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Tateuchi East Asia Library  Special Collections

Access to Tateuchi East Asia Library  Special Collections

The University of Washington Tateuchi East Asia Library’s Special Collections are open to members of the UW community, visiting scholars, and the general public. 

The Tateuchi East Asia Library Special Collections contains mainly valuable and unique rare books as well as other types of materials that require special security measures to ensure they will be available for years to come. 

We ask for your patience and understanding, as we must balance between making these materials accessible and preserving our rare and fragile collections.

Special Collections Registration and Request Form

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Availability of Materials

All Tateuchi East Asia Library Special Collections materials are

  • Non-circulating and cannot be browsed
  • Housed in secure, non-browsing stacks
  • Are retrieved for users upon request 
  • Available during the weekday (Monday-Friday) hours when Tateuchi East Asia Library is open. 

Note: Some Tateuchi East Asia Library Special Collections materials are also housed in the Suzzallo/Allen Library’s Special Collections department. Those materials are subject to the terms and conditions established by Special Collections. Please check the hours and policies of Special Collections when accessing those materials.

Requesting Materials

Due to staff and facilities constraints, the use of Tateuchi East Asia Library Special Collections materials must be requested at least two business days prior to your visit. 

To use the collections, visitors must fill out and submit a Special Collections Registration and Request Form. You must provide your full name, address, and phone number. 

All visitors are asked to fill out a Registration and Request Form no matter how brief their visit. Requested materials are made available at the discretion of library staff; requests may be denied based on factors such as availability, condition of the materials, and restrictions.

Handling Materials

Patrons are required to abide by the following rules when using special collections at the Tateuchi East Asia Library:

  • No self-service copying of Special Collections materials is permitted. You may take photographs of the materials only without flash. If you have questions about other types of reproductions, please contact library staff.
  • Tateuchi East Asia Library Special Collections materials must be used under the supervision of library staff and may not be removed from supervised areas.
  • The number of items requested or consulted at any one time may be limited at the discretion of the staff.
  • Handle the materials with extreme care; many are fragile.
  • Food and liquids are not permitted in the reading area.
  • The use of pens is not permitted. Pencils are available and the use of laptop computers is encouraged.
  • You may be required to present all books, papers, and computers to staff for searching before leaving the supervised reading area.

Collections Locations

Tateuchi East Asia Library Collections are located in the Gowen Stacks.

Locations by Call Number

  • Library of Congress Numbers
    • A – BL on floor 3
    • BM – PL 715 on floor 2
    • PL 716 – Z on floor 1M
    • Folio books on floor 1
    • Note that some types of materials (for example, new books, reference materials, Taiwan Resource Center items, etc.) have a different location within Gowen.  See the Locations by Type of Material section below, and ask at the Information Desk if you have difficulties locating any materials.
  • Pre-catalog Numbers
    • All numbers (1000000-3-4500000) on floor 1
  • G Numbers for Microfilm
    • All Tateuchi East Asia Library microfilm collection is now located in Suzzallo Basement Closed Stacks.
  • Ask at information desk
    • Microfiche Numbers
    • Media (Audio & Video Recordings, CDs)

Locations by Type of Material

  • Atlases – Atlas case in reading room (Gowen floor 3)
  • Audio cassettes – Please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Books – Gowen floors 1, 1M, 2, 2M, and 3
  • CD-ROMs – Please inquire at the Information Desk
  • CDs – Please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Folios (oversize books) – Gowen floor 1
  • Maps – Please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Microfiche – Please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Microfilm – Suzzallo Library Basement Closed Stacks
  • New books – New book shelves in the reading room (Gowen floor 3)
  • Newspapers, current – Newspaper racks in the reading room (Gowen floor 3); for all other current titles and back issues please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Periodicals, current – Display shelves in the reading room (Gowen floor 3); for current issues of titles not in reading room, please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Periodicals, back issues – Please inquire at the Information Desk for availability
  • Reference works – Gowen floor 3 (reading room)
  • Special collections – In closed stacks; please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Taiwan Resource Center collection – Gowen floor 3 (reading room)
  • Tibetan collection – Please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Vertical files – Please inquire at the Information Desk
  • Video cassettes – Please inquire at the Information Desk

