Asian Collections and Services at the National Library of Australia ANDREW GOSLING Chief Librarian, East Asia

Introduction The following discussion does not attempt to be comprehensive in its treatment of Asian collections and services at the National Library. The aim is to provide an overview concentrating on areas and languages given a high priority by the Library, while also referring to other parts of the region. The Library has emphasised East Asia, namely China and its periphery, Japan and the Korean peninsula, and Southeast Asia, consisting of the ASEAN and Indochina countries as well as Burma. Within Southeast Asia the Library has placed greatest stress on its Indonesian and Thai collections. Thus this article is mainly about Chinese, Japa­nese, Korean, Indonesian and Thai resources. South Asia, comprising the Indian subcontinent and adjacent island states is also considered, as is to a lesser extent West Asia which covers the Middle East but excludes North Africa.

While the National Library has concentrated most of its staffing, acquisition and other resources for Asia on Asian language materials, this discussion also includes the Library's extensive Western language holdings from and about the region.

Historical Background Asian studies and Asian library collections have devel­oped comparatively recently in Australia. Prior to the Second World War, Asian studies were virtually confined to one department at the University of Sydney which taught the Japanese language and Asian history. There were no significant collections of Asian publications, and no Australian library was regularly acquiring current publications from the region.

This situation changed in the 1950s as the importance of Asian studies was gradually recognised. The National Library and the Australian National University Library, in particular, started acquisition programs which have made them the major Asian research collections in this country. The University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne libraries also began to build significant Asian language collections at that time.

The fact that the National Library's Asian collections have only been developed since the 1950s has partly dictated the nature of these collections. While some old and rare items are held, the real strength is in contemporary materials, serving the research needs of government, academia and the general public with emphasis on the social sciences.

During the 1950s and 1960s, a number of formed collections in Asian and Western languages were acquired from scholars and bibliophiles. These contained valuable retrospective holdings. Reprints and microforms of older works have also continued to be purchased. Nevertheless, neither the National Library nor any other Australian research library is ever likely to replicate the archival collections of former European colonial nations, such as Britain, France and the Netherlands, based on their long involvement with the region.

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On the other hand, during the past third of a century the National Library has been obtaining contemporary research materials in certain key Asian languages more actively than all but a few of the major European libraries. These languages are Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Thai. In the case of Indonesian, the National Library has built up one of the world's most significant modern research collections outside Indonesia itself. The Library's other Asian holdings do not equal the vast resources of the Library of Congress but may be compared with other significant North American research collections.

The following is a brief chronology of the development of the Library's Asian collections. In 1955 formal cooperative collection development agreements be­tween the National Library and the Australian National University were signed for Chinese and Japanese materials. 1 Broadly, the National Library was to cover publications in the social sciences and more recent periods of history (after 1868 for Japan, and post-1911 for China) as well as periodicals and newspapers. Tradi­tional literature, early history, religion and philosophy were designated Australian National University responsibilities. Union catalogues for East Asian materials were begun at the National Library following these agreements. Systematic collection development for Indonesia and India also started in the 1950s.

In 1962 a special area of the Library called Orientalia was established to handle Chinese, Japanese and later Korean and Thai language materials. This retained its old-fashioned name until 1987 when it became the East Asia Subsection. In 1964 a specialist librarian, S Wang, was appointed from overseas to head Orientalia, a position he held until his retirement in 1985. In 1969 and 1970 pilot projects by the Library enabled it to set up an Indonesian cooperative acquisition scheme serving several university libraries and itself through a staff member stationed in Jakarta. This was in order to overcome the considerable difficulties involved in maintaining an effective supply of current Indonesian publications.

The 1970s saw further consolidation of the Asian collections. The Library's acquisition office in Jakarta was formally established in 1971. In 1973-74 an overseas expert was engaged to advise on South and Southeast Asian Collections, Stanley Sutton, former Director of the India Office Library and Records in the United Kingdom. Following his report2 the Library created a specialist position for South and Southeast Asian reference in 1974. In 1979 a new section called the Australian International and Ethnic Library (AUSINTEL) was set up to cover both the Orientalia and South and Southeast Asian subsections as well as other foreign language collections and services.

During the 1980s the Asian collections grew rapidly, but there were also some setbacks. Following the government's costcutting Review of Commonwealth Func­tions in 1982 the Library: was required to reduce its presence in Jakarta, despite widespread recognition of its national importance. The status of the office, which is staffed at present by locally appointed staff, is currently under review, although the costs of re-establishing Australian-based officers are very high.

