East Asia
Languages and Countries
The major part of the collection is written in Asian languages. Library acquisition policies take into consideration the different research subjects within the fields of East, Southeast and Central Asian studies. This includes, in East and Central Asia, the People's Republic of China (encompassing Machuria, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau), the Republic of China (Taiwan), Mongolia, Japan, North and South Korea. In Southeast Asia, Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Books and periodicals in Western languages dealing with the respective countries of the region and treating topics relating to East Asia are also acquired comprehensively.
Subject areas
Acquisition concentrates on the following subject areas, as already defined in the DFG's programme of Special Research Collections: History, including social and economic history, religion and philosophy, language, literature and ethnology, anthropology and anthropogeography, education and higher education, scientific and scholarly institutions, information science, bibliology, library science, the fine arts, music, theatre and dance. Furthermore, jurisprudence, politics, constitution, administration, party publications, labour unions and associations, journalism, film, radio and television. In the future, acquisition will take into account the field of social sciences as well.
In the fields of mathematics, agriculture, medicine, natural sciences and engineering, the East Asia Department collects bibliographies and publications on their history when pertaining to East Asia.
In the case of independent, indigenous cultural and scientific developments, e.g., acupuncture, relevant literature is being collected also in those fields that are otherwise excluded.
Library acquisition in the fields of engineering, medicine, economics, and agriculture is taken care of by the relevant Central Libraries. These are
the Technische Informationsbibliothek Hannover,
the Medizinische Zentralbibliothek Köln, and
the Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften in Kiel.
Cooperation with other Departments of the State Library in Berlin
The East Asia Department of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin maintains a working cooperation with other departments in the area of acquisition.
Official publications from Japan and Korea are collected in the Staatsbibliothek by the Department of Collection Development in the context of international exchange agreements. Concerning the other countries of the East and South-East Asian region, the Staatsbibliothek tries to obtain government and other official publications (Amtsdruckschriften; ADS) by buying or as a present.
The purchase of maps and atlases of the region is closely coordinated with the Map Department. Due to the Map Department's special focus on topographical maps and the scope of acquisition, an extraordinary depth of procurement is guaranteed.
The Eastern Europe Department collects materials pertaining to the East Asian studies if they fall into its regional subject matter responsibility.
