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Brief history of the collection
The CJK Collection has been an integral part of Murdoch University Library since its inception in 1975. The first CJK librarian Ms Ngoc Suong Thai started the collection and with much foresight, adopted the Pin Yin Romanisation for the catalogue. This eventually saved the Library a lot of work when Pin Yin was adopted as the standard. The initial collection consisted mainly of works on religion, particularly books on Buddhism, historical texts and Chinese poetry, reflecting the interest of the academic staff at that time. Murdoch University Library, under the direction of the then University Librarian, Mr Nadanasabapathy, was one of the eight universities which participated in the formation of the National CJK database. Throughout the mid-1990s, Ross O'Neil (Cataloguing Quality Control Librarian) represented Murdoch Library in identifying a suitable system for the CJK database. Since the implementation of the CJK service in 1996, Murdoch Library has always participated and contributed to the improvement and maintenance of the quality of the database. The current CJK collection comprises of materials mainly in Chinese and Japanese with a very minimal number of Korean books. Areas of particular strength include: History, Philosophy, Religion, Economics, Literature and Language teaching. Bilingual works which have English and CJK scripts are located with the general collection for wider circulation. The Chinese scripts collection is just shy of 7,000 titles and Japanese scripts collection is about 1,500 titles. Basic reference books like encyclopaedias, specialist dictionaries and statistical yearbooks are added to the collection continuously. Over the years the collection has been enriched by donations from the Educational Committee of the People's Republic of China, The Japan Foundation and from individuals. Professor Wong Shui Hon of the University of Hong Kong generously donated nearly his entire collection to us after his retirement and resettlement in Perth. Professor Wong's research interest was Chinese classics and literature, Taoism, and Chinese paintings. Our collection is greatly enriched by this donation. (An article about Professor Wong is reproduced in this issue titled: "My journey as an artist") Chinese and Japanese studies at Murdoch University Chinese language was taught at Murdoch University as one of its foundation courses when the University opened its doors in 1975. In 1990 Japanese Studies was added to the Asian Studies programme. The period between the 1980s to mid-1990s was the heyday for Chinese and Japanese Studies at Murdoch. At one time the two programmes had one professor, one associate professor, three senior lecturers, two lecturers and four associate lecturers. The courses offered changed and evolved with the changes in the staff composition. The late 1990s saw the decline of Asian Studies not just at Murdoch University but in tertiary institutions in general. By early 2000, the combined academic staff of the two programmes was down to three senior lecturers, one lecturer and two associate lecturers. In order to ensure the partial survival of Chinese Studies the programme was transferred from Asian Studies to the Murdoch Business School in 2004. Currently there is a 0.5 full time staff at senior lecturer level responsible for two units: Contemporary China and Introductory Chinese. The Japanese Studies remained within the Asian Studies programme and currently has four academic staff. It is worth mentioning here that the Asia Research Centre (ARC) at Murdoch was first established in 1988. It became a Special Research Centre of the Australian Research Council in 1991 to provide analysis of social, political and economic change in contemporary East and Southeast Asia. Between 1994 and 1995 I worked half time at the ARC Library providing services and training to the researchers. The CJK Librarian's role In late 1978, on the resignation of Ms Thai, I took