During the 1980s the section also altered its name twice, to Area Studies in 1982 and to Asian Collections in 1987. Since this latter change the section has concen­trated solely on Asia, with reference responsibility for non-Asian geographic areas being returned to General Reference.

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Growth of Collections The rapid development of the National Library's Asian language collections is revealed by comparing statistics for the five largest collec­tions between 1970 and 1990. The largest and fastest growing collection has been the Chinese. In 1970 the Library held 60 000 volumes of monographs and 750 serial titles. By 1990 there were 200 000 monograph volumes and 5 000 serial titles in Chinese. In the same period the Japanese collection grew from 32 000 monograph volumes and 1 600 serial titles to 75 000 monograph volumes and 4 500 serial titles. In 1970 there were 4 000 monograph volumes and 430 serial titles in Korean, expanding to 17 000 monograph volumes and 1 400 serial titles 20 years later. Systematic collecting of Indonesian materials through a presence in Jakarta was only just beginning in 1970. By 1990 the Indonesian collection consisted of 120 000 volumes of monographs and 5 000 serial titles. In 1970 the Thai collection contained 4 000 monograph volumes and 130 serial titles, rising to 24 000 monograph volumes and 1 400 serial titles by 1990. In addition the Library has developed extensive holdings of Asian microfilms, films, maps and other resources.

The National Library is now clearly the largest and most actively developing research resource on Asia in Australia. In some instances, such as Korean language materials, it has the only substantial research collection in the country at present. In 1990-91 the Library allocated over .A$700 000 to the Asian language purchases, representing 17% of its total book acquisition budget. This constitutes a greater sum than the combined amount spent by all Australian university libraries on Asian materials. The National Library figure does not include English and other Western language publications about Asia.

Collection Strengths The following remarks briefly summarize the major strengths of the five largest Asian language collections at the Library. Detailed printed descriptions are available for these and other Asian collections.

The Chinese collection is strong in the fields of archaeology, fine arts, modern history (after 1840), biography, local history, politics and government, statistics, foreign relations, economics, law, sociology, religion, philosophy and medicine as well as newspapers. There are also extensive holdings of Chinese serials.

The strengths of the Japanese collection are in the subject fields of social sciences, especially economics, education, minorities, women's studies, statistics, politics and government, law, biography and history after 1868, fine and performing arts, military science, science and technology serials and Japanese works on Australia. Many government publications are received regularly on exchange from the National Diet Library.

The Korean collection covers the field of archaeology, history, sociology, eco­nomics, politics and government, foreign relations, law, philosophy, biography, language and literature.

Through its Jakarta office the Library has acquired considerable subject strengths in current Indonesian politics and government, the social sciences, development studies, statistics and law. Mainly in Indonesian, the publications are from govern­ment agencies, universiries and commercial publishers. The Library also has strong historical collections from the period of the Dutch administration, including Dutch language government reports, monographs and newspapers, as well as coverage of the Japanese occupation.

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The Thai collection is strong in the fields of history, biography and archaeology, politics and government, economics, law, language and literature, philosophy and religion. There are extensive Thai cremation volumes, memorial biographical works published to mark a notable person's death.

Collection Development Policy The increased priority given by the Library to its Asian collections is clearly reflected in its published collection development policies of 1981 and 1990. Although in general the Collection Development Policy (1990) indicates a reduction in the breadth of general library collecting intentions expressed in the earlier Selection Policy (1981) - in recognition of the fact that the real purchasing power of the Library's acquisition vote had steadily declined over this period - the 1990 policy is much more explicit in emphasising Asian collections than its predecessor.

The 1981 document does place some stress on Asian materials. The policy summary on national collection priorities states that the Library gives 'high priority to Southeast Asian publications' 3 . Mention is also made of Japanese monographs and serials, but there is no reference to other parts of Asia. However a section on the history of the Library's resources describes the East, South and Southeast Asian collections. 4

The Collection Development Policy ( 1990) is arranged more systematically than the 1981 policy. In addition to subject emphases it clearly sets out geographical priorities for regions and countries. These range from Level 1 (minimal) to Level 5 (comprehensive). Only Australia is assigned Level 5. A few countries considered of major significance to Australia's development in a broad sense are ranked at the next highest priority, Level 4 (research). These are China (including Taiwan, Hongkong and Macao), Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Southwest Pacific nations, United Kingdom and the United States5 • For all these Level 4 countries, the priority refers both to vernacular and Western language works. Exceptions are Korea and Thailand where publications in the national language are assigned research level but other materials are collected at level 3 (intermediate). The South and Southeast regions in general are ranked at Level 3 and the Middle East at Level 1.

