Beyond the Book: Unique and Rare Primary Sources for East Asian Studies Collected in North America. Jidong Yang, ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2022. 368 pp. Hardcover, $60, (ISBN 9780924304989).

Abstract

If information specialists are looking for a book about the unique collections of significant East Asian Libraries in North America, I heartily recommend Beyond the Book.

A compilation of presentations from a 2015 conference at Stanford University organized by Dr. Jidong Yang, each updated chapter begins with a brief history of the contributor’s East Asian library and introduces some of their signature collections that go “beyond the book”: letters, maps, pictures, films, sound recordings, etc. All of the contributing librarians and scholars are native or near-native language speakers in their respective fields, and they justifiably celebrate their worthy achievements. They have worked diligently to provide and improve access to their communities in response to donors’ requests for each collection. Presented as a whole, readers can easily compare each individual effort and understand the complexities associated with specialized collections that must be made accessible to the public. These efforts have continued while the authors carefully balance several conflicting duties simultaneously, including day-to-day operations as well as deadlines for long-time goals.