The Harvard College Library
has created Introduction
This guide provides an introduction to selected electronic resources for Korean studies. Most are available online, but some are digital products in other formats (e.g. CD-ROM) are also included. Please note that this is not intended to be a comprehensive list and that some sites may require subscription or registration. The majority of resources selected are primarily or entirely in Korean.
For more information on scholarly resources for Korean studies available at Harvard, please contact Mikyung Kang, Librarian for the Korean Collection of Harvard-Yenching Library; the Harvard-Yenching Library reference desk; or see Korean Studies at Harvard below.
Subject Gateways
The following sites provide information about and links to a wide range of sources dealing with Korea and Korean Studies
CEAL:
Internet Resources Subject Guide to Korean Materials
An extensive list of online resources for Korean studies compiled by librarians
of the Committee on Korean Materials of CEAL
(Council on East Asian Libraries). Arranged by subject.
Electronic
Resources Guide by USC Korean Heritage Library
A wide range of links to Korea-related electronic resources, with particularly
rich contents on South Korean government, statistics, and cinema.
Korea
Knowledge Portal 국가지식포털
The official gateway to South Korean government documents operated by
the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (한국정보문화진흥원).
This full-text database links eight national institutes and is searchable
by keyword, author, publisher, subject, format, language, and date. The
participating organizations are: the National History Compilation Committee
(국사편찬위원회), the Korea Education and Research
Information Service (한국교육학술정보원), the Korea
Culture Information Service (한국문화정보센터), the
Korea Institute and Technology Information (정보통신연구진흥원),
the Korea Institute of Construction Technology (한국건설기술연구원),
the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (산업연구원),
the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (해양수산부),
the Ministry of Government Legislation (법제처).
and the National Digital Library (국가전자도서관).
Access to full text documents by users outside Korea requires registration and is open only to Korean citizens.
Korean Database 디지탈한국학
An extensive database of Korean art, culture, folklore, history, literature,
philosophy, and religion, developed by the Academy of Korean Studies (한국학중앙연구원).
This database is searchable by keyword and can be browsed by subject.
National
Digital Library 국가전자도서관
The largest information database for materials on pre-1950 Korea with
particularly rich contents on the Japanese Occupation period. Old newspapers
(pre-1945), official gazettes (1894-1910), periodicals (pre-1950), more
than 1400 Korean academic journals, and the original images of Korean
rare books and old maps are available online through more than 70 databases
of eight Korean national libraries: the National Library of Korea (국립중앙도서관),
the National Assembly Library (국회도서관), the
Supreme Court Library (법원도서관), the KAIST
Digital Science Library (한국과학기술원 과학도서관),
the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (한국과학기술정보연구원),
the Korea Education & Research Information Service (한국교육학술정보원),
the Korea Agricultural Science Digital Library (농촌진흥청
농업과학도서관), and the Korea Knowledge Portal (국가지식포털).
Limited functionality outside Korea.
Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library - North
Korea
Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library - South
Korea
Links to and description of a large number of sites dealing with North and South
Korea and Korean studies. The majority are to English-language sites.
The site is maintained by Dr. M. Y. Han of Duke University as part of the World Wide Web Virtual Library for Asian Studies.
PAIR - Portal to Asian
Internet Resources
Links to and descriptions of a wide range of resources in the humanities and social sciences dealing with Asia. The portal is maintained by the libraries of the University of Wisconsin, the University of Minnesota, and the Ohio State University. To limit searching to Korea, click on the map or choose the Atlas Search - text version to select North or South Korea.
Harvard Library Collections
A number of libraries collect Korean language and Korea-related materials at Harvard.
Harvard-Yenching Library: Extensive Korean-language collection as part of holdings on East Asia. Humanities and social sciences.
Fine Arts Library: The Rübel Asiatic Research Collection holds materials in Korean and other East Asian languages on East Asian art. Fine Arts also collects Western-language works on East Asian art.
Government Documents / Microforms:Collects a wide range of publications from the US government, including translations of East Asian media, as well as foreign government, UN, census, and other materials.
Harvard Law School Library: Foreign Law collection includes some materials in Korean, as well as writings in other languages on international law. See their web resources page for information on South Korean law.
Tozzer Library: Anthropological and ethnographic materials, including many on East and Inner Asia.
Widener Library: Materials in Western languages on Asia, including Korea.
Countway Library of Medicine: Medical and public-health resources, including some publications in Korean.
Andover-Harvard Theological Library: Collects on religion and philosophy, including those of East Asia, in Western languages. Also holds a number of missionary publications and papers.
Korean Studies at Harvard
The following institutes and departments sponsor Korea-related events and courses:
Korea Institute: A central site for information about Korean Studies at Harvard, including talks, courses, scholarships, visiting scholars and so on.
Asia Center:Information about Asia-related events, publications, scholarships, and resources at Harvard.
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations: East Asian studies faculty and subject language courses.
Arthur M. Sackler Museum -- Asian Art Collection: strong East Asian art collection, including Korean paintings and ceramics. Periodic Korea-related exhibitions and events.
Committee on Regional Studies -- East Asia: Master's program in East Asian studies.
Harvard East Asia Society:Sponsors events for graduate students in East Asian studies and organizes an annual graduate student conference.
Romanization
Although it is increasingly possible to search for materials in library catalogs, bibliographies, and of course online using East Asian scripts, knowledge of romanization is still very helpful. For example, romanized searches in library catalogs may allow you to retrieve materials in characters, Korean alphabet (han'gul), and Western-languages, or let you search for items from older bibliographies which often lack East Asian scripts.
In the case of Korean, the romanization system widely used by libraries in the United States (McCune-Reischauer) differs from the various systems employed at different times by Korean governments. It may also differ from the system taught in Korean language classes.
The following links provide information about romanization of Korean and about using East Asian scripts with the HOLLIS catalog.
Korean McCune-Reischauer Romanization Dictionary
Online tool converting hangul to McCune-Reischauer romanization. Created by Korean Studies librarians in North America.
LC
(Library of Congress) and ALA (American Library Association) Romanization
Table for Korean
Detailed explanation of the guidelines that many American libraries use
to romanize Korean works for cataloguing purposes.
CJK
中日韓 Scripts in HOLLIS
Help documents for installing and East Asian IMEs on Windows systems and
tips on searching for East Asian-language materials in HOLLIS.
Also available under "Help" in HOLLIS.
Research Guides for East Asian Studies
The following guides may be helpful to students and scholars of East Asia:
East Asian Studies Research Guide: a starting point for research in East Asian studies; focuses on Western-language resources.
Finding Images of East Asia at Harvard and Beyond: an overview of East Asia-related photographs and other visual resources.
Digital Resources for Chinese Studies: an introduction to selected online and CD resources for Chinese studies, especially Chinese-language materials.
Digital Resources for Japanese Studies: an introduction to selected online and CD resources for Japanese studies, especially Japanese-language materials.
Introduction to Data Resources for Japan: selected digital and print resources for numeric data collection about Japan.