Chinese studies library collections in the digital age.

Abstract

There are at least 3 major commercial e-book and 4 e-journal service providers in China today providing full-text access to over 80% of core academic serial publications and almost a million Chinese books, over 2/3 of all the books issued since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. There are currently some technical and commercial difficulties that prevent us from providing access to them in Western libraries. If we can overcome those difficulties and exploit the databases in full, it will have a major impact on the way the research on China conducted, Chinese studies library collections and the Chinese studies library profession in the West. In this paper, I will analyze the current state of major Chinese e-book and e-journal services, their technical characteristics and possible use of these resources by Chinese studies libraries in the West to improve the information provision to their users.