When the draft of the 1990 policy was released to the public, most comment came from those who felt their own discipline or area interests had been assigned too low a priority. This included some scholars in the humanities, and Middle Eastern and African studies. There was little comment on East Asia, probably because of the high priority assigned. Feedback from users did lead to some changes in the section on Southeast Asia. For example countries in Indochina which had been given a relatively low geographical priority because of their limited publishing and acquisition difficulties were upgraded to reflect the Li­brary's longer term collecting intentions, rather than likely levels of acquisition in the immediate future.

It is early to judge the effects of the 1990 policy. However, it is clear that while the National Library has been collecting in certain Asian languages fairly intensive­ly for some time, appropriate English and other Western language publications about Asia are now being sought more actively than previously in accordance with the priority levels assigned.

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During 1990 a special project was undertaken to investigate the Library's Western language holdings on Asia. It was found that generally coverage of the North American and European publications about Asia was appropriate. While the main emphasis has been on English, significant items in other Western languages are being acquired. Important Asian language publications about other parts of the region, for example Japanese works on China, are also collected actively. At the same time, it was discovered that some areas needed to be strengthened. In particular, a number of significant periodicals not held were identified for order­ing. Some exchanges of publications were not operating satisfactorily. Coverage of English language materials published in a number of Asian countries also needed improving. Efforts are now being made to overcome these weaknesses.

Bibliographic Control and Access Card catalogues containing romanized and script data continue to be maintained for the Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai collections. Current Indonesian items acquired through the Jakarta office are listed in the Library's Indonesian Acquisitions List. In addition, since 1981 Asian holdings have gradually become available through ABN, although for Asian script languages this has meant purely romanized records so far. The current intake of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Indonesian monographs is being entered on ABN, and all current serial titles in these languages are now on the database. Retrospective conversion of the Japanese monograph catalogue is also being undertaken at present. Through ABN national access to the Library's Asian collections has improved considerably over the past decade, despite script limitations and continu­ing cataloguing backlogs, especially for Chinese holdings.

Use of Collections While no separate statistics are available on the use of the Library's western language holdings about Asia, more is known about use of its Asian language collections, in particular of the major East Asian languages, Chi­nese, Japanese, and Korean. A 1983 survey of Australia's East Asian collections found that the types of readers served by the National Library differed from those of the universities.6 Whereas tertiary institute libraries reported 70 to 100 of their clients were students and academics, the readers visiting the East Asian collections at the National Library were more varied. The percentages were as follows:

Universities and colleges 40 Secondary schools 4 Government departments 14 Research institutes 10 Professionals 8 Foreign diplomats 2 Business 6 General public 16

Total 100

A later survey examined the use of the National Library's Chinese, Japanese and Korean collections during the 1985 calender year. 7 All reference, interlibrary loan and photocopy requests completed during that year were examined and tabulated.

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The survey found that a variety of readers used different parts of the East Asian collections for different purposes. For all the three languages economics was the most consulted subject for readers visiting the Library, followed by history, arts and politics. These direct readers were mainly academics, government officials and members of the general public. Demand for monographs on interlibrary loan was mainly for language and literature, as well as history, economics and sociology. Major borrowers were the universities, embassies and the media. Requests for photocopied journal articles were largely for medicine, science and technology, and came primarily from business, research institutes and hospitals.

During 1988 the National Library conducted a general survey of its readers. Questionnaires were distributed in each of the Library's reading rooms on every third day of the survey period, April to July. Altogether, 2 305 copies were handed out and 1 590 returned completed, a 70% return rate.8 The most interesting results of the survey relate to materials used in different languages and use of reading rooms. Readers were asked to indicate use of library resources in languages other than English. For all respondents regardless of reading room used, the language most consulted proved to be, in order, French, German, Chinese and Japanese. The Asian Collections Reading Room also emerged as one of the most heavily used special areas.

