Searching the Library Catalogue for Japanese titles.
You can search the SOAS Library Catalogue in both English and Japanese but pre 2000 titles may not have Japanese characters.
Searching by romanization is recommended although searching by Japanese is possible.
Some old cataloguing records do not contain the original Japanese script. The Japanese serach has to use exact scripts of Kanji, hiragana, and katakana.
A. Japanese books are romanized with the modified Heppbern system. The following are a few of the more frequently encountered mistakes:
| 大江 | Oe (not Ohe) |
| 東京 | Tokyo (not Toukyou) |
| 学習 | Gakushu (not Gakushyuu) |
| 日中 | Nitchu (not Niccuu) |
B. Japanese titles should be searched for with proper word divisions. Please try with as many divisions as possible if a title is not found in an online search. Examples of word divisions are:
| 兵庫県史 | Hyogo kenshi |
| 日本文化は異質か | Nihon bunka wa ishitsu ka |
| 世界平和を考える | Sekai heiwa o kangaeru |
| 美術館へ行こう | Bijutsukan e iko |
| 日本史 | Nihon shi = 固有名詞+史 (with space) |
| 女性史 | Joseishi = 普通名詞+史 |
| 日中関係 | Nitchu kankei |
| 中日辞典 | Chu-Nichi kankei |
C. ALA-LC Romanization Tables
Classmark
- Western language publications are arranged by country prefixed by a letter code
- D = Japan
- Vernacular language publications are arranged by language prefixed by a letter code
- DB = Japanese publications on Japan
- Re-shelving : Level C - shelves on the wall near stack 74
- Main collection: Level C (stacks 1-74)
- Books prefixed L (Large) or Ref (Reference) are separately located
- Reference collection: Level C (stacks 206-213)
- Large books: Level C (stack 71-74)
Off-site material
- Part of the collection is held in off-site storage. For example,
- DBT- Japanese publications on Japan (off-site)
- DBC- Japanese publications on China (off-site)
- DBS -Japanese publications on other areas (off-site)
- To request off-site material click on the link just above the book title