The other day I was mentioning how much help the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC) Image Use Protocol Guide is for anyone trying to obtain copyright permission to use an image from a Japanese source in a conversation with colleagues, and I realized that I had not yet blogged about it here. This is a much belated effort to correct that oversight!

It is especially embarrassing since I was a speaker at the momentous conference in June 2008 at Tokyo’s International House of Japan where scholars, librarians, publishers, museum curators and others came together to discuss overcoming barriers to efficient and legal use of Japanese images in works published outside Japan. The proceedings of the Tokyo IUP Conference (in Japanese) are now online at the Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation, including my talk about the importance of Japanese images for North American scholarship on Japan. Summary information about that 2008 conference in English is available on the NCC web site.

To use the NCC Image Use Protocol Guide, one can start by browsing for cases that are similar to the one you are investigating in the “When Permission is Required” section, which links to the appropriate templates. Permission request templates are conveniently collected with bilingual sample letters. The site also provides links to other organizations that provide guidance. There is a comment section inviting people to share experience and give tips to others based on what they learned.

A lot of effort went into developing this resource, so please use it!

http://library.osu.edu/wikis/library/index.php/Jiji_Manga_244

Readers of my other blog about Ohio State’s Manga collection know that we have a large collection of Jiji Manga 時事漫画, published 1921~1931, in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Together with a graduate student assistant, Hyejeong Choi, and other student assistants, I have been working on an index to the issues as part of a wiki project which we call: The Jiji Manga Wiki.

Today we were looking at No. 244, published on December 21, 1925. The full newspaper-sized political cartoon by Kitazawa Rakuten 北澤楽天 (1876-1955) shows a puzzled Santa Claus, wondering how he can possibly fill his bag with the presents that people are requesting.

It is interesting to see what Rakuten imagined as on everyone’s mind around Christmas in 1925:

• A woman in a kimono holds up a banner requesting: “Women’s Suffrage”
• A man in a business suit holds: “A Policy of Mutual Prosperity for Laborers and Capitalists”
• A Chinese man has a scroll saying: “A Peaceful and United Government for the Republic of China”
• An Indian man holds: “An Alliance of Peoples of Color”
• A Western man (Quaker?) holds a scroll: “Armament Reductions by the Powers”

No wonder Santa looked so desparate! That would have been hard for anyone to deliver in 1925/26!

Soon newspapers will be carrying contemporary versions of this cartoon, a holiday perennial. What kinds of requests will the petitioners be bearing in 2010? Santa is definitely going to be scratching his brow once again!

Recently I was looking into what SPARC Japan http://www.nii.ac.jp/sparc/ has been doing recently as part of the global effort, SPARC, to address imbalances in the scholarly communication system and provide better access to research results. Progress is continuing at an impressive level!

What does this mean for researchers? Be sure to do an online search in the Japanese WWW when you are looking for scholarly articles before making an inter-library loan request! Sometimes (not always….) you can find the article online.
Continue reading →

Handout for Prof. Andrews’ Art of Japan (History of Art 582) course on October 25, 2010:

Bibliography and Research Methods for Japanese Art History

1. ROMANIZATION: Hint: Stay consistent in one system of romanization!

Libraries use Modified Hepburn romanization, following the Library of Congress. LC’s hints: http://catalog.loc.gov/help/japanese-unicode.htm
Many systems are used to romanize Japanese. Search in multiple ways: http://library.osu.edu/wikis/library/index.php/Romanization

2. GENERAL:

Fine Arts Library: Amanda Gluibizzi’s information on searching Art and History of Art:
http://library.osu.edu/find/subject/art-and-history-of-art/

Japanese Studies Library: wiki project includes Japanese art history information–

• Overview:
  http://library.osu.edu/wikis/library/index.php/Japanese_art_history
• Topics:
  http://library.osu.edu/wikis/library/index.php/List_of_East_Asian_art_history_topics
• List of Journals:
  http://library.osu.edu/wikis/library/index.php/Japanese_Art_History_Resources_in_the_Ohio_State_University_Library
• Index of Nihon no Bijutsu: (monthly journal, with each issue on a particular topic)
  http://library.osu.edu/wikis/library/index.php/Nihon_no_Bijutsu
• Museums:
  http://library.osu.edu/wikis/library/index.php/Japanese_Museums

3. ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES (Selected):

