A Special Session on Korean Studies Resources and Funding Opportunities was held immediately following the Keynote speech on the first day of the 4th Korean Studies Association of Australasia Biennial Postgraduate Workshop convened 30 June – 1 July 2016 at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Jung-Sim Kim making her presentation

Juhae Lee making her presentation

The first presenter, Jung-Sim Kim, Korean Studies Librarian at Monash University, explained the Korean databases situation at academic and national libraries in Oceania and how to access the e-Resources.

Monash University Library has participated in the North American Committee on Korean Materials (CKM) Task Force on Korean database packages. Monash University Library is also a beneficiary of the Korea Foundation’s supporting fund.

For full list of Korean Studies databases in Australia see http://alim.monash.org/subscribed-asian-studies-dbs.xlsx Updated after the presentation to include the University of Western Australia Library’s Korean database.

The Korean Studies Databases page in the Monash University Library guide (http://guides.lib.monash.edu/korean/databases) also enables non-Monash users to search some Korean databases for references.

Monash University, the ANU, the National Library of Australia, the University of Western Australia and the University of Auckland libraries in Oceania subscribe to Korean databases. Walk-in users can search and retrieve full-text articles from some Korean databases. Please check accessibility and availability with each library. There are also some free full-text articles or books available from Korea:

• The National Library of Korea (http://www.nl.go.kr/)
• RISS ( http://www.riss.kr/index.do) – to access full-text, user needs to apply for membership (http://www.riss.kr/main/user/JoinMember.do)

The second presenter, Juhae Lee, from the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), spoke about newly developed AKS resources using video clips as well as the AKS website. Due to restricted timing, the funding information was postponed to the second day of the workshop. Some AKS databases include:

• Korean Studies Net (https://ksnet.aks.ac.kr/main/index.do) – in English
• 한국학 자료 센터 Center for Korean Studies Materials (http://www.kostma.net/) – in Korean
• 왕실도서관 장서각 디지털 아카이브 Jangsogak Royal Archives (http://yoksa.aks.ac.kr/) – in Korean but English, Japanese and Chinese interfaces are provided.
• 한국민족문화대백과사전 Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/) – in Korean, user has to login to watch video.

The Workshop consisted of twenty-one papers presented by postgraduate students as well as several discussants, chairs and two keynote speakers who provided constructive comments and advice.

I wish to express special thanks to the KSAA PG Workshop Committee for inviting me and to everyone involved in the workshop. The Workshop also enabled me to learn more about the current research trajectories of postgraduate students in Oceania.