National Library of Australia


Library Cooperation on East Asian Resources:
Informal Agreement Between the University of Melbourne and Monash University


It is proposed that Monash University Library and Melbourne University Library work towards the cooperative development of East Asian research collections for the mutual development of researchers in both the institutions.

It is anticipated that the establishment of a cooperative agreement would result in a cost-effective sharing of East Asian information resources, ie Chinese, Japanese and Korean research collections held in the Libraries of the University of Melbourne and Monash University. There are two major benefits of cooperation:

  1. More comprehensive coverage - given the limited budget for East Asian studies, cooperation would increase the range of resources acquired between the libraries (including CD-ROMs and non-book materials).

  2. Increased access to enhanced research collections - implementation of the Kinetica CJK Service in 1996 will see a vast improvement in access of Chinese, Japanese and Korean materials from 1993. The CJK facility on our OPACs will facilitate access to the collections of the libraries concerned.

Researchers of the two institutions will have access to the combined resources of the East Asian collections of the two libraries. Interlibrary loan requests of the researchers for vernacular materials from the respective collections will be accorded priority over other interlibrary loan requests.

How Can this Be Achieved?

It is proposed that the librarians with responsibility for the East Asian collections of the University of Melbourne and Monash University meet to work out an agreement for cooperation along the lines outlined below:

1. Clearinghouse for East Asian Resources (CLEAR)

To avoid duplication of expensive East Asian research materials, a Clearinghouse for East Asian Resources (CLEAR) should be established. Membership of the CLEAR committee would comprise of the librarians responsible for East Asian collections in the respective libraries.

1.1 These librarians would liaise via email and fax and meet twice a year (April and September) to consider the purchase of expensive research items of interest to both the institutions such as serials, newspapers and expensive items (any single titles costing more than $A500.00).

1.2 There should be a regular exchange of information about the research interests of academics of the respective institutions. An email group list should be set up to facilitate exchange of information.

2. Specialisation in Collection Building for Research

The collection policy for East Asian materials of both libraries should be exchanged.

Where there are demonstrable specialist collection strengths eg Japanese Music at Monash, these should continue to be developed by the holding library, and the other library should not deal with the subject at the research level.

3. Reciprocal Access

Researchers of the respective institutions will have access to the East Asian collections in the respective libraries. Interlibrary loan requests of the researchers for vernacular materials from the respective collections will be accorded priority over other interlibrary loan requests, provided the needs of the primary clientele of the home library have been met.

4. Review

It is proposed that the cooperative venture be reviewed after 24 months. At that point, consideration should also be given to extending the cooperation to other Asian collections.


Return to Australian Library Collecting Agreements

Last modified: May 07 2009.