91探花

While visiting Seattle five years ago for a wedding, Chad Westra toured the 91探花. He made his way to the third floor of Gowen Hall and discovered the Tateuchi East Asian Library with its sculpted, curved ceiling and bright, big windows. The library was 鈥渆nchanting.鈥�

鈥淟ike wow,鈥� Westra, now a third-year doctoral student in UW鈥檚 History Department remembered thinking. 鈥淭his is an amazing space. I really would love to study here.鈥�

Westra has used the UW鈥檚 East Asian library for his doctoral research. He dug into the collection for primary source materials written by a Chinese dissident from the first half of the 20^th Century. In the Japan collection, he studied a natural resources map of Manchuria produced before World War II, when the Japanese attempted to colonize parts of mainland China.

鈥淪o often, I’ve been looking for primary sources to use or books from 100 years ago,鈥� Westra said. He鈥檇 check the internet and expected items to be out of reach, but he needn鈥檛 have looked far. 鈥淚t’s here, which is pretty amazing.鈥�

The is one of North America鈥檚 premiere libraries of its kind. But the space on the third floor of Gowen Hall was long in need of a refresh, said Hyokyoung Yi, the library鈥檚 interim director and the Korean Studies Librarian. After the library was named in 2020 for Atsuhiko and Ina Goodwin Tateuchi, 91探花alumni whose namesake foundation donated to the library, plans were made to renovate. The library closed for about a year, then reopened quietly last summer and on Wednesday will host a reopening celebration.

鈥淭hanks to the generosity of the Tateuchi foundation, we鈥檝e been able to make improvements to the library that position these important collections for the next century,鈥� said Simon Neame, dean of 91探花Libraries. 鈥淭he renovations welcome visitors, creating a more open feel and comfortable atmosphere. They allow the librarians to highlight objects from the collection, interact with students and faculty, and put the library in a position to adapt and fully utilize new technologies.鈥�

91探花Libraries received its first official funding in 1937 for collections in East Asian languages in Suzzallo Library.聽The library moved to its current location in what was formerly the law library in 1976. Over the decades, the collection has grown to more than 800,000 items, including centuries-old, rare documents from the Ming Dynasty.

For the renovation, the Beckmann Reading Room鈥檚 entry way was expanded and a new, sweeping, wood-lined circulation desk built. Secure, glass-enclosed display cases allow the librarians to showcase pieces from the vast collections. The card catalog was dismantled and converted into tables, part of a set of new furniture designed to make the library feel more welcoming. In place of a row of cubicles, a long table now provides ample workspaces. And a former office was converted to a community room.

Behind the scenes, some technical services staff have joined the Libraries Cataloguing and Metadata Services (CAMS) and Acquisitions and Rapid Cataloging Services (ARCS) to increase opportunities for cross-training and professional development, but the access services staff and subject librarians still work in the library where they interact with students, faculty and visitors, and the number of staff who directly support the Tateuchi library remains unchanged.

鈥淭he future of the Tateuchi East Asian Library is deeply connected to the community 鈥� not just the students, faculty and staff at the UW, but everyone who cares passionately about the countries and cultures represented in the collection,鈥� Neame said.

Many items in the collection have been digitized, often with grant funding from foundations and East Asian government-sponsored libraries, Yi said. That preserves many fragile items and opens the collection to researchers globally.

While the library bundles China, Japan and Korea under one roof, each country鈥檚 collection has its own librarian, and the collections are a reflection of the distinct and often intertwined histories of each country, Yi said.

鈥淏eing an East Asian library, we are kind of a cultural hub,鈥� Yi said. 鈥淎nd a lot of community members in the region care about our collection, and they love to see our collections being preserved and being built and growing.鈥�

Unlike other East Asian collections at private universities that require special permission to use, the UW鈥檚 Tateuchi East Asian Library is open to all, from academics worldwide to high school students from the Seattle region, from the UW鈥檚 scholars to the region鈥檚 rich East Asian cultural organizations.

鈥淭his is a wonderful library that is open to the public,鈥� Yi said.

For more information, contact Yi at hkyi@uw.edu.