THE ACADEMY OF KOREAN STUDIES :: View Menu - Academic Events, Exhibitions and Book Donations and Loans

Jangseogak Colloquium

The Jangseogak Colloquium is an academic conference held on a quarterly basis, for presentations and discussions of topics related to ancient books and manuscripts in the collection of Jangseogak, which are of high historical value or require new interpretation. The colloquium serves as a platform for presenting new research results as well as new primary source materials, thereby stimulating research into ancient books and manuscripts in the Jangseogak collection.

Academic Journal Jangseogak

Jangseogak is an academic journal of Korean Studies, publishing research articles and primary source materials. The journal appears twice a year, in April and October, and is under consideration for registration with the Korea Research Foundation. Articles published in Jangseogak are peer-reviewed and include feature series articles, primary source materials and their annotations.

Exhibitions of Jangseogak Books and Manuscripts

As part of an on-going effort to kindle public interest in the cultural past of Korea and chart new directions in Korean Studies research, Jangseogak periodically hosts book and manuscript exhibitions on a variety of themes. These exhibitions have helped, over the years, academics and the general public better understand the academic value of Jangseogak holdings and more actively participate in their preservation as well as use for research purposes, thereby contributing to building broad-based support for the field of Korean Studies.

Project for research on literature materials kept at the Jangseogak

In order to facilitate systematic research on the Jangseogak collection of around 150,000 items of written materials from the Joseon royal court and the scholar-elite families, the following projects are being carried out: formation of the research basis respectively on the royal court documents and inherited documents of the scholar-elite families; research on the Jangseogak collection; compilation of informatization of old books and records; and education and publicity aimed for popularization of the related knowledge.

Donation and Deposit of Items

- Rare books and manuscripts in private possession run greater risks of becoming damaged or destroyed from causes such as fire and theft. At Jangseogak, we accept donations or deposition of ancient books and manuscripts in private collections for their safety and long-term preservation.

- At Jangseogak, we perform preliminary research on all ancient books and manuscripts donated to us or deposited with us, by classifying them by type and subject matter. Heavily damaged materials are given conservation treatments by the in-house Conservation Science Team.

- Donated or deposited materials are kept in a separate room dedicated to each family school this purpose and specially equipped to provide an optimal environment for long-term preservation of old books and manuscripts. Family records are arranged by family.

- Catalogs of donated or deposited ancient books and manuscripts

Jangseogak publishes detailed catalogs of ancient books and manuscripts that have been donated to it or deposited with it, containing color plates, as reference materials for Korean studies researchers and research organizations.