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C.V. Starr East Asian Library Seeks Japanese Studies Librarian

Japanese Studies Librarian
C.V. Starr East Asian Library
Columbia University Libraries

The C.V. Starr East Asian Library is one of the major collections for the study of East Asia in the United States with over 840,000 volumes of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, and Western language materials and over 7,200 periodical titles.

Reporting to the Director, and working with a team of librarians in East Asian Studies, the Japanese Studies Librarian builds the Japanese language collection and provides curricular and research support services to students, faculty and scholars in Japanese Studies.

Responsibilities

-Identify and select Japanese research resources for acquisition in all formats, both current and retrospective, on a timely and continuing basis following the Collection Development Policy and other relevant guidelines. Utilize a variety of selection and collection development techniques and tools, including approval and blanket order plans, gifts, and direct orders from vendors, publishers, and other sources of publications. Cultivate and maintain international networks to ensure the appropriate acquisition of unique and specialized materials; undertake acquisitions trips.
-Review and update appropriate sections of the Collection Development policy; establish criteria and make decisions in consultation with faculty regarding priority acquisitions; maintain acquisition and collection data.
-Develop and manage collaborative collection development projects with offsite facilities.
-Review incoming collections to flag materials for priority handling, onsite or offsite, and to identify new titles.
-Manage and monitor the acquisition budget and its expenditure in a timely manner.
-Participate in collection development related grant activities.
-Participate regionally, nationally and internationally in efforts to develop effective resource sharing mechanisms and coordinated collection development. Promote the collections via conference participation, publications, and outreach to diverse communities.
-Provide advanced reference and instructional services both in person and virtually.
-Create and maintain research guides, LibGuides embedded in courses, Japanese Studies Collection Web Pages, and use other communications strategies and tools to promote the research support services.
-Develop and sustain a highly engaged faculty liaison program. Meet with faculty regularly and stay abreast of changes in curricular and research interests.
-Plan and organize outreach projects with the faculty, which may include hosting symposia, exhibitions, book talks, film screenings, etc.
-Participate in professional committees and task forces locally and beyond the University.
-Contribute to scholarship in Japanese Studies and Librarianship.

Minimum Qualifications

-MLS degree or equivalent
-Experience working with a Japanese Collection in an academic or research library.
-In-depth knowledge of Japanese collection development and management practices.
-Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
-Excellent language skills in Japanese (i.e. native or near-native proficiency with ability to function in a professional capacity).
-In depth knowledge of user services in Japanese Studies
-Knowledge of Japan related databases.

Preferred Qualifications

-Ph.D. or MA in a related subject.
-Working knowledge of writing and maintaining content for the Web.
-Experience utilizing social media to promote library collections and services.
-Knowledge of classical Japanese and, preferably, kuzushiji (characters written in cursive style).
-Knowledge of bibliographic utilities—OCLC and local library management/integrated library systems.

Additional Information

This position is eligible for university housing.

Columbia University Libraries offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement savings plan, and tuition exemption for self and family (waiting periods apply).

For immediate consideration, please apply online at: http://pa334.peopleadmin.com/postings/2170

Columbia University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer —Race/Gender/Disability/Veteran

Joowon Suh Elected President of the American Association of Teachers of Korean

Please join us in congratulating Joowon Suh, Senior Lecturer in Korean and Director of the Korean Language Program, for her recent election as the ninth president of the American Association of Teachers of Korean, an organization dedicated to promoting Korean linguistic, literary, and cultural studies in the United States.  She was elected in June of this year and will lead the association for the next three years.  During her term, the Korean Language Program will host the organization’s twenty-fifth annual conference at Columbia University with an expected attendance of over two hundred scholars and education professionals.  We are delighted to recognize Suh’s achievement and look forward to her future contributions to the fields of Korean studies and East Asian studies as a whole in this capacity.

Conference “Early Cities and Economy: The Development of Urbanism, Regional Politics, and Economic Networks in the Shandong Peninsula before the Rise of Empire”

On October 25-27, archaeologists from China and North America attended the international conference “Early Cities and Economy: The Development of Urbanism, Regional Politics, and Economic Networks in the Shandong Peninsula before the Rise of Empire” hosted by the Tang Center for Early China at Columbia University. The event was cosponsored by the Tang Center for Early China at Columbia University, the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University, Shandong University, Shandong Academy of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Additional funding was received from the CCK Foundation Inter-University Center for Sinology, Harvard University.

In the evening of October 25, the opening ceremony of the conference was held at the World Room of Pulitzer Hall. Prof. Li Feng, Faculty Director of the Tang Center hosted the ceremony and welcomed scholars and the general public to Columbia University and the conference. Prof. Shang Wei, Chair of the Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University, Prof. Liu Yanchang, Deputy Director, representing Prof. Zheng Tongxiu, Director of Shandong Academy of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Prof. Fang Hui, Dean of School of History and Culture, Shandong University, and Prof. Anne Underhill, Chair of the Dept. of Anthropology, Yale University offered congratulatory remarks to the conference respectively.

