LibGuides: Subject Guides Portal: Finding Aids

Navigation & Introduction

Find Books | Find Libraries | Find Museums, Archives, and Special Collections

Find Organizations, Research Institutes, and Think Tanks | Find Everything Else

This guide connects you to other information agencies. Along with its closely reated siblings, the Finding Aids Guide and the Research & Access Guide, will greatly expand the scope of what is findable through the internet.

Find Books -- and also eBooks. Includes Online Library Catalogs and information on the Japanese publishing industry.
Find Libraries -- in Japan AND North America.
Find Museums, Archives, and Special Collections -- Try these resources for special, narrow topics.
Find Organizations, Reserach Institutes, and Think Tanks -- Discover organizations outside mainstream academia important to Japanese Studies.
Find Everything Else -- For anything not easy to classify into the above categories.

Find Books

Books : at Harvard University
-- by Kuniko Yamada McVey

Print or digital, this guide offers a myriad of starting points to locate monographs and approaches searching from multiple angles. There are national bibliographic databases, recommended blogs to follow, rare & special book collections, and book reviews.

-- Unique
Books : at University of Michigan
-- Keiko Yokota-Carter

Brief list of the primary databases for tracking down books. Also provides very clear instruction on doing ILL through CiNii Books.
Bookstores & Publishers -- at Washington University
-- by Ryuta Komaki

Need to quickly grasp where to purchase Japanese books? Start here. Simple and direct.

-- Publishers
-- Used bookstores
Finding Books -- at University of Hawaii at Manoa
-- by Tokiko Bazzell

The best source for book catalogs, for other libraries and commercial outlets. Annotations explain the scope of different services. There's also an list of important library catalogs. Do not miss the small but useful bibliography section.

-- eBooks
-- Library catalogs
Guide to LC Classification on Selected Japanese Materials -- at University of Toronto
-- Anonymous

Easy to browse list of topics related to Japan. The initial letter & number combinations are almost universally applied throughout academic libraries in the United States and Canada. For example - NA 1550 will mean Japanese Architecture at all academic libraries and in all library catalogs in North America.

-- English language
-- LCSH
-- Library of Congress Subject Headings
More Ways to Find Books -- at George Washington University
--Anonymous

Off the beaten path resources for locating texts, especially for print along with a list of eBook resources. There's also a small section for locating book reviews online.

-- Book reviews
-- eBooks

Find Libraries

2014 Research Access in Japanese Museums, Libraries, and Archives -- hosted by NCC
-- by Takumi Ohata

Wealth of information on major libraries in Japan and what distinguishes collections at one institution from another. Searchable by subject are or location of the library. Provides contact information and guidance on getting ready for a research visit.
Japanese Collections in North America -- at University of Southern California
-- by Tomoko Bialock

The largest collections of East Asian Studies materials in North America. Also notes and special collections at each library. The list is based on statistical tracking by the Council of East Asian Libraries.

-- Library index
Libraries and Archives in Japan -- George Washington University
-- Originally created by Takako Suzuki

Summarizes the holdings of major libraries, museums, and repositories based chiefly in Tokyo. Need a letter of introduction to one of these institutions? go to NCC's Research Access Guide for a bilingual template.

-- Special collections in Japan
Libraries and Archives in the US -- at George Washington University
-- Originally created by Takako Suzuki

More than just Libraries & Archives, the true strength is in the special collections represented and the various US government agencies that offer reserach materials on Japan.

-- English language
-- Library index
-- Unique

Find Museums, Archives, and Special Collections

2014 Research Access in Japan's major Museums, Libraries and Archives -- hosted by NCC
Takumi Ohata

Wealth of information on archives and museums in Japan and what distinguishes collections at one institution from another. Searchable by subject are or location of the library. Provides contact information and guidance on getting ready for a research visit.
Collections and Exhibits -- at University of Southern California
-- by Tomoko Bialock

Special collections at the USC Libraries, well worth browsing to see what private collections may be relevant to your research.

-- Special collections
Introduction to the Kamada Collection : at University of Michigan
--by Mari Suzuki

The Kamada collection includes thousands of books that were published before the Meiji Era (before 1868).
The Gordon W. Prange Collection : at University of Michigan
--by Keiko Yokota-Carter

Excellent guide to the Prange collection, which contains essential primary resources about the US occupation of Japan after WWII.

-- Occupation of Japan
Japanese Collection Overview : at UC Berkeley
--by Toshie Marra

Overview of the special collections at the UC Berkeley CV Starr library.

Find Organizations, Research Institutes, and Think Tanks

Organizations in Japan -- at Stanford
-- Anonymous

A short list of national level information organization agencies in Japan. Includes several not in the other two guides.
Research Institutions -- at George Washington University
-- originally created by Takako Suzuki

Identifies and summarizes American Studies research institutes in Japan AND American research Institutes that have a broad international focus or specifically on Japan.

-- American studies in Japan
-- Research institutions
Think Tanks -- at George Washington University
-- Originally created by Takako Suzuki

Includes think tanks in Japan and the US. The list of Japanese think tanks deal with a variety of topics, US think tanks deal primarily with international relations, human rights, politics, and information access.

--Think tanks

Find Everything Else

Japanese Studies in Europe -- at Columbia University
-- by Franziska Seraphim

European research in the field of Japanese Studies is often underrepresented in North America. With the exception of the United Kingdom, covered here are important European organizations, institutions, and individuals contributing to the body of research. Extra attention is given to German contributions.

-- Japanese Studies in Europe
-- Japanese Studies in Germany
Research Portals -- at Harvard University
-- by Kuniko Yamada McVey

Eclectic set of information sources. Well worth a browse to see what is relevant to your research.

-- Unique
Guides to the Digital Archive of Japan's 2011 Disasters -- hosted by NCC
-- by Anna Wada

Learn how to use the 3/11 disaster archive created by Harvard. Includes a diverse bibliography with links to a variety of (primary) resources and sub-topics.

-- 3/11 Disasters