• JAANUS Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/
• Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (DS805 .K633 1983 – Thompson Lib Grand R Rm)
  Online: in Japan Knowledge http://library.ohio-state.edu/search/y?Japan+Knowledge
  Click “ENTER” button (upper R); uncheck all boxes except Encyclopedia of Japan
  CD-ROM version available for check out: DS805 .E53 1999 Computer file
• Encyclopedia of Religion http://library.ohio-state.edu/search/y?Encyclopedia+of+Religion

4. RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND DBS (Selected):

* Selective Bibliography:
John Dower. Japanese history and culture from ancient to modern times (1995)
(THO Grand R Rm: Z3306 .D69 1995)
* Catalogs:

• Ohio State’s Library catalog: http://library.ohio-state.edu/
• OhioLINK: http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/search/
• OCLC Worldcat or http://www.worldcat.org/
  http:/library.ohio-state.edu.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/record=e1000379

*OCLC statistics: http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/statistics/default.asp
http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/statistics/charts/languagecloud.htm

* Indexes:

• Bibliography for Asian Studies
  • Online version covers 1971+ http://library.ohio-state.edu/record=e1000093

  Use printed bibliographies for earlier years – for example:

  • Cumulative bibliography of Asian studies, 1966-1970
    (THO Grand R Rm: Z3001.C83 1966 -1970 + Z3001.C84 1966 -1970)
  • Cumulative BAS, 1941-1965 (THO Grand R Rm: Z3001.C8 + Z3001.C82)
  • Nachod (Japan: 1906-1937) (THO Grand R Rm: Z3301 .W462 + Z3301 .W463 )
  • Wenckstern (Japan: 1859-1906) (THO Grand R Rm: Z3301 .W46 1998)
• Research databases list: http://library.ohio-state.edu/screens/databases.html
• Multi-database search: http://nf4hr2ve4v.cs.serialssolutions.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/
• ISI Citation Databases General search + Cited reference search + Advanced search
  http://library.ohio-state.edu/search/y?Web+of+Science
  **tutorials available! http://scientific.thomson.com/tutorials/wos7/index.html
• Japanese Literature in Translation Database (Japan Foundation)
  http://www.jpf.go.jp/JF_Contents/InformationSearchService?ContentNo=13&SubsystemNo=1&HtmlName=search_e.html
• Database of Japanese Art in Overseas Collections (5,883 items)
  http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/graphicversion/dbase/japan_e.html

* Dissertations
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (Contains citations for dissertations and theses done at U.S., Canadian and some foreign institutions. Free PDFs of all dissertations published since 1997 and select pre-1997 dissertations.)
http://library.ohio-state.edu/search/y?ProQuest+Dissertations

I will be teaching the International Studies 501 course “Understanding the Global Information Society?” again with Miriam Conteh-Morgan in Spring 2010 (TuTh 1:30PM – 3:18PM). The course call # is 6438.

Here is the syllabus: Continue reading →

After 3 years in Ackerman Road, we’re about to open for business in the beautifully renovated Thompson Library on Monday!!

East Asian stacks are on 3M, while the reference books and journals are on 3.

I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone more frequently now that I’ll be back on main campus (although I will be away quite a bit in August, so don’t be surprised if I am not in the office.)

Today we had a meeting to plan shelving arrangements in Thompson Library (opening in Aug’09). We decided to keep some Japanese movie DVDs near the Japanese journals and reference books on the 3rd floor. In addition to those, though, Ohio State University Libraries also has many DVDs and VHS tapes located elsewhere, including in the Book Depository. The only way to find the films is through the library’s catalog. We’ve been collecting Japanese films actively for several years, yet it seems that we still have a long way to go to build a decent collection! Please send your recommendations!

I am gradually learning about databases on Japanese film. It is amazing how many there are now! I will be studying these further as I continue to build the collection of Japanese films:

I’ll be teaching a course in the spring quarter with my colleague, Miriam Conteh-Morgan, on What Is the Global Information Society? It is listed in the Spring ’09 course list for International Studies –

Intl Stds 501, T R 11:30-1:18 (course # 12207-1)
Prerequisites: None

** Our goal is to introduce critical thinking about the knowledge creation process in its global and societal contexts. We believe this course will give students an advantage in academics and, especially, in the job market — as well as in their future professional lives.
Continue reading →

During the month of June — on Tuesday and Thursdays all month! — 37 films examining the portrayal of Asians in classic movies will be featured on TCM in a festival series, Race & Hollywood: Asian Images in Film. Continue reading →