UBC Japanese Library Resources Blog

Please check out the Image Use Protocol website from the National Coordinating Council on Japanese Language Resources (NCC) :
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/imageuse/index.html

The site is specifically designed to help Japanese Studies scholars outside of Japan attain the proper rights to use images in their scholarly publications. This guide provides an overview of Japanese copyright law, as well as templates that can be used to request copyright permission.

The NCC is looking for feedback on the site, and requests that comments be sent to vbestor@fas.harvard.edu by Friday, April 17. The site will go down after this date, but will come back “fully live” by the end of the month.

Starting this month, we will have access to a new version of JapanKnowledge called JapanKnowledge Plus. In addition to having Jitsu 字通 kanji dictionary and all the resources previously accessible through JapanKnowledge, this new version includes the online version of the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten 日本国語大辞典　(or Nikkoku Online). The search interface has also been updated.

If you have JapanKnowledge bookmarked, please note that we now have a new URL for the site:
http://www.jkn21.com/

Alternatively, you can access the database via the information page. Remember that you must be logged onto your VPN in order to use the database.

Finally, separate access to Jitsu has been discontinued. You must therefore log onto JapanKnowledge in order to access this resource.

CiNii has a new search interface. If you have the site bookmarked, ensure that you are using the following url:
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/

Thanks to the efforts of the Library Systems Department, the Asian Library has a new Japanese-language CD/DVD-Rom station. CD-Roms currently in the collection include Heian jidaishi jiten (平安時代史事典) and Konjaku mojikyo (今昔文字鏡). The station is located on the main floor of the library, and is capable of playing Region 2 DVDs, for those who would like to view Asian Library’s Region 2 movies (released in Japan).

We are conducting a trial of Nikkoku Online, the online version of the Nihon kokugo daijiten 日本国語大辞典.

To access:
– go to the information page: link
– click “via the Web”
– click on ログイン once in the site itself.

Trial ends December 20, 2008.

Please remember to fill out the survey found on the information page so that we can determine whether or not to acquire this resource.

As of April 1, we will have full access to the online version of the kanji dictionary Jitsu　(字通).

To use the dictionary, click on the link in the Jitsu information page, then click on ログイン.You can also access this resource from within JapanKnowledge by clicking on the 字通 icon at the top of the page.

Also, our subscription to JapanKnowledge will now allow for two concurrent users (previously a maximum of one user could access the database at any point in time).

We are conducting a trial of the Nihon rekishi chimei taikei （日本歴史地名大系）database (an added component to the JapanKnowledge subscription database). This Japanese place name database includes over 200 000 entries and allows for both title keyword and full-text searching.

To access the database:
– go to the information page: link
– click on the link provided
– once in the database page, click on ログイン

Trial end date:
April 30 2008

After trying out the database, please complete the short feedback form on the information page. Your comments will help me determine whether or not to purchase this resource.

Did you know that Factiva database provides access to over 150 Japanese-language sources? Most of these are full-text and include newspapers such as Mainichi Shinbun and Yomiuri Shinbun, as well as various business resources. You can search for articles using Japanese script.

Go to the Factiva information page to connect to the database or contact me if you would like assistance using this resource.

Update – The trial period has been extended to February 29 2008

We will be having trials of Yomiuri and Asahi Shinbun databases from January 14 to February 13 2008. You must be on a campus computer or be using your VPN from home in order to access the databases. I would very much appreciate your feedback on both databases to see whether or not it is worthwhile to subscribe to one or both of them.

See below for information on both trials (click on titles to link to databases):

Yomiuri Shibun’s Yomidasu Bunshokan (ヨミダス文書館)
Contains Yomiuri Shinbun articles since 1986 and a biographical database. Click here and go to 収録記事について for the full description (in Japanese).

Asahi Shinbun’s Kikuzo (聞蔵) II Visual for Libraries
Contains over 5 million Asahi Shinbun articles since 1984, plus an image library and articles from Asahi publications such as Aera. Check out the full description of the database here (in Japanese).

What’s an RSS Feed?
Certain websites and databases allow users to subscribe to their RSS feeds. RSS feeds send subscribers alerts about newly-published information as it becomes available on the sites.

Types of web resources that have this feature include blogs, news agency websites and scholarly e-journals and databases. Some sites have many RSS feeds, with specific feeds for specific topics of interest (such as a newspaper website having a feed for its health-related articles); while other sites have only one RSS feed, which sends information on every item published on the site.

What’s an RSS Reader?
RSS Readers are used to store, sort and share the information you receive from your RSS feed subscriptions.

What does it look like?
To see RSS in action, click here.

What’s the point?
RSS feeds are useful for learning about newly published web content that is pertinent to you, without having to search through information that you’re not interested in. Almost like a newspaper that only has articles on subjects that you’re interested in, RSS feeds let you know what’s new in your subject area.

Can I get Japanese-language content through RSS feeds?
Yes! Many Japanese news agencies have started using RSS feeds, as well as blogs and other web resources.

How do I get started?
If you’re interested in setting up an RSS Reader and subscribing to feeds, please contact me, and we can set it up together. You can also check out the help pages of any RSS Reader application. I use Google Reader.