Portland State University has become the first institution in Oregon and 18th in the U.S. to have access to the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) National Assembly Library (NAL) database.
Portland State University students, faculty, staff, and visiting members of the general public now have online access, via two dedicated computer stations on the second floor of Portland State University Library, to the largest digital Korean language-based database. The NAL database has more than 3.5 million historical and contemporary documents and resources primarily published in Korea, including master and doctoral theses, periodicals, journals, multimedia resources, publicly available Korean government documents and white papers, and internet resources. Database users will need to be familiar with the Korean language, as the ROK NAL website and database are accessible mainly in Korean.
Since 2012, visiting librarians from the ROK NAL have worked closely with PSU faculty and administrators to implement access to the ROK NAL at PSU. An agreement signing ceremony was recently held at PSU Library, following two years of collaborative efforts between PSU and the ROK. Special thanks should be addressed to the following people:
At Portland State University
- Marilyn Moody, Library Dean
- Ron L. Witczak, Executive Director of Office of International Affairs
- Dr. Sharon Carstens, Director of the Institute for Asian Studies
- Katherine Morrow, Program Manager in the Institute for Asian Studies
- Stacey Balenger, Contract Officer
- Dr. Junghee Lee, Associate Professor at the School of Social Work
- Dr. Junghee Lee, Professor of Asian Art History
At Republic of Korea National Assembly Library
- Chang Hwa Hwang, Chief Librarian
- Dr. Woo Jin Noh, General Director
- Hak Myung Woo, Director
- Jung Soon Hong, Director
- JaeKoo Han, Program Manager
PSU Library and the ROK NAL share a mutual vision and understanding that access to information available in the NAL database provides a public service benefit to faculty, researchers, students, and members of the general public. Users with questions about the database should contact the PSU Library Reference Desk on the Library’s second floor.
The National Assembly Library of the Republic of Korea was established to collect a wealth of information from around the world and deliver it both to members of the Republic of Korea National Assembly and the general public. In doing so, the NAL helps promote parliamentary democracy and quality of life, preserves intellectual heritage, and transmits that heritage to the next generation. Through signed agreements between the ROK NAL and institutions around the world, the NAL database is available to those outside Korea.
Portland State University joins 17 institutions in the USA to have access to the ROK NAL, including 14 universities, the Library of Congress, and the Korean Cultural Service in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.