Staff Papers
The National Library of Australias Korean Collection and Related Matters
Paper presented by Dr Kenneth Wells, Convenor, Centre for Korean Studies, Australian National University at the Library and Information Needs of Asian Studies Academics lunchtime panel at the Asian Studies Association of Australia, 12th Biennial Conference Asia in Global Context, Monday 28 September 1998.
The Collection
In national terms, the Korean language collection in the National Library of Australia is extraordinary. It is by far the largest as well as most comprehensive collection in the country. The decision by the NLA leadership in the 1950s(I think) to commence regular and wide collection in Korean language materials is one of those decisions which show real long-term thinking, and is directly responsible for the ability of scholars and others within Australia who have Korean language proficiency to carry out high-level research on Korea. In this sense it is a genuine national asset, and should be maintained as such.
In international terms, the NLA Korean collection until recently was perhaps the fourth largest holding outside Korea, after Harvard-Yenching, Hawaii, and Washington University in Seattle. This international eminence is being eroded by the combination of energetic collecting in such university libraries as UC at Berkeley and LA and the University of Chicago, and the rapidly rising cost of Korean materials against a slower rise in outlay for Korean acquisitions by the NLA. The recent decline in the value of the Korean won may help the AUS$80,000 (?) or so earmarked for Korean acquisitions in 1999 go further, but this can only be a temporary benefit of an undesirable economic situation.
Despite this declining prominence on a world scale, the NLA Korean collection remains the largest in the southern hemisphere, larger than any single holding in Europe, including the SOAS, Leiden, Paris and Tübingen collections, and very respectable in North American terms as well. In short, the NLA Korean collection is still a good story.
The future is, of course, not so certain. The commitment of the NLA remains for 1999, and one hopes and assumes for a long time to come. The recent "Survey of Users of Korean Materials" by the NLA is an encouraging indication of intentions.
Collection Policy
The nature of the collection is very much the result of continuity in acquisitions responsibility in the person of Mrs Fry, who has been consistent and diligent in maintaining a good collection that serves the purposes of academics, the Korean reading public, and those who require reliable information on Korea. In my own experience, requests for materials have always been taken seriously and have been acquired whenever the budget allowed. This is, however, a single experience, and it is clear that there must be a policy that is publicly known so that all interested persons can help shape the collection according to the actual needs of the relevant sections of Australian society.
The growing number of researchers in Korean fields and the increase in user/purchaser agreements between universities and the NLA will doubtless broaden the type and quantity of acquisition requests. thus, some system will need to be elucidated to handle this change. One area which I believe needs some attention is the collection of materials from the era of the Japanese colonisation of Korea between 1905 and 1945. Most of the historical materials for this period are in Japanese, not Korean, but are the essential base for research. Since these materials are also essential materials for the study of Japanese imperialism and colonial history, an arrangement might be desirable that involves cost-sharing between the Korean and the Japanese budgets.
Another are is that of collected works. There are a number of multi-volume collected works of important Koreans that are missing from the collection, and an effort might be made to fill that gap. Calls have been made for more on North Korea, and the wisdom of this at this time is undebatable. The acquisition of materials on contemporary political and economic areas needs some thought, and I will comment on this under the next heading.
There is, in any case, no call for a decentralisation of Korean materials collection, beyond the autonomous budget decisions and situations in universities where there are Korean studies. The housing in one location of the collection is part of its appeal, usefulness, and reputation. There does not seem to be any sound basis for spreading responsibility for acquisitions other than in specialised areas which may be considered the special strength of individual centres and where it is rational to avoid duplication.
The idea that IT developments will enhance the collection is hardly credible. The nature of the Korean language materials and the state of the Korean serials system and infrastructure are such that electronic retrieval or access to actual materials is extremely limited (as it is for most fields), and does not save any money. It is very important, therefore, that the physical collection remains the priority and that none of the acquisitions budget is diverted to the voracious appetite of IT.
Users
The survey indicated a reasonably broad range of users, but use is predominantly academic, that is, research related to scholarly projects. Given the nature of the collection and the location of the NLA (near the ANU, which carries out a great deal of Korea-related research, and away from the largest Korean population centres in Australia), this is only to be expected. I note that there is a sense that the business and political community is not aware of the Korean collection and needs to be informed of its quality. This is perhaps a little misleading. The materials the survey was designed to cover are the Korean vernacular and Sino-Korean holdings. Clearly, these materials cannot be read unless one is proficient in these languages. Comments by the business respondents to the survey explicitly indicate that they have little time to read, do not know Asian languages, and would hire a consultant when reading was necessary. It is inevitable, therefore, that the business/political community's knowledge and use of the collection is limited.
Since it is possible for business/political persons to hire someone to find and read materials for specific purposes, a greater effort could be made to inform such people of the content and accessibility of the collection. But acquisitions policy on these materials should probably be driven by the principle hitherto of maintaining a comprehensive collection and by actual requests of researches rather than by a notional principle that business/political community needs must be met. As the needs become concrete, changes may be required, but at present the idea that the business community needs are not being met appears to me to have no genuine grounds whatsoever. The users are predominantly academic because of the requirement for proficiency in Korean, not because the collection is unknown to or irrelevant to the business community. There is little mystery in this and so it would be unwise to create a distraction out of it from the rational objective of maintaining it as a world-class collection.
The use by academics is actually increasing, and this increase has been quite rapid since the late 1980s. The number of scholars on Korea has been increasing, though still inadequate, and with 8 postgraduate students and a continuous stream of Honours students in Korean studies at the ANU alone, this is the time when the enlightened policy of the 50s and 60s is really showing its long-term fruits. It is terribly important that this fact be recognised and that future planning takes it fully into account, or we shall lose a precious asset. Scholars who visit the NLA are tremendously impressed with the collection and the word goes overseas and attracts applications from postgraduate students.
Access
For ANU scholars and personnel in government departments and businesses in the ACT, access is a relatively minor issue. For scholars elsewhere (and for postgraduates at the ANU), there is an issue. I'm not sure that this can be easily solved, but a number of principles could be adopted to help. The first is that individual libraries in areas where there is a sufficient community using Korean materials should take responsibility for maintaining a basic reference collection and for providing basic materials for ordinary undergraduate and Korean language courses. The second is that the NLA streamline inter-library loan agreements. In this connection, where there is an agreement that an interested library will not duplicate what the NLA collects, it should put aside funds (which otherwise it would have to use to purchase Korean materials) to cover or subsidise the cost of the inter-library loans. The final principle is that funds should be made available for scholars, particularly postgraduate students, to travel to Canberra to use the collection. The Korean Studies Association of Australasia is discussing such a scheme at present.
Conclusion
I would like to reiterate and emphasise the fact that up till now the NLA Korean collection has been widely recognised as a valuable resource for Korean studies, and that the foundations for its enviable reputation were laid at a time when there was not any noticeable interest concerning Korea in Australia. Had this enlightened foundation not been laid, we would not even be commenting on a Korean collection worth speaking of. We are now reaping the benefits of this policy and now of all times is definitely not the time for retrenchment. The commitment of the NLA staff to the collection, and its preparation of the users' survey are commendable and encouraging. Use is increasing, but it is up to us who use the collection to promote it wherever we can, and justify and protect the expenditure on it by further increased use.
