• About the Reading Room
  • Using the Asian Reading Room
  • Using the Asian Reading Room Video (3.30 min.)
  • Asian Rare Book Policy
• Asian Division Collections
• Chinese Collection
• Japanese Collection
• Korean Collection
• Mongolian Collection
• South Asian Collection
  • Introduction to the South Asian Collection Webinar
• Southeast Asian Collection
• Tibetan Collection
• Asian-American Pacific Islander Collection


• Florence Tan Moeson Fellowship


• Search Our Catalogs

Upcoming Asian Reading Room Research Orientation

Location: 10 First Street, SE
Thomas Jefferson Building, LJ 150
Washington, DC 20540-4810
Telephone: (202) 707-5426

Metro Stop: Capitol South on the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines

Contact Us
Map showing location

Hours:
Weekdays: 8:30am to 5:00pm
Closed Saturday, Sunday & Federal Holidays

Subscription Databases and Free Electronic Resources

• Chinese Studies E-Resources
• Japanese Studies E-Resources
• Korean Studies E-Resources
• Korean Serial Database
• Mongolian Studies and Tibetan Studies E-Resources
• South Asian Studies E-Resources
• Southeast Asian Studies E-Resources
• Library of Congress E-Resources Online Catalog

• Chinese Pre-58 Collection
• Indonesian Collection
• Korean Bibliography
• new North Korean Serials Index
• Philippine Bibliography
• new  Rockhill Collection
• South Asian Collection
• new South Asian Manuscripts
• new South Asian Newspapers
• new South Manchurian Railway Company Publications
• Soviet-Korean Bibliography
• new Tai Manuscripts in the Southeast Asia Rare Book Collection


• Romanization Tables

Digital Collections

• new Ainu and Ezochi Rare Collection
• new Chinese Rare Book Digital Collection
• Japanese Censorship Collection
• new Korean Rare Book Digital Collection
• Naxi Manuscript Collection
• new North Korean Serials Collection
• Tibetan Oral History Archive Project

Ask a Librarian
Want to send the reference staff a question about the Library's Asian Collections.

The Asian Reading Room provides public access to more than 4 million items in over 130 Asian languages, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Hindi, Thai, and many others. In the reading room, researchers can use the Asian Division’s collections of printed materials, microform, and databases and confer with reference librarians to answer research questions about the countries of East, South, and Southeast Asia.

Researchers interested in maps of Asian countries should contact the Geography and Map Reading Room; those interested in Western language newspapers from Asia should contact the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room; and those interested in law should contact the Law Library.