East Asian Studies
Spotlight
Thanks to the foresight and generosity of Stanley and Lucie Weinstein, the University Library realized a bequest of a significant collection of scholarly books on Buddhism, particularly focused on Buddhism in Japan and China. The Weinstein collection also includes substantial holdings on Asian arts. This collection of nearly 11,000 volumes will make UVA one of the major holders of Buddhist materials in the country.
- East Asian Libraries in North America East Asian Library Websites in North America A-Z
- EAC Faculty East Asia Center Faculty Directory
East Asian Collection at UVA
About the East Asian Collection
The East Asian Collection at the University of Virginia Library is a relatively new collection that includes resources for all major academic disciplines. It is particularly strong in:
- Buddhism
- Literature
- History
- Art
Approximately 1,400 titles in the Collection are unique and not held by any other library in the world.
Notable Features of the Collection
- In 2006, the Collection gained all library materials from the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions, which included more than 100,000 items about Buddhism and East Asian culture.
- The Collection also includes the Ma Kiam Collection, a collection of more than 10,000 volumes of Chinese classical works in traditional stitched binding, valuable for teaching literature, history and philosophy.
- The Library still maintains its Chinese and Japanese text initiatives - two pioneering projects digitizing authoritative editions of Chinese and Japanese literary works. These are among the very few digital projects that supply an English translation alongside the original script.
Electronic Resources
The East Asian Collection includes resources in a variety of electronic formats. Major resources include:
- Databases, such as SuperStar Journals Database - 超星期刊, Chinese Periodical Full-text Database (1911~1949) Series 1-11 (民国时期期刊全文数据库), Asahi Shimbun Cross-Search 朝日新聞クロスサーチ, and DBpia.
- For video resources, the Library has more than 1,400 DVDs in East Asian languages, including the complete run (100+) of the “Documentary DVDs of the Contemporary China” series.
- The Library has Yokohama Rokuon Tosho 横浜錄音図書 audiobook series, a collection of over 240 Japanese audio books, which is not held by any other library in the U.S., together with all the underlying literary works.
Where to Find the East Asian Collection
The Collection is housed mainly at the Shannon Library. Many resources in East Asian languages can also be found at the Fine Arts Library, Clemons Library, and others.
(Note that materials in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages are shelved together with other languages on the same subjects according to Library of Congress Classification)