A separate question on awareness of and satisfaction with particular library services showed 88% satisfied and 12% not satisfied with Asian Collections. Unfortunately the survey did not include causes of disatisfaction, although one problem identified by all readers was for the need for a simple and efficient catalogue. A finding of some concern was that 10% of users in the main reading areas were not aware that the Library had an Asian Collections Section, indicating a need for greater promotion.

Promotion As its 1988 reader survey indicated, the Library needs to strengthen promotion of its Asian collections and services. Recently the Library has been placing greater emphasis on promotion in part through two new publications. The monthly National Library of Australia News which began in October 1990 has already included articles on the Indonesian and Japanese collections. The quarterly journal Voices has devoted its September 1991 issue to Chinese subjects.

In addition to the new ventures the Library is continuing to publicise its major recent Asian acquisitions through its Current Awareness Bulletin issued to interest­ed individuals and institutions. These are a major source of direct and interlibrary loan use, and are particularly important as, unlike ABN, they contain Asian script data.

Attendance at conference and publishing of articles and reports in relevant periodicals such as the Asian Studies Review and the East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia Newsletter are other means employed to promote use. Never­theless, it is clear that much remains to be done to raise the level of awareness among present and potential users.

Recent Initiatives for Cooperation The most recent examination of Austra­lia's Asian library resources is contained in the Ingleson Report.9 The inquiry

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which began in March 1988 was intended as a major review of Asian studies and languages in universities and colleges, as the basis for advice to government on future directions. Its report was submitted to the Asian Studies Council in January 1989.

The report set out, with great clarity, the difficulties faced by Asian collections in Australia. 10 There were serious cataloguing backlogs in the four major collections, those of the National Library, Australian National University and the universities of Sydney and Melbourne; admittedly they had been reduced somewhat through romanised cataloguing on ABN, but the real solution was the development of a system whereby non-roman scripts could be entered on the network. In addition, the report critised the level of staffing in Asian collections and the prevailing absence of specialist librarians, and called for specialist training to produce more librarians with appropriate language skills.

The report was not acted on, but was referred to another enquiry, whose report, entitled Library Provision in Higher Education Institutions and known as the Ross Report 11 in turn commended the Ingleson proposals. This was followed in May 1991 by a National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia, organised by the National Library and the Australian National University Library which put forward several proposals. First, the National Library, the Australian National University and others would form a group to look at the feasibility of an Asian studies library resource network as put forward by Ingleson. The National Library would also undertake a survey of libraries wishing to provide or use paid-for contract services relating to Asian materials. The National Library was asked to seek and distribute to other libraries collection development policies on Asia. The major libraries with signifi­cant Asian cataloguing backlogs would jointly develop a proposal for funding to help offset the cost of cataloguing these arrears. The four larger collections would also explore the concept of a shared local catalogue system supporting Asian script data.

Since the Roundtable, the National Library, the Australian National University and University of Sydney libraries have made a joint submission to the Department of Employment, Education and Training, aimed at obtaining funding to take up the implementation of the library-related recommendations of Ingleson, Ross and other reports. It remains to be seen what the response will be.

Future directions In the short to medium-term it appears likely that the National Library will continue to act as the foremost provider of Asian research collections and services in Australia, increasingly in consultation and cooperation with other libraries.

In the present economic climate the prospects for any of the universities greatly expanding their Asian collections do not seem particularly bright. During an earlier period of growth for Asian studies in the 1970s, when Griffith University in Queensland and Murdoch University in Western Australia entered the Asian col­lecting field, it was thought Griffith would soon have the largest East Asian collections outside Canberra. 12 This has not occurred, and Asian library resources outside Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne remain small. The heavy concentration of resources in Canberra at the National Library and Australian National University has

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continued, with the two libraries accounting for an estimated 70% of the total national collection of Asian language materials. 13

Asian studies in Australia are expected to grow, though not necessarily in an even manner. Since the 1950s, there have been several waves of promised growth which have then receded. Most recently there has been a major increase in Japanese language studies which, if continued, will have serious implications for libraries. Korean studies, too, are enjoying a boom. Other changes in patterns of use are also likely. Increasingly the Library's direct users are from a younger age group. With the Asian component of the population rising, use by Australians of Asian origin will continue to grow. The most marked trend in external use is the ever-greater demand by business, research bodies and hospitals for photocopied periodical material, particularly for Japanese science, technology and medicine.

At present the Library's Asian collections still consist mainly of printed materials such as monographs, journals and newspapers, as well as extensive microform holdings and some audiovisual items. As new technologies are developed the Library will need to place more emphasis on online and other non-traditional resources relating to Asia, in order to meet user needs such as those of the business community.