over the role of the CJK Librarian. Initially, the job was solely cataloguing of CJK materials. In 1987 the Library was reorganized and the position included reference service as well as cataloguing of the CJK materials. In 2000, another organisational restructure took place and the position became the Liaison Librarian for Asian Studies/Politics and International Studies. The position is 0.8 which I elect to work four days, two days in Liaison Services and two days in Collection Services (Cataloguing) While in Liaison Services, I spend half a day each week in the Division of Arts liaising with academic staff and postgraduate students in my subject areas of Asian Studies/Politics and International Studies. I provide database training, advice on document delivery, electronic reserve and all Library services either directly or by referring clients to the relevant person. Collection development is another area of my responsibilities. For the last couple of years, the technical difficulties of setting up the printing for CJK orders have been over come by using email orders. Now nearly all the CJK acquisitions are carried out electronically through vendors in China and Japan. Besides cataloguing our own CJK materials, I also help to catalogue the University of Western Australia's CJK materials. The procedure involves UWA sending their CJK materials to me. Using remote access to UWA's catalogue, I check for duplications and upgrade the CJK authorities where necessary. On completion of cataloguing onto the National CJK system, these materials are sent back to UWA and the records are downloaded to the UWA system by their staff. UWA Library is invoiced for the work. Being the only CJK librarian in the West, I work in isolation. My problems of access, software requirements and maintenance are unique; this was especially true in the early days of the implementation of the CJK system. Luckily for me, management in the Library has always been committed and sympathetic to CJK issues. When the Library was looking for a new system in early 1994, one of its aims was to acquire a system that can handle CJK scripts. The Innopac system was implemented in the same year and it has proved to be a good decision as three of the five tertiary libraries in Western Australia and the State Library also implemented the same system subsequently. In the early days of the National CJK implementation, my sense of isolation was very much lessened by the help and suggestions I received from the National CJK team, especially CP Tang. This year Murdoch University celebrates its 30th anniversary. A display of book in various subjects area was held through out the second semester in the Library reflecting its 30 years of collecting. I did a display of CJK books which attempted to reflect our collection. For interest, I have included the list of displayed books below. CJK books displayed for the “30 Years of Collecting”: 1975 简明中国哲学史 / 李锦全, 吳熙钊 编著 ; 杨荣国 主编 1976 二十二子 1977 中国大陆的阴影 / [西蒙 列斯 著 ; 黄文范 译] 1978 永平正法眼藏蒐書大成 / [編者 永平正法眼藏蒐書大成刊行會] 1979 常見的錯字 / [编者張明] 1980 資料日本現代史 1981 紀念辛亥革命七十周年 / 中國新聞社編印 1982 兵庫県の文化財図鑑. 工兿編・民俗資料編 / [編集者 岸本晃一] 1983 满族民间故事选 / 乌丙安 ... [et al.] 编 ; [插图袁银昌] 1984 箱根の坂 / 司馬遼太郎 1985 唐诗三百首新编 / 马茂元, 赵昌平选注 1986 毛泽东的读书生活 / 龔育之, 逄先知, 石仲泉 1987 中国当代文坛群星 / 主编 蔺羡璧, 吴开晋 1988 コブラ : space adventure / 寺沢武一 1989 「ノー」と言える日本 : 新日米関係の方策 / 盛田昭夫, 石原慎太郎 1990 靈山 / 高行健著 1991 中國家庭及其變遷 ／ 主編喬健 ; 編輯李沛良 ... [et al.] ; 助理編輯尹寶 珊, 何錦賢 1992 東京大空襲の記錄 / 石川光陽 ；森田写真事務所編 1993 中国左翼電影运动 / 广播电影电视部电影局党史资料征集工作领导小组, 中国电影艺术研 究中心编 1994 中國神仙養生大全 / 洪丕謨編著 1995 中国山水文化大观 / 段宝林, 江溶主编 1996 現代日本社会論 : 戦後史から現在を読む30章 / 编者 渡辺 治 1997 百家姓 : 一百個最常見的中國姓氏 = Bai jia xing : 100 most common Chinese surnames 1998 オーストラリアの日本人 : 一世紀をこえる日本人の足跡 = Japanese in Australia, 1867- 1998 / 編集 記念史編集委員会 1999 HSK 考前强化训练 / 郭玉玲 ; 张若莹主编 2000 西楼望月 : 外囯学者眼中的中囯 / 牟卫民主编 2001 翻拍张艺谋 / 张久英编著 2002 外地人眼中的北京人 / 子夜編著 2003 近世人の研究 : 江戶時代の日記に見る人間像 / 深谷克己 2004 知青部落 : 黄山脚下的10,000 个上海人 / 主编朱政惠, 金光耀 2005 激活 : 谁启动了中国经济? / 《21世纪经济报道》著
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