LibGuides: Japan Studies Guide: Finding Books

Beyond UTL

WorldCat.org This link opens in a new window
WorldCat is the union catalog of all OCLC participating institutions, mostly universities in the United States and Canada but also including the NDL and Waseda University. It is a good resource not only for finding books available through inter-library loan in North America, but also romanization for titles, authors, and publishers.
Updated continually. Provides access to the world's most comprehensive bibliography, with over 49 million bibliographic records for audio-visual materials, books, maps, musical scores, newspapers, and periodicals in 370 languages and covering information from 4,000 years of knowledge. Many of the holdings for materials at the University of Texas Libraries are included, as well as holdings for other libraries in Texas, the United States and worldwide.
WorldCat Advanced Search This link opens in a new window
Advanced interface of WorldCat. It's a UTL subscription.
Updated continually. Provides access to the world's most comprehensive bibliography, with over 49 million bibliographic records for audio-visual materials, books, maps, musical scores, newspapers, and periodicals in 370 languages and covering information from 4,000 years of knowledge. Many of the holdings for materials at the University of Texas Libraries are included, as well as holdings for other libraries in Texas, the United States and worldwide.

National Diet Library OPAC
Search the rich collection at the National Diet Library. You can narrow your search by specific collections, including old and rare Chinese and Japanese materials, allied occupation materials, modern Japanese political materials, etc.
CiNii Books
CiNii Books searches across Japanese university OPACs, providing a list of links to libraries that hold specific books, as well as links to Webcat and the National Diet Library catalog. For some books, it provides tables of contents and lists of contribtors, and also gives readings in katakana for book titles and author names. CiNii Books will convert romaji to kana, and has both English and Japanese interfaces. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed to alert you to new resources matching keywords of your choice.
WebcatPlus
Webcat Plus is a database of Japanese books that provides information on books and authors. It provides both the title and author name reading for each work, as well as content summaries for some works, keywords, and related works (often irrelevant, however). For newer books, it often contains a photo of the book cover and some information from book databases. Author pages include information from Wikipedia, photographs, brief biographical information, related people and organizations (according to Wikipedia), and a full list of the author's works contained in Webcat Plus.
National Institute of Japanese Literature (Kokuben ken 国文研) OPAC
This catalog searches the holdings of the National Institute of Japanese Literature.
新日本古典籍総合データベース | Database of Pre-Modern Japanese Works
Created and maintained by the Kokubun ken. It searches holdings in institutions across the country. Continued to be expanded and updated.
日本古典籍総目録データベース | Union Catalog of Early Japanese Books
Mostly Japanese books (wa kosho 和古書). Also contains a small number of Chinese books and Meiji-era books. It searches several catalogs, including the Kotenseki sōmokuroku, the Kokusho sōmokuroku, and the Kokubungaku kenkyū shiryōkan maikurofirumu.
近代書誌・近代画像データベース | Modern Bibliography and Image Database
Created and maintained by Kokubun ken (National Institute of Japanese Literature). It searches modern-era books (some with digitized images) in institutions across the country.
全国漢籍データベース | National Database of Chinese Books
Created and maintained by the Institute for Research in Humanities at Kyoto University. It searches the collection of Chinese materials in major Japanese institutions.

Major Bookseller or Publisher Catalogs

Books.or.jp
Created and maintained by 日本出版インフラセンター (Japan Publishing Organization For Information Infrastructure Development). It is a comprehensive information hub of books in print in Japan.
Amazaon.co.jp
Some sellers on Amazon.co.jp sell and ship books overseas.
日本の古本屋 | Nihon no furuhon'ya
A large second-hand book platform. Registration is needed to use the site.
Super Genji スーパー源氏
Large used-book platform.

UTL Catalog

Search for a Book

From the UT Libraries' homepage, type the book title you are searching for in the search box. You'll find results across many different library resources.

When your results load, select "Library Catalog" from the dropdown arrow to narrow your results to include books and media

Understanding your Results

After searching, you need to look for four details:

1. Is this book in print or is it electronic (an ebook that you can access online)?

2. If the book you want is a physical book, log into your account and look for the pick it up button.

3. Is the book AVAILABLE? If not, there will be a due date. Click the Pick it Up Button to request it and select the library location where you'd like to pick it up. Keep in mind that it will take several days for the current borrower to return it. Wait for an email telling you your books are ready before you come get them!

4. Are you ready to check out? Either get the book off the shelf yourself, or click the Pick it Up button and a library staff member will get the book and bring it to the library location you selected to pick it up. Wait for an email telling you your books are ready before you come get them! It will take 1-2 business days.

Checking out Books

Wait for an email telling you your books are ready before you come to the library location your chose to pick them up. Bring your UT ID.

EBook Database

Maruzen eBook Library This link opens in a new window
UTL has purchased over 200 titles in the Maruzen eBook Library. Most of the titles are for Japanese Language Learnings, including Tadoku titles and study materials for JLPT exams.
Maruzen eBook Library (MeL) is an aggregated Japanese book service for academic, research and educational institutions.

Call Number Guide

Library of Congress Call Number Subject Guide - Japan