College & Research Libraries News
Asian studies syllabi online
In July 1995, 16 librarians from the U.S. and Asia met in a special workshop for librarians at the annual Asian Studies Summer Institute at the East-West Center (EWC) in Honolulu. Their discovery of the EWC’s large collection of Asian studies course syllabi led to the creation of an Internet resource that now fosters Asian studies worldwide and exemplifies a new vision for librarianship.
After the institute, librarians at Kapiolani College in Honolulu converted hundreds of syllabi into a Web site (http://library. kcc.hawaii.edu/asdp/) that was unveiled at the 1996 annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies, held in Honolulu. On the Web, the syllabus collection can better promote Asian studies and attract more syllabi from scholars and instructors worldwide. The site’s value will increase as interest in Asian studies grows internationally.
The Kapiolani Library has launched several other Web sites since then, including another EWC database of course syllabi in Pacific Island studies. Each site is a joint project between the library and a partner agency with important information to disseminate. The library handles the technical matters of the sites. The partners perform editorial functions and help find funding for the projects.
We now believe modern librarianship must include the online publication of significant information that would otherwise have limited accessibility. “Hidden” information abounds in research centers, archives, professional associations, ethnic organizations, local history groups, and many other types of agencies, and can be put online by all types of libraries—academic, public, and special.
Much of this local information could be vital to the right audiences if it were more widely known and accessible. Partnering with agencies that can supply the right information, share expenses, and help maintain the sites makes creation of local online resources a feasible and valuable library activity.—Teiry D. Webb, University of Hawaii, Kapiolani Community College
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