KOREA FOUNDATION

KF Global Challengers Internship Letter

I have been working at the Langson Library of the University of California, Irvine (UCI), since last March. UCI also boasts a Science Library, Grunigen Medical Library, Law Library, and Gateway Study Center that each renders assistance to students and faculty members in their research.
  The Langson Library is home to the Korean Corner, established in 2017 with the support of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a KF intern here, my work focuses on managing the books in the Korean Corner and the library’s East Asian collection. I help Korean Studies professors and students in master’s and doctoral courses in their search for appropriate materials by showing them how to use the Korean Studies database and library collections. In addition, I take part in the development of the Korean Studies collection through cataloging and weeding, English-Korean translations of various projects, promotional planning of the Korean Corner and Korean Studies materials, and implementation of outreach programs.
  Recently, I translated the introductory note of The Korean Pictorial, a magazine that documented past ways of life in North Korea and the activities of Zainichi Koreans (ethnic Koreans residing in Japan), to help improve access to these rare materials at UCI. I also worked as a library guide and conducted a Korean language program at the STARTALK event, an intensive learning course on Korea and Korean language for young Korean-Americans in Irvine.
  Currently, I am working on a list of book recommendations for a lecture by Min Jin Lee, the Korean-American author of Pachinko who has highlighted the lives of Zainichi Koreans, and I am reviewing another list of 3,000 books for selective weeding.
  My internship will come to an end in December, and I will continue to do my best in all my work both in and outside the library to contribute to the development of Korean Studies.

KF Library Internship Langson Library of the University of California, Irvine Kayoung Cho

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