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East Asia Library: How do I...?

How Do I ... ?
  1. Search & display East Asian scripts in Orbis?
  2. Get help with research?
  3. Get Items from outside Yale?
  4. Make a Purchase Request?
  5. Request multiple volumes from LSF?
  6. Access databases from off campus?

1. Search and display East Asian scripts in Orbis

Yale's online library catalog – Orbis – includes functionalities of searching and displaying East Asian language materials in its original script (see technical requirements and East Asian languages computing guide). However, there are some problems that limit the usefulness of such capability. The following will suggest search strategies, and discuss known problems and workarounds.

General Recommendations for Searching

  • Searching by romanization is still the most effective and reliable way to find East Asian language materials thoroughly in Orbis. Everyone searching for East Asian materials still needs to be familiar with the romanization rules for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.
  • Searching by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters is recommended as
    • a good starting point for users who are unfamiliar with romanization;
    • (sometimes) a more efficient way for finding known titles than searching with romanization.
  • Use an authoritative dictionary as reference for transliteration/ romanization;
  • Pay special attention to the word division rules; word division can be tricky, both for non-native speakers and native speakers of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean;
  • Be flexible--try a different transliteration or word division if no result is returned.

Searching by Chinese, Japanese, and KoreanCharacters: Major Problems and Workarounds

Issue 1

Records cannot be retrieved because you input a variant of the character other than the one used in the catalog.

For example, the variants of Mao Zedong are: 毛澤東 ( Traditional Chinese) and 毛泽东 (Simplified Chinese) as well as 毛沢東 ( Japanese Kanji). All of these variants may be used in the library system, but search in one form cannot find records that have another variant.
Search Type Affected
 All
Language (Script) Affected
 Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese (Kanji) , and Korean (Hanja)
Workaround
 Search by romanization if no results or limited results are returned.

Issue 2

Some common characters are not used in the library cataloging system, so search of these characters will fail.

For example, entering these characters 江戸 , 調査 , 目録 , 解説 with Microsoft's Japanese IME will not retrieve variant characters 江戶 , 調查 , 目錄 , 解說 used in the Orbis records.
Search Type Affected
 All
Language (Script) Affected
 Primarily Japanese (Kanji) and Korean (Hanja)
Workaround
 Search by romanization if no results or limited results are returned.

Issue 3
 System cannot interpret the search phrase in ''Simple Search" without quotation marks.
Search Type Affected
 Keyword search in ''Simple Search'' mode
Language (Script) Affected
 Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese (Kanji and Hiragana ), and Korean (Hanja)
Workaround
 Use the ''Advanced Search'' option instead (type search phrase, choose “as a phrase”, and select the search field) ; Or, as a second choice, add quotation marks to the search phrase in " Simple Search " ( but the quotation marks have to be typed with the English keyboard).

Issue 4

All the above issues will affect the search of name (of person, organization, and place) as a subject.

*Most Library of Congress Subject Headings will always be in English only.
Search Type Affected
 Subject search in both ''Simple'' and ''Advanced'' modes.
Language (Script) Affected
 All
Workaround
 See above

Issue 5
 System cannot interpret CJK scripts in Author (sorted by title) search.
Search Type Affected
 Author (sorted by title) search in ''Simple Search'' mode
Language (Script) Affected
 All
Workaround
 Use Author (lastname firstname) search instead

Issue 6

Character search in EndNote/RefWorks under "direct connection" with Orbis (a.k.a. Z39.50 access) is problematic.

For EndNote, searching Orbis with characters under direct connection will fail;

For RefWorks, searching Orbis with characters under direct connection can find records, but the records will not contain any CJK characters.
Search Type Affected
 All search types under "direct connection" (Z39.50 access)
Language (Script) Affected
 All
Workaround
 If characters are needed in EndNote or RefWorks, type them manually or copy and paste them directly from Orbis.

Issues related to displaying Chinese, Japanese, and Korean scripts in Orbis

Issue 1
 The sorting order may not seem meaningful to you --appropriate sorting order remains to be designed and implemented by the Orbis system vendor.
Function Type
 Record Display
Workaround
 Re-sort by title or author (if possible)

Issue 2
 The CJK scripts may appear as gibberish in the Orbis record (this problem normally will not appear on library public workstations).
Function Type
 Record Display
Workaround
 Need to have Unicode fonts (e.g. Arial Unicode MS) on the computer for the original characters to display correctly .

Issue 3
 The CJK scripts may appear as gibberish when saving or printing the record in text format.
Function Type
 Print/Save Function within Orbis
Workaround
 Same as above ; please also make sure the encoding method of your web browser is UTF-8.

Issue 4
 The CJK characters will be lost when emailed from Orbis.
Function Type
 Emailing Record
Workaround
 If the characters are needed for email or other documents, copy and paste them directly from the Orbis record to Unicode-compliant email program or word processing program.


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2. Get help with research

There are many ways you can get help with your research from the East Asia Library librarians. You can either visit our main office (SML 213), or come to our reference desk during the semesters, or send us an email, or give us a call. The primary reference contacts in the East Asia Library are:

Tang Li (General inquiries on East Asia; Chinese reference)
Email: tang.li@yale.edu; Phone: 432-1794

Michael Meng (Chinese reference)
E-mail: michael.meng@yale.edu ; Phone: 432-4438

Haruko Nakamura (Japanese reference)
E-mail: haruko.nakamura@yale.edu; Phone: 432-1792

To learn more about our reference services, please click here.

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3. Get Items from outside Yale

If you are looking for materials not available in Yale libraries, you may request them from other libraries through Borrow Direct or Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Please follow the romanization rules for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages when you search in BorrowDirect or fill out the ILL form; otherwise you or the ILL staff will have problem locating the materials. You can click here to learn more about how to obtain Japanese materials from ILL.

In addition, it is possible for researchers at Yale to get photocopies of articles or even borrow books directly from libraries in East Asia. Please consult with East Asia Library staff if such needs arise.

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4. Make a Purchase Request

Yale faculty, students and staff can suggest books or journals to be added to our collections. To make a recommendation, you can either fill out an online request form or send your request directly to East Asia Library librarians who are responsible for collection development:

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5. Request multiple volumes from LSF

There are six steps to request multiple volumes from LSF (Library Shelving Facility, an offsite library storage in Hamden):

  1. Go to Orbis and search the multi-volume set by title. Your search may return a list of relevant titles. Please select the one that matches your need.
  2. When you get into the Orbis record for your title, please click on the "Request recall or delivery" link in the "Location" field. You will be directed to a log-in page then.
  3. For Yale affiliates, please click on the "Yale NetID Login" button to log in using your Yale NetID and password. For non-Yale affiliates, if you have a Yale library privileges card, please log in under the "Visitors" section. To learn more about Yale library privileges for visitors, please go to http://www.library.yale.edu/circ/.  
  4. After you log in, please click on the "Request staff search or delivery" link.
  5. You will see a web form that contains the title information about your multi-volume set. Please select a volume number in the "Select a Copy" drop-down box. Then please select a pick-up location in the "Pick Up At" drop-down box. Then hit on the "submit" button.
  6. Please note that you can only request one volume for each online transaction. To request more volumes, you just need to repeat steps 2, 4 and 5.

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6. Access databases from off campus

To access databases from off campus, you have to install a VPN client program on your computer. Please click here for instructions.

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