An Analysis on the Juvenile Books on Korea and Japan in the WorldCat

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of juvenile books on Korea and Japan in WorldCat and observe the possibility of diffusing knowledge on each country. The distribution of bibliographic records of books published from 1993 through 2012, and especially the books published in 1997, when the numbers of books on both countries were the closest, were analyzed in detail in terms of language, genre, subject headings, and holding libraries. The result shows much fewer bibliographic records of juvenile books on Korea than those of books on Japan, and their growing gap every year. There were also much fewer holding libraries and copies of books on Korea, published in 1997, compared to books on Japan. The texts were mostly written in Korean and in tones set for very young readers. A serious lack of diversity in subjects and genres with the focus on Korean folklores and anecdotal biographies were also observed. Therefore, there seems to be nothing much interesting to read that would help promote the diffusion of knowledge on Korea through libraries around the world.