The National Library will continue to employ a range of established and new methods of acquiring materials from the diverse areas of Asia. While exLhanges are generally declining worldwide, they are likely to remain important for countries with limited outside contact such as Burma, North Korea and the Indochina 1:1tates. In addition, exchanges with national libraries in many parts of the region are major sources of government documents. Nevertheless most acquisition will continue to be by purchase. Recent examples of new avenues for obtaining publications have been through the assistance of the National Library of Laos and of an overseas aid agency in Cambodia.

Cooperation at the national and international level will play a growing role in the Library's development of Asian collections and services. Considering the struggle the Library has had to set up and retain one Australian cooperative acquisition office in the region, the establishment of others in South and Southeast Asia, as recommended 17 years ago in the Sutton Report, does not appear to be a realistic option. 14 However, the Library has recently joined the Library of Congress acquisition program for Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, and may well join other Library of Congress programs for countries in South and Southeast Asia.

Cooperation with national libraries in the region will become increasingly important. The regular secondment of staff from the National Diet Library in Japan over the past 25 years has been of great direct benefit as well as bringing less tangible results in terms of strengthened relations. 15 It is also hoped to establish similar arrangements with the National Library of China. A highly successful one-year secondment from the National Library of Indonesia has recently been completed. During 1991 senior National Library of Australia staff have visited libraries in a number of Asian countries including China, Japan, Vietnam, Cambo­dia and Laos in order to help develop a broad range of cooperative programs, and this may have longer term effects on the Library's collections and services relating to those countries.

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Australian libraries should consider their coverage of Asia in terms of the Distributed National Collection. This is especially important for South and West Asia which, as the Ingleson Report recognized, are of enormous economic and political significance to the rest of the world, but where Australian library re­sources, particularly for vernacular materials, are weak. While the National Library has continued to build up its sizeable Western language holdings relating to South Asia, its vernacular collections including Hindi and Sanskrit are no longer being developed. The situation for West Asia is even more serious, and a national collection development policy should be formulated by the proposed national network for Asian studies library resources.

Despite the serious problems which remain for the National Library and other Australian libraries developing Asian collections and services, recent events en­courage some optmism about the future. The obstacles and solutions have been set out in major official reports by Ingleson and Ross. Libraries are showing a strong desire for cooperation in this area, as witnessed by meetings such as the Roundta­ble in May 1991. ABN has committed itself to serious consideration of the inclusion of non-roman characters on the National Bibliographic Database. Provided re­sources are made available, it should not be too long before Australia's main Asian library collections are all using systems supporting Asian scripts.

Notes

1 These agreements are discussed in A Gosling 'Books from Asia: Cooperative Collection Development in Australia' East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia Newsletter No 10 December 1986 pp71-5.

2 Stanley Sutton South and Southeast Asia: A Policy for the National Library of Australia Canberra National Library of Australia 1974.

3 National Library of Australia Selection Policy Canberra National Library of Australia 1981 p6.

4 Ibidpp2-l6. 5 Collection Development Policy Canberra National Library of Australia 1990 ppl00-1. 6 SW Wang 'Survey of East Asian Language Collections in Australian Libraries, December

1983' East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia Newsletter No 10 December 1986 pp26-43.

7 A Gosling 'Survey of the Use of National Library of Australia East Asian Collections During 1985' East Asian Library Resources Group of Australia Newsletter No 11 June 1987 ppl-5.

8 Unpublished questionnaire results. 9 Asia in Australian Higher Education: Report of the Inquiry into the Teaching of Asian

Studies and Languages in Higher Education Submitted to the Asian Studies Council (Ingleson Report) Canberra Asian Studies Council 1989.

10 /bidpp203-17. 11 Library Provision in Higher Education Institutions (Ross Report) Canberra Australia

Government Publishing Service 1990 ppl44-7. 12 Enid Bishop 'Acquiring Eastern Material: The Australian Solution' Proceedings of /FLA

Worldwide Seminar May 31-June 5 1976 Seoul Korean Library Association 1976 pl31. 13 Figures provided for the National Roundtable on Libraries and Asia in May 1991. 14 Sutton p30. 15 Penelope Layland 'The National Diet Library of Japan' National Library of Australia

News vol 1 no 10 July 1991 ppll-13.

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