Bibliographical Information Sources for Japanese Studies in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Bibliographical information is the foundation of any research. No research can be successfully carried out without sufficient bibliographical information at the hand of researcher. The main objective of this research was to create a database on the sources of Japanese studies in the field of social sciences and humanities with special reference to the research needs of Sri Lankan scholars engaged in Japanese studies. Research was carried out at Saga University in Japan under the Japan Foundation Fellowship Programme in the year 200112002. · 1 fence Humanities and social Sciences cover a wide variety of subjects the study was carried out on a selective basis focusing mainly the following subject fields: general reference works on the disciplines, Japanese language and literature, Japanese history and culture, Philosophy and religion, Social and economic studies. As the preliminary survey done in Sri Lanka in the year 2000 revealed that most of the Sri Lankan scholars look for works written in English or translated into English, works written in Japanese language were not covered in this study. The methodology basically involved in the examination of library collections, published bibliographies, online databases and web sites as well as discussions with specialists in the field. Among the major sources examined OPACs of National Diet Library, Nichibunken, Japan Foundation, The British Library, Library of Congress and NACSIS Webcat are to be mentioned. Collected data on the information sources were entered into a computer database enabling users to find information under authors, titles, subjects, keywords, published years and publishers. Major findings suggested that (1) there is a scarcity of separate bibliographies, indexes and databases on Japanese sources published in English (2) most of the existing printed bibliographies on these sources in English are outdated (3) attempts of certain foreign universities and research institutes on Japanese studies are not adequate to satisfy the research needs of non-Japanese scholars (4) there is a clear need to have specialized databases in English for Japanese studies (5) such databases would trigger Japanese studies in many countries in the world.