CJK cataloguingThe library's bibliographic database was converted to Unicode last November. The Unicode conversion was in line with the redevelopment of Libraries Australia which supports Unicode and the closure of the Kinetica CJK Service. We are using INNOPAC Millennium Catoguing Z39.50 to import records from external databases. Bibliographic records containing holding information are batch loaded to Libraries Australia. The new CJK cataloguing workflow is easy and simple.China-Australia Centre on Water Resources ResearchThe China-Australia Centre on Water Resources Research Centre was launched at the University of Melbourne recently. The new Centre's key nodes will be at the University of Melbourne and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China's leading research organisation. The Centre will foster research in the priority areas of river basin and groundwater management, irrigation water efficiency, water allocation policy; and the linking of climate and catchment models. More information of the new Center can be obtained from the eUniNews: http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/articleid_3191.html The East Asian Collection is playing an important role to provide Chinese language resources on water management in China to support the Centre's research activities. We have already started to collect materials in related areas.VisitorMr. Pietro De Laurentis, Ph D candidate, Dipartment Di Studi Asistici, Istituto Universitaro Orientale, Italy spent 3 weeks at the East Asian Collection to conduct research on Chinese calligraphy in Tang Dynasty.Japanese Collection updateSo many old treasures! Over the past several years we have been collecting items concerning the Kanto Earthquake of 1st September, 1923 (Kantō Daishinsai). There are several researchers engaged in studying various aspects of this topic - the reconstruction of Yokohama and Tōkyō after the earthquake, assistance provided by Japanese living in America at the time to their suffering homeland, and the use of the earthquake and its aftermath as a point of redefining moral and physical education in Japan. To this end, I have managed to collect an amazing array of items - from special earthquake editions of popular magazines with detailed photographs and sketches, to postcards, photographs, and books of children's experiences of the disaster. There is also a microfilm set each of the 1923-1924 Hawai Hōchi (Hawai News) and Maui Shinbun (Maui Newspaper). Research is also being undertaken into the US air raids (kūshū) and Japanese preparations for them during the second world war. I have collected pamphlets on what to do and what not to do, booklets issued by local authorities on how to look out for an incoming raid, and even a book entitled "Bōkūsen to heiki no tsukurikata" (Air raid war and how to build a weapon). I have also been fortunate enough to receive special funding for several expensive journal backsets/reprints, including Kakusei (The Purity: a 1980 reprint of the Meiji 44/1911 - Shōwa 20/1945 original), Gendai shakai mondai kenkyū (Current social problems research: a 1993 reprint of the 1920 - 1927 original), and we have en route to us at present the journal Tōa no hikari (Light of the East: original Meiji 39/1906 - Shōwa 16/1941edition). In addition, briefly, I have recently purchased many items (maps, postcards, guide books) to do with Japan's occupation of Manchuria. This has been primarily for a researcher in Architecture, but I am sure it will also be fascinating for a historian. Most of the items are to do with city planning and its history in Mukden (Hoten/Fengtian), Port Arthur (Ryojun/Lushun), and Dalian (Dairen). Leaving the best till last! Finally, the most interesting item we have acquired recently is a WW2-era bōkūzukin - an air raid hood. It is inscribed inside with the original owner's name, address, and blood group, and is a fascinating piece of history. I am currently in the process of having the hood looked at by a conservator with a view to it lasting at least another 60-odd years. If you'd like to see what one looks like, please see http://www.pref.aichi.jp/kenmin/chosakai/tenjishitu/a/s-a/s-a-20.html |