Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MollyBloom]

I am wondering which Korean university is considered the best for English Language and Literature (in English), in the matter of collections.

For example, would any of the libraries have a decent collection of James Joyce scholarship in English? How many students do you think are working in Joyce scholarship in English? Or Yeats? I would think Shakespeare is pretty popular, but what about Pound or Hemingway?

Are the university collections up to par with the average American/Canadian/British university collections?

And if anyone has experience, how do the university libraries compare to other international university libraries? How is the internet database for materials and catalog searches?

[MollyBloom]

Don't people who work at the universities go to the library!?

[Ya-ta Boy]

[OiGirl]

Most English literature courses are taught in Korean. You can search Korean university libraries online and see for yourself what kinds of collections they have.

Are you ranking universities? Are you interested in conducting a study of James Joyce in Korea?

[mindmetoo]

I tried to go to Yonsei's university library. I found you could only enter if you had a student card. University libraries are closed off to the general public. Don't Korean universities get public funds? Korea sparkling!

[hogwonguy1979]

My high school library had a larger book collection than most Korean univs.

Regarding getting into one without an id, private univs can do that, they do that in the states. My undergrad and Phd schools were private univs and you had to show an id to get in though if you could prove you were doing some research for say a school etc they'd give you a temp card

[jlb]

I'd say good luck. I had a brief perusal of my library and they had the basics, but not much else. Of course, my uni is not one of the top ones so who really knows I guess.

[MollyBloom]

[OiGirl]

In my experience with National University libraries (outside of Seoul,) anyone can walk in the door and read/study/photocopy. Private universities may not allow people in their library without an ID.

[Homer]

It depends what you are looking for and where (which university) you are looking.

I would say on average the National Universities would be your best bet for English language lit.

Are the universities on par with an avg North American uni with regards to English language lit...of course not..and why would they be?

[maingman]

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[dakdungchim]

MollyBloom,

I did most of my thesis in Korea. The larger national universities will have decent holdings. But, keep in mind, these holdings will be based on the faculty's research interests.

Find a good online database from your university or local library. Bring your sources with you and keep a running list of sources for when you return home during vacation to meet with committee members.

And, yes, at least in my experience Korean university's libraies are closed to the general public. If I remember correctly, you will have to slide your student/faculty ID through a turnstile. I wasn't there too long, though. Perhaps your letter will help you.

I'm in another country now, and, ironically, half of the books I carted over for my dissertation are housed in the local film archive.

DDC
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[faeriehazel]

I got my BA at Korea University (고려대학교) which had an okay collection of books in English. It was not open to the public, however. It wasn't even fully open to the students. Faculty members and graduate students were allowed to browse, but undergrads had to fill out a little form for each book they wanted. It was extremely annoying.

As a visiting scholar, you could probably get a temp. pass or something if you talked with the department head of whatever school library you want to access.

[kimchi_pizza]

I was pleasantly surprised my Uni's library. They have almost half a wing devoted to English books that covered nearly all professions and even an entire 2 rows devoted to English Language teaching. They also had everything from a collection of Cicero's writings to old westerns. The thing of it is, is that a number of books were slightly old and bought from old U.S. military camps that either closed or when they revamped their own libraries. About half the books had "Properity of U.S. Airforce", "Properity of U.S. Army" stamped inside with checked out/return dates of the 1950's. I thought that was interesting.

Regrettably, only university academia has access to it. Good luck with the thesis!

[MollyBloom]