Location Codes in the Online Catalog

  • Atlas – Atlas case in reading room (Gowen floor 3)
  • Chiu – Please ask at the Information Desk
  • Display – Please ask at the Information Desk
  • Elephant Folio – Gowen floor 1
  • Folio – Gowen floor 1
  • General Stacks – Gowen floors 1, 1M, 2, and 3
  • Lang Learning – Please ask at the Information Desk
  • Maps – Please ask at the Information Desk
  • Media: Please ask at the Information Desk
  • Mendery – Please ask at the Information Desk
  • Microfiche – Please ask at the Information Desk
  • Microfilm ; Microform Ref ; Microform Storage – Suzzallo Basement Closed Stacks and Suzzallo Microfilm section
  • Newspapers – Select current issues are on the display racks on Gowen floor 3 (reading room); for others, please ask at the Information Desk
  • Offices – Material is currently in an office; consult the area studies librarian as indicated in the catalog display
  • Precataloged – most on Gowen floor 1; for others, ask at the Information Desk
  • Reference – Gowen floor 3 (reading room)
  • Reserve – Ask at the Information Desk for materials placed on class reserve
  • Serials Gowen – Select current titles are on the display shelves on Gowen floor 3 (reading room)
  • Serials Smith – Please ask at the Information Desk
  • Special Collections – In closed stacks; please ask at the Information Desk
  • Special Collections Oversize – In closed stacks; please ask at the Information Desk
  • Taiwan Resource Center – Gowen floor 2M
  • Vertical file – Please ask at the Information Desk

Library of Congress classification is for books and serials. Microforms, audio and video recordings, CDs and DVDs, and pre-cataloged materials use different call number systems. Display periodicals are shelved alphabetically by title.

Library of Congress classification

The main system in use is the Library of Congress classification system, which was implemented in 1969. Call numbers are alpha-numeric. The first line of each number is made up of one, two, or three letters of the alphabet followed by two or more lines of letters and numbers.

Materials cataloged in the Library of Congress classification are shelved in one continuous sequence regardless of language. In Gowen Stacks, this sequence begins on Floor 3 and continues down through Floor 1M, with the exception of certain large sets in the AC range, which are held on Floor 1. Folio books (over 30 cm. in height) are shelved on Floor 1.

Examples of a Library of Congress call number:

  • DS
  • 897
  • .K578
  • K56
  • 1951

Microform numbers

Titles on microfilm are assigned one-line numbers prefaced with “microfilm”. Microfiche are assigned one-line numbers prefaced by the term “microfiche.” Examples:

  • Microfilm G123
  • Microfiche 135
  • Tateuchi East Asia Library Microfilm collection is now located in the Suzzallo Basement Closed Stacks.

Pre-cataloged numbers

Materials that cannot be fully cataloged upon receipt are assigned numbers based on the order in which they arrive in the library. They are then shelved in numerical order in separate sections by language. The pre-cataloging process enables library users to have quick, direct access to new acquisitions. All books in the pre-cataloged (pre-cat) section can be located in the catalogs under primary author and title.

Most pre-cat books are shelved on Floor 1 of the Tateuchi East Asia Library stacks in Gowen Hall. For others, ask at the Information Desk.

Examples of pre-cat numbers are given below. Please note that current materials use the seven digit hyphenated numbers:

  • Chinese
    • 108870
    • 1-929154
    • 1-4425999
  • Japanese
    • 227257
    • 2-447967
    • 2-5655558
  • Korean
    • 344799
    • 3-127578
    • 3-4936058
  • Other 4-etc.

Chinese Romanization

Pinyin is now the accepted Romanization system for Chinese in libraries in the United States and Canada. It replaces the Wade-Giles system which was in use for almost 100 years. The two systems are different, as can be seen from the following example of the Romanization for “China” (中国):

  • Pinyin: Zhongguo
  • Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo

Online Catalog

Most records in the online catalog have been converted to pinyin. A limited number of older records are still in Wade-Giles and can only be found in UW Only Catalog searching. Please ask the Tateuchi East Asia Library Information Desk for help.

Card Catalog

Chinese entries in the card catalog are entirely in Wade-Giles and will not be changed to pinyin. The library will keep the card catalog as long as necessary as a backup to our online catalog.

Pinyin—Wade-Gile Conversion tables are available at various locations in the libraries and on the China Studies Reference, Dictionaries, and Encylopedias page of this web site.

Searching Tip: In Wade-Giles Romanization aspirated and unaspirated sounds are distinguished by a special diacritic mark resembling an apostrophe; for example: chi and ch’i (ji and qi in Pinyin). In the online catalog such “words” file together in one sequence, however in the card catalog they are filed in separate sequences. The words without an apostrophe come first, followed by the words with an apostrophe. This means that “Chi, Chen-huai” would be first in the filing sequence for chi. “Ch’i, Chao-nan” would be found in the ch’i sequence which begins after the last entry in the chi sequence (which is “chi yun yen chiu”).

Japanese Romanization

Modified Hepburn Romanization is used for Japanese. It is nearly identical to the Hepburn system employed in the Kenkyusha dictionaries.

Searching Tip: In 1983 the Library of Congress made a change in the Romanization rules for Japanese. Previously, the letter “m” was used before “b,” “m,” and “p.” After the spring of 1983, libraries began to use the letter “n” before “b,” “m,” and “p.” For example, “kempo” became “kenpo” and the surname “Homma” became “Honma.” In cases such as this, it is beneficial to search under both methods of Romanization for materials published prior to 1984.

Korean Romanization

The McCune-Reischauer system as modified by the Library of Congress is used for Korean library records in the United States and Canada. It is different from the official Romanization system devised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism which was approved for use on July 4, 2000 by the Republic of Korea.