Six major U.S. universities with Korean collections formed the Korean Cooperative Acquisition Program in 1993 and submitted a proposal to the Korea Foundation for special funding to develop Korean language materials. In January 1994 the Korea Foundation notified the following 6 members that it had approved the proposal and would provide each library an annual award of $20,000 for five years in support of the acquisition of Korean materials: Columbia University, Harvard University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Hawaii, University of Southern California and the University of Washington.
The libraries will use foundation funding to acquire collections in specific subject areas ranging from culture, performing arts, business, history, law, music, urban planning and cinema to journalism. They will use their own funds to acquire books and materials on Korea published in their own geographical region.
The UW East Asia Library will purchase materials on the provinces of North and South Kyongsang, Korean Women Studies and newspapers on microfilm. It will purchase from its own funds books and materials on Korea published in the Pacific Northwest.
The materials acquired with Korea Foundation funds will be cataloged online, on either OCLC or RLIN, and made available free of charge to other Korean Studies users through interlibrary loans. Contact Yoon-whan Choe at 543-4490 or by e-mail at yoonwhan@u.washington.edu for additional information.