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Original editions of Chinese gazetteers in the Yale East Asia Library

Tang Li (Yale East Asia Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA)

Collection Building

ISSN: 0160-4953

Article publication date: 18 January 2013

408

Abstract

Purpose

Chinese gazetteers are one of the most important primary sources for the study of history of Chinese economy, politics, culture, military, and science and technology. Since the very beginning, the Yale East Asia Library has been keen on collecting Chinese gazetteers. However, unlike its peer research libraries in the USA, the Yale East Asia Library had never compiled a catalog or written an article about its gazetteer collection. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review, for the first time, original editions of Chinese gazetteers held in the Yale East Asia Library to reveal the holdings and research value.

Design/methodology/approach

The author conducted a survey of original editions of Chinese gazetteers in the Yale East Asia Library by searching the Yale online library catalog and comparing with existing catalogs of Chinese local gazetteers compiled by other research libraries in the USA. The paper focuses on the edition, coverage, rarity and variety of Yale's holdings.

Findings

According to the author's findings and preliminary research, Yale holds approximately 337 original Chinese gazetteers. The majority of them is rarely found in other North American research libraries and thus has high research value. They cover almost all provinces and municipalities in China and have a great variety of types.

Research limitations/implications

Although the author tried to use various search strategies to look up in the Yale online library catalog to ensure high retrieval, the results here may not be accurate. Also it is likely that a number of Chinese gazetteers are not recorded in the Yale online library catalog because of backlogs. A physical survey of Chinese gazetteer holdings at Yale and more research need to be done in the future.

Originality/value

This paper is the first of its kind to provide a systematic review of original editions of Chinese gazetteers held in the Yale East Asia Library.

Keywords

Citation

Li, T. (2013), "Original editions of Chinese gazetteers in the Yale East Asia Library", Collection Building, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 37-42. https://doi.org/10.1108/01604951311295085

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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