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University of British Columbia
UBC Bookstore
Point Grey Campus
6200 University Boulevard,
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4 CANADA
(604) 822-2665
Toll free: 1-800-661-3889 (Canada/US)
Asian Library
Since its inception in 1960 with the acquisition of the Puban collection, the Asian Library has developed into the biggest research collection of Asian language materials in Canada. The Asian Library holdings in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, South Asian languages and Indonesian stand at more than 546,000 volumes. While the collection is comprehensive in its range of subjects, it is especially strong in the humanities and social sciences. Special materials include the valuable Puban collection (蒲坂藏書樓); the Swann collection, the Song Xuepeng collection (宋學鵬藏書); the Jing Yi Zhai collection (景頤齋藏書); Japanese government publications, research materials on Chinese Canadian settlement in British Columbia and on the Pearl Delta Area; the Japanese-Canadian studies collections, 13,000 volumes in Indonesian language, as well as over 23,000 Korean monographs.
Asian Library, Asian Centre
1871 West Mall
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2
(604) 822-2427
Organizations
International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)
The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is a postdoctoral research centre based in Leiden and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its objective is to encourage the interdisciplinary and comparative study of Asia and promote national and international cooperation. The institute focuses on the human and social sciences and on their interaction with other sciences.
IIAS acts as an international mediator, bringing various parties together. In keeping with the Dutch tradition of transferring goods and ideas, IIAS works as a clearinghouse of knowledge and information. This entails activities such as providing information services, constructing international networks, and setting up international cooperative projects and research programmes. In this way, IIAS functions as a window on Europe for non-European scholars and contributes to the cultural rapprochement between Asia and Europe.
IIAS considers academic cooperation indispensable to top-level research. In the present environment of globalisation, the distinctive national traditions of research and scholarship need to be brought together into complementary partnerships. IIAS, therefore, actively promotes, facilitates, and initiates academic cooperation at various levels nationally as well as internationally. One of these networks is the so-called European Alliance for Asian Studies. (Asia Alliance): a cooperative framework of institutes specializing in Asian Studies, consisting of IIAS, Leiden/Amsterdam; the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), Copenhagen; European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS), Brussels; Institute of Asian Studies, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg; Centre for International Studies and Research (CERI Sciences Po), Paris; Swedish School of Advanced Asia-Pacific Studies (SSAAPS), Stockholm; Centro de Estudios de Asia Oriental (CEAO, Centre for East Asian Studies), Madrid and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. Activities of the Asia-Alliance include regular Asia Updates, jointly organized workshops and conferences, and a structural cooperation with the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) by jointly organizing the Annual Asia-Europe Workshop Series.
Website: http://www.iias.nl
International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS)
ICAS was at the outset an experiment in terms of the parties involved, the nature of the participants, the contents, the manner of organization, and its size in terms of participants. How did the ICAS come about? As of 1995 the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) had been thinking of ways of internationalizing Asia Studies. This transatlantic dialogue gradually matured and was thought of as a process involving American and European Asia scholars. Its main goals are to transcend the boundaries between disciplines, between nations studied, and between the geographic origins of the Asia scholars involved.
It acquired a name: International Convention of Asia Scholars. IIAS, in close cooperation with the AAS, officially launched the idea of ICAS in 1997. Apart from the AAS and the IIAS the six European Asian Studies Associations joined in (AKSE: Association for Korean Studies in Europe, EACS: European Association of Chinese Studies, EAJS: European Association for Japanese Studies, EUROSEAS: European Association for Southeast Asian Studies, ESCAS: European Society for Central Asia Studies and EASAS: European Association for South Asian Studies), and a programme committee consisting of representatives of all parties involved was established.
ICAS has grown into the largest biennial Asia studies event outside the US covering all subjects of Asia studies. Thus ICAS now has become the only major, regular Asia studies event to take place in Asia. On average the number of participants varies between thousand and fifteen hundred.
ICAS does not perceive itself as an isolated academic event. ICAS clearly links to the city and the country wherein it is held. This is brought about by way of a wide variety of cultural events such as exhibitions, performances, concerts and movies.
Website: http://www.icassecretariat.org
New Asia Books
New Asia Books makes it easier for academics to identify, evaluate and purchase new publications in their fields. The website lists academic English language books published on Asia in the preceding 12 months, and it encourages academics, including authors, to review and comment on the books listed.
Adding value for the academic community
This unique site focuses exclusively on new English language books, with no listing older than 12 months, and only titles that are currently in print. The site is aimed first and foremost at academics and students within Asia studies, but we believe it will also be useful for non-specialist, non-academic research and for the informed public. The idea behind the site is to free academics and students from time-consuming and potentially unproductive searches for new material. New Asia Books presents the user only with exactly what is necessary: a list of current publications in the field.
New Asia Books also provides a platform for book reviews. All too often, there is a long gap between the time that a book is published and the time when the first reviews appear. It is by no means unusual for 12, 18 or even 24 months to pass between publication and the first review article. Authors wait with growing impatience, and book buyers are left with little guidance about which titles to purchase or recommend to their university libraries. New Asia Books plugs this gap. It provides a forum for site users and authors to write quick reviews and comment on new titles in a true community dialogue. This is a particularly useful way of sharing early experiences with potential new textbooks.
Website: http://www.newasiabooks.org
Publishing Partners
University of Washington Press
Silkworm Press
Hong Kong University Press
