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Unpacking Japanese Studies Library Resources

A course guide for East Asia 537 Methods and Materials Used in Conducting Research in Japanese Studies and other Japanese Studies graduate students.

Requesting books and articles

Books held at Washington University Libraries can be requested for pick up. (Or you can go old-school and use the location and call number to pick them up from book stacks yourself).

  • Click on the "Request" button from the item record page.

  • Enter your WUSTL Key, choose a pick up location (any Danforth Campus libraries), and Submit.

To always display this useful ILLiad links, use the proxied link to WorldCat.

* When requesting a book in Japanese, PLEASE READ the "Additional notes and tips for requesting Japanese books/articles" box BELOW. If WorldCat indicates the item is only available from the National Diet Library, that book may not be ILLable.

Click on the "Send Request to ILLiad" link from the record page of the book you wish to request. After logging in with your WUSTL Key, you are directed to the new Book Request page of ILLiad, which look like the following.

  • Make sure all the required fields (marked with *) are filled out CORRECTLY. (Sometimes information does not transfer from the record to the request form well. Pay extra attention when requesting books in Japanese. Make sure to supply Romanized title, author name, etc. in addition to Japanese).
  • If requesting a Japanese book, change your answer to "Will you accept the item in a language other than English" to "Yes," and write "Japanese" (or a sentence stating you will accept a copy written in Japanese) in the "Notes" field underneath.
  • Choose a pick up location. Currently ILL books can only be picked up from Olin, Art & Architecture Library, Music Library and Physics Library.

  • If full text of the article is available through the databases, a link to a PDF (or other electronic formats) appears on your search results. (Quite possible for English-language articles. Unlikely for articles in Japanese).
  • If no link to full text was readily available, follow the steps below to look for print copies or alternate electronic editions. Wash U Libraries' collections may include a print or electronic subscription to the journal. (JSTOR and Project MUSE carry many journals used in the field, so you might want to jump there and start searching for the article. But they can also be accessed, journal by journal, through Classic Catalog).
  • Many Japanese journals still come in print format. See also the list of Japanese journals currently received at the East Asian Library.

1. Gather as much information about the article (journal/magazine title, year of publication, volume, number, article title, pages, etc) from the index/databases.

2. Look up the journal/magazine title using the Classic Catalog. (See Using Library Catalogs page for more tips).

3. If you find the journal at Wash U Libraries, follow the location(s) and call number to locate the physical copy (if print), or use the link provided on the Classic Catalog (if available electronically). Older issues of magazines and journals can be requested and/or checked out. If the journal is not held at Wash U, request journal/magazine articles through interlibrary loan (see next tab). Sometimes Google Scholar can find a full-text electronic copy as well.

To always display this useful ILLiad links, use the proxied link to WorldCat.

* When requesting an article in Japanese, PLEASE READ the "Additional notes and tips for requesting Japanese books/articles box" BELOW. If WorldCat indicates the item is only available from the National Diet Library, that book may not be ILLable.

First, search for the title of the JOURNAL (in which the article you are looking for appeared) on WorldCat. (If you are looking for articles published in Japan, you may be able to use a time-saving trick. See the next tab for details).

Click on the "Send Request to ILLiad" link from the record page of the journal. (Note that for journals, WorldCat cannot tell if the libraries listed as holding the item actually have the issue that includes the article you are requesting. If the article you are requesting is from a very old issue or from an obscure journal, none of the libraries may own the issue needed).

After logging in with your WUSTL Key, you are directed to the new Article Request page of ILLiad.

  • Make sure all the required fields (marked with *) are filled out CORRECTLY. (Frequently information does not transfer from the record to the request form well. Pay extra attention when requesting an article from a Japanese journal. Make sure to supply Romanized title, author name, etc. in addition to Japanese).
  • If making a request from the journal page, supply volume and issue number, year, article title and article author yourself.
  • If requesting a Japanese article, change your answer to "Will you accept the item in a language other than English" to "Yes," and write "Japanese" (or a sentence stating you will accept a copy written in Japanese) in the "Notes" field underneath.
  • If the article is available from other North American libraries, you will receive a scanned PDF copy through ILLiad. (You will receive a notification when it is ready for downloading from ILLiad).

A completed request form will look like this:

WorldCat now imports the National Diet Library Periodical Index from Japan, so you can actually use it to search by ARTICLE TITLE instead of journal title, and send an ILLiad request from there. (But note you still need to edit the request on the request form a lot).

In the following example, the journal title and volume number did not transfer well from the record. Also titles and the author name are in Japanese, so you need to supply Romanized titles and name(s) yourself. As with other Japanese-langauge material request, make sure to change your answer to the "Will you accept the item in a language other than English?" question.

Additional notes and tips for requesting Japanese books/articles

Not all Japanese books or articles you find through WorldCat or article indexes may be readily available through ILL or document delivery. Use the WorldCat record page to judge the availability. If they are not available from other North American libraries, please consult the librarian. 

Books and articles not held at North American WorldCat libraries may be requested from Japanese academic/research libraries participating in US/Canada-Japan ILL. It may take up to 3 weeks for books to arrive. Most Japanese libraries send physical photocopies of the article (instead of a scanned electronic copy) for article requests.

ILL requests to Japanese libraries has to be handled on one-on-one basis, and usually requires special instructions in the Notes field of the request, such as the OCLC Code for lending library. Please consult the Japanese Studies librarian if you would like to borrow books or request articles available outside of WorldCat.

You can determine if ILL-participating libraries in Japan hold the book or journal you are looking for using CiNii Books.