Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections: Non-English language resources

The electronic resources listed here, of interest to researchers on Asia, the Middle East and Islamic North Africa.

Except where stated, titles listed here are only available within the Library's Reading Rooms - access from outside the Library is not available owing to licensing reasons.

If you do not find the resource you are looking for, see:

English language APAC databases

Complete listing of British Library electronic resources

Title	Brief Description	Format
Asahi Kikuzo	Online access to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun from 1879 to the present, plus the magazines AERA and Weekly Asahi. Also includes access to Asahi Shimbun's archive of over 10,000 historical photos.
Bibliography of Arabic Books Online	BABO is a bibliographic database containing information about virtually all books published in Arabic before 1960, and then continuing up to the present. The bibliography will contain over 80,000 records and almost 35,000 unique name records.
Bibliography of the Hebrew Book	A comprehensive interactive bibliography of all book printed in the Hebrew Language between 1473 and 1960. It includes over 100,000 titles and 12,000 authors.
Bridge to Japan	A comprehensive source of Japan-related Internet resources. This site is freely available on the Internet.
British Library Japanese Catalogue	Catalogue of Japanese-language printed books and serials (post 1912) in the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections of the British Library. This site is freely available on the Internet.
Brockelmann Online	Brockelmann Online includes the whole of Carl Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (History of Arabic Literature). It is a key source for bio-bibliographic information about Arabic manuscript works. It is full-text searchable.
Bya-ra (Tibetan Research Database)	Contains more than 4,000 bibliographic records of Tibetan-language research articles published in the People's Republic of China from 1981-1998. It includes listings of articles published in a selection of Tibetan language journals. There are also English translations for many article titles.
Catalogue Des Estampages Chinois De L'Ecole Francaise D'Extreme-Orient	A catalogue of Chinese rubbings from L'Ecole française d'Extreme-Orient including 458 photographs and descriptions of a varied collection of rubbings taken from coins, bronzes, tiles and stone, dating from the Han period (206 BC - AD 220) up to the beginning of the Republic of China (1911). CD-ROM available from the Reference Enquiry desk for the standalone workstation in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room.
China Academic Journals	Full text articles from hundreds of Chinese academic journals on literature/history/philosophy, economics/politics/law, education/social science from 1994 to present. Interface available in both Chinese and English. Many journals in Chinese include English abstracts. NB: To access this database please click the China Academic Journals link on the first and second page presented. Please note, the Library does not subscribe to the other databases listed; but you can also search for references from the Century Journal Project. However, you can only access the full text for these where the source journals are also included in China Academic Journals).
China/Asia On Demand (CAOD)	China/Asia On Demand (CAOD)/Asia Document Delivery is a powerful Web-based research, access and electronic information solution. Provides access to a wide range of journals (9,638 titles), millions of theses and dissertations, patents and conference proceeding papers. Articles can be retrieved and downloaded in their original format including graphs and illustrations. NB: Depending on the article you require there are two methods of accessing the full text. Having clicked on the Full text link, click the 'Confirm to continue' button, click 'OK in the Microsoft dialog box and then select the Full text link presented. If that fails, choose the 'Click here to enter your mail address' option (just above