Current collecting activity reflects the research interest of staff. Major areas of interest are:

  • translating and interpreting from/into Japanese
  • teaching Japanese as a foreign language
  • Japanese sociolinguistics
  • twentieth-century Japanese literature

Chinese: Current collecting activity reflects the research interests of staff in the school. Main areas of interest are:

  • teaching of Chinese
  • twentieth-century Chinese literature
  • traditional Chinese literature
  • Buddhist texts in Chinese
  • Chinese sociolinguistics

Korean: Current collecting activity reflects the research interests of staff. Main area of interest is in teaching of Korean as a foreign language.

Indonesian: Current collecting activity reflects the research interests of staff. Main area of interest is in teaching of Indonesian as a foreign language.

The majority of the Asian language and studies collection is held in the Social Sciences and Humanities Library.

4. Interdisciplinary relationships

Asian Languages and Studies shares common areas of interest with other subject areas such as Anthropology, Economics, English, Geography, History, Management, Music, Political Science, and Sociology.

5. Scope of current collecting

1. Languages collected:

The bulk of the collection is in Japanese and Chinese, though no languages are excluded.

2. Geographical areas collected:

Overall, emphasis is on Japan, China, though no geographical area is specifically excluded.

3. Chronological periods collected:

No chronological periods are specifically excluded.

4. Types (formats) of material collected or excluded:

While no material is excluded by format or type, collecting is normally limited to monographs, serials, microforms, videos and sound recordings. Off-air recordings are also made when relevant Radio and Television programmes are broadcast. Recently the Library has started to collect DVD versions of feature films.

5. Publication dates:

Most of the items collected are recent publications. However, older publications are often purchased to support teaching and research.

6. Special considerations:

None

7. Conspectus:

Japanese: Japanese has been taught at the University of Queensland since 1965. Much of the focus of the teaching activity has been in the language area, but there are also research and teaching interests in Japanese literature. A considerable part of the existing Japanese collection has been built up from donations from various Japanese bodies, rather than from deliberate collection development activity.

Chinese: Chinese has been taught at the University of Queensland since 1970. As with Japanese, the main focus of teaching activity has been in the acquisition of language skills, but there has also been research and teaching interest in Chinese literature. Like the Japanese collection, much of the Chinese collection has been acquired by donation, rather than as the result of planned collection development.

Korean: Korean has been taught at the University of Queensland since 1990. Little material in Korean has been acquired by the Library to date, apart from elementary language-teaching materials and some donated material. A considerable amount of English-language material on Korea is held in the Library.

Indonesian: Indonesian has been taught at the University of Queensland since 1996. A selection of literary texts in Indonesian, plus some critical and linguistic works, were acquired from a Melbourne bookseller in 1996. There has been little other collecting activity as far as Indonesian-language material is concerned, but the Library has a good collection of material in English on Indonesia, as well as a considerable amount of source material in Dutch.