This conference discussed and examined the important archeological discoveries in Shandong over the past twenty years with a focus on the development of early cities and their economic activities. The participants discussed evidence for economic activities such as agriculture and different kinds of craft production at individual sites and within distinctive regions. They also explored new directions in research, including methodological advancements in fieldwork and analysis. The conference presented a selected series of important archaeological projects that centered on settlements and urban archeology in Shandong from the Neolithic period to the late Bronze-Age, and discussed their significance for understanding early cities and their economies.

 

Panel One: Regional Settlement System and Cultural Background, chaired by Anne Underhill

The first panel focused on the local population, settlement systems, and cultural background of the region. Dr. Gary Feinman from the Field Museum shared the results of a series of survey projects conducted in coastal Shandong, showing the trajectory of local population change from the early Neolithic to the Han (ca.7000BCE-220AD) and the correlation between politics and population. Prof. Luan Fengshi from Shandong University compared late Neolithic (ca.3100-2000BCE) walled cities discovered in the coastal region and suggested that early cities developed within the sequence from simple settlement to settlement with a moat, walled settlement with a moat, and finally double walled settlement. Dr. Han Hui from the Shandong Academy of Cultural Relics and Archaeology pointed out that the site of Guicheng in the Jiaodong Peninsula, established by Zhou for managing the far east, accelerated the social and the cultural change in the region. Prof. Li Min of UCLA brought a different approach by proposing that social memory and shared stories also affected the establishment of early cities.

 

Panel Two: Changes in Early City Organization, chaired by Luan Fengshi

The second panel introduced changes in early city organization and discoveries related to Shandong. Prof. Wang Fen from Shandong University presented a newly discovered large settlement site dated mainly to the middle Neolithic period (ca.5200-4500BCE) in the site of Jiaojia, Jinan, which sheds new lights on the local landscape and social system. Dr. Liang Zhonghe from the Institute of Archaeology, CASS and Dr. Liu Yanchang from the Shandong Academy of Cultural Relics and Archaeology discussed recent excavation progress from two other Neolithic sites, Yaowangcheng and Dantu. The two sites both have walls and moats, reflecting the complex social structures and the regional cultures in the late Neolithic period (ca.3100-2200BCE). Prof. Fang Hui from Shandong University differentiated Eastern Barbarians and Shang people according to their different sacrificial practices by reexamining two oracle inscriptions related to “the king of East Barbarians.”

 

Panel Three: Late Bronze-Age Cities and Economy, chaired by Liu Yanchang

The third panel centered on the significance of the region in the Bronze Age, namely the period of Western Zhou (ca.1045-771BCE) expansion and Eastern Zhou (770-221BCE) hegemony and territorial competence. Dr. Tang Jinqiong from the Institute of Archaeology, CASS compared bronze vessels from Shandong and Jiangsu and showed that different local attitudes toward foreign culture in the two regions led to the different bronze cultures. Dr. Liu Yanchang introduced the city site of Lu and its significance in the long term. Dr. Ma Zhimin from Shandong Longkou Museum introduced the preservation plan for the Guicheng city-site.

 

Panel Four: Consumption and Production: Early Cities and the Regional Economic Network, chaired by Fang Hui

The fourth panel discussed economic production, distribution, and consumption of local products, including sea salt, stone tools, bone artifacts, and crops. Prof. Anne Underhill from Yale University shared her research in a settlement area of Liangchengzhen and suggested the appearance of some craft specialization in local production in the late Neolithic (ca.2600-2200BCE). Prof. Chen Xuexiang from Shandong University used the distribution of “barbarian style” tureens and clay vessels that are believed to be the carrier or measurement of salt to reconstruct the exchange network of salt in the late Shang period (ca.1250-1045BCE). Prof. Roderick Campbell from ISAW, New York University presented his experiments on bone artifact production and pointed out that in the late Shang period, some workshops were able to efficiently mass produce specific products and distribute them to regions where local workshops existed but worked on products other than those from mass production. Prof. Gary Crawford of University of Toronto (Mississauga) presented his paleoethnobotanical research in Liangchengzhen, suggesting that rice was a major crop in agriculture.

The conference successfully brought scholars from China and North America into dialogue and further inspired new questions and research directions. The specific focus on a single region also allows attendees to have more-in-depth conversations and thus the discussion of each panel was lively and insightful. The event not only enabled scholars to exchange information and research achievements but also set up new networks and lay the foundations for future collaboration and studies.