Staff changes
We are sad to farewell Kumi Suzuki, who has been Japanese library assistant since 2002, but pleased that she is not leaving the library totally. She has moved to a full-time position in the dynamic area of e-cataloguing, where she can make full use of her technology skills and interests. Sumi Kato will replace Kumi in ASRC from August. Sumi has worked in ASRC previously as MCJLE Collection assistant, and we are happy that she will be joining the ASRC team as a permanent staff member.

Staff conference activity
Ayako Hatta attended the Japanese Language Teachers Association of Victoria annual 2 day conference in April in order to promote the MCJLE collection and liaise with teachers regarding their needs. Collection materials were on display and available for perusal by delegates throughout the conference. She also attended the JSAA conference at the University of New South Wales in July.

Dennis Kishere attended the CSAA conference at the University of Sydney and presented a paper titled “Chinese Studies Reference Service at Monash University Library” at a library panel, at which Bick-har Yeung and Di Pin Ouyang also spoke.

Jung-Sim Kim attended the KSAA conference at the University of Sydney and presented a paper titled “Library Services for Korean Studies at Monash University”. Library sessions at the conference also included papers by Sooji Lee, Sun-Yoon Lee, and Mikyung Kang.

Aline Scott-Maxwell attended the Indonesian Council Open Conference at the University of Sydney. She co-convened a panel with Dr Joost Cote (Deakin/Monash) at the conference titled ‘Colonial-era and post-colonial non-English language historical resources for the study of Indonesia in Australia’ and co-presented a paper on ‘The Monash University collections of pre-1945 non-English language resources for the study of Indonesia’. Other contributors to the panel included historians of Indonesia from ANU, Monash, Sydney University and University of New South Wales. Issues to do with use of and access to Dutch, Javanese, Sundanese and other Indonesian-language historical resources for the study of Indonesia were canvassed and recommendations arising will be documented and followed up.

Donations
Donations of books and other materials were received as follows:

• Korean materials from SungkyunKwan University Library (Korea), National Assembly Library of Korea, KOFIC, Korea University, the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage Research, KIEP, Pusan University Library, National Library of Korea, Korean Film Council and the Korea Foundation.

• Books about China and Japan from the collection of the late Bill Eggington of University of Melbourne.

• Chinese materials from National Library of Taiwan, Mrs Julie Chang, Mr Huy Huynh, and the Taiwan Economic, Trade and Cultural Centre (Canberra).

New database
Monash Library has subscribed to the e-Korean Studies database, thanks to a good deal negotiated by Jung-Sim. The database contains Korean studies resources in the arts and humanities, social sciences, sciences, medical sciences, and physical education and the content includes monographs, periodicals and newspapers, dissertations and research reports, law, classical literature, dictionaries and encyclopedias and video lectures. The webpage is in Korean but users can change the interface language to English, Chinese, or Japanese. This integrated “E-Korean Studies Database” includes KISS, KSI e-book, DBpia, KRpia, Digital Culture Art Course, KoreaA2Z, Kdatabase, Kpjournal, Korean History & Culture Research Database, History Cultural Series, and LawnB’s Legal Information.
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Cataloguing
ASRC cataloguers have been experimenting with a batch system of downloading OCLC records. This system was first applied to print book cataloguing by Kumi Suzuki with the aim of increasing efficiencies in ordering and copy cataloguing. The system uses ISBN numbers to download batches of records from OCLC and involves substantial reductions in work time. Kumi has also investigated whether the batch system can be used to retrieve records of books without ISBNs and it is currently being tested for the Balai Pustaka collection, one of ASRC’s special collections. The collection comprises around 1500 books, many of them rare, and there are only minimarc (brief) records in the Monash catalogue for them.

Supplier for Indonesian books and serials
Following the cancellation of the National Library of Australia’s Indonesian Acqusition Program for participant libraries, Monash has made new arrangements with KITLV to supply Indonesian books and serials, commencing from July.

Visitors
Visitors to ASRC in 2009 have included:

• Daniel Littlewood, film editor from New York, who found video materials for his upcoming film on Cambodian music in the Norodom Sihanouk Archival Collection.

• Maud Sarlieve, a French lawyer working on the Khmer Rouge trials, who also did some research in the Sihanouk.

• Qin Qui, Professor of Linguistics at Nanjing Audit University, China.

• Emeritus Professor Dr E. Saefullah Wiradipradja, from Padjadjaran University, Indonesia (and an alumnus of Monash).

• Drs Djarot Heru Santosa from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia.

Jeong-Sik Oh, the Program Officer at the Korea Foundation, visited ASRC and had extensive meetings with Jung-Sim and Aline. Monash Library is a major beneficient of the Korea Foundation’s donation program.

We also had visits from some librarians: Malika Xayasy, Chinese cataloguer from Macquarie University Library, Yasuko Shibata from Hitotsubashi University Library, who was doing a training course at Monash College, Mikyung Kang from Harvard-Yenching Library, and Sun-Yoon Lee from the University of Southern California Library.

Staff book-making display
Dennis, Ayako and Kumi are part of a lunchtime craft group with other library staff (under the leadership of Natima Palaskas), with a focus on making books from recycled library materials such as book covers. ASRC-sourced materials are used, as well as traditional Asian book concepts and techniques. A display of their beautiful and imaginative handmade books, titled Rags to Riches, was featured in the library in April and May.

Page last updated: 31 July 2009
Please direct all enquiries to: Bick-har Yeung email:bhy@unimelb.edu.au
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