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Chinese gazetteers are one of the most important primary sources for the study of history of Chinese economy, politics, culture, military, and science and technology. Since the very beginning, the Yale East Asia Library has been keen on collecting Chinese gazetteers. However, unlike its peer research libraries in the USA, the Yale East Asia Library had never compiled a catalog or written an article about its gazetteer collection. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review, for the first time, original editions of Chinese gazetteers held in the Yale East Asia Library to reveal the holdings and research value.

The author conducted a survey of original editions of Chinese gazetteers in the Yale East Asia Library by searching the Yale online library catalog and comparing with existing catalogs of Chinese local gazetteers compiled by other research libraries in the USA. The paper focuses on the edition, coverage, rarity and variety of Yale's holdings.

According to the author's findings and preliminary research, Yale holds approximately 337 original Chinese gazetteers. The majority of them is rarely found in other North American research libraries and thus has high research value. They cover almost all provinces and municipalities in China and have a great variety of types.

Although the author tried to use various search strategies to look up in the Yale online library catalog to ensure high retrieval, the results here may not be accurate. Also it is likely that a number of Chinese gazetteers are not recorded in the Yale online library catalog because of backlogs. A physical survey of Chinese gazetteer holdings at Yale and more research need to be done in the future.

This paper is the first of its kind to provide a systematic review of original editions of Chinese gazetteers held in the Yale East Asia Library.

This article seeks to propose that – as university faculty and students increasingly engage in research, teaching, and learning in international locations – librarians at the home campus need to expand the geographic range of their public services planning. Specifically, it aims to suggest that written agreements with university library partners in other countries can be used to provide patrons with access to collections, expertise, and study space during their residence abroad.

The article provides an overview of agreements (the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)) concluded by East Asia Library staff at Yale University to secure access for Yale affiliates to the University of Tokyo and Waseda University Libraries, both in Tokyo, Japan. These institutional arrangements facilitated a level of access not possible for an individual researcher or student.

The agreement with the University of Tokyo is an example of a detailed reciprocal arrangement providing both library use and borrowing privileges. The agreement with Waseda is also reciprocal, but the written language is much less specific; nevertheless, the framework provided by this general MOU now allows enhanced access services for patrons.

Unlike most of the international library exchanges and partnerships described in library literature to date, this case study developed from the idea that agreements be strategic and designed to serve user needs. While there is an extensive literature about serving international students and researchers, this article provides a shift in perspective by focusing on what the “sending institution” can do through strategic agreements to enhance library services for patrons abroad.

The Internet and World Wide Web offer a rapidly increasing quantity of valuable resources on Asia‐specific information. In view of the vast scope of the Asian countries and the fast proliferation of good sites, this article offers only a sampling of valuable Internet resources as starting points for further exploration. It covers meta sites, Asian search engines, library resource pages, and electronic journals and newspapers. The first part of this paper includes the Internet sites of Asian studies, the second part contains selected East Asian country resources from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, and the third part presents the leading Asian electronic journals and newspapers. Preference was given to comprehensive sites on countries or regions that have been the focus of recent academic study and research. All the sources are in English and some of them contain bilingual or multilingual versions.

The Internet contains a rapidly increasing quantity of valuable resources on Asia‐specific information. In view of the vast scope of the Asian countries and the fast proliferation of good sites, this article offers only a sampling of valuable Internet resources as starting points for further exploration. It covers meta sites, electronic articles, library resource pages, and electronic journals and newspapers. The first part of this paper includes the Internet sites of Asian studies, the second part contains selected country resources from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, and the third part presents the leading Asian electronic journals and newspapers. Preference was given to comprehensive sites on countries or regions that have been the focus of recent academic study and research. All the sources are in English and some of them contain bilingual or multilingual versions.