Korean students mad about books

Korean students angry about the quality of Van Pelt Library's Korean section gave President Sheldon Hackney a petition on Friday signed by over 200 students and faculty. The petition, presented by Korean Graduate Students Association President Jea Hoon Hwang, called for the establishment of a permanent Korean section with a Korean-speaking librarian. The petition criticizes Van Pelt because the current "collection of Korean studies is especially lacking and unable to satisfy even the most basic research needs." Hwang said yesterday that when he asked for help in finding Korean references in Van Pelt, the librarian could not read Korean writing. Having Korean books, but no librarian who could read them, "made no sense," he said. "There are many Koreans at Penn and there is a strong interest in Korean literature," said Korean Lecturer Chang Bong Lee, who helped establish the petition drive. "There are Chinese, Japanese and Indian sections, but no Korean section." East Asian Bibliographer Carl Kahler said yesterday that Van Pelt currently houses about 5,000 Korean volumes. He added that although there was no concerted effort to buy Korean language texts, the library does buy English texts that pertain to Korea. Kahler said that there is no separate Korean section at the library because, unlike with some other languages, there is no Korean studies program. "The goal of this library is to support research and teaching, it is not a public library," he said. "We don't have a Latvian or a Swahili section either. Why should we have a Korean section?" Kahler added that a Korean studies program would have to be established before the library could be expanded. But Hwang said that students and faculty are trying to establish a Korean studies program on campus, and he said that they are confident that they will succeed. "We are close to raising $5 million," Hwang added. Several of the graduate and undergraduate students who signed the petition said yesterday that they think they will be able to convince the administration to expand and improve Van Pelt's Korean section. Some students said they think Hackney will accept the petition because he is going to Korea this month. They also said they think he will solicit donations from Korean alumni. Jun Bang, a Korean Students Association member and United Minorities Council vice-chairperson, said she hopes Hackney will support the petition since "he is president of the University and he should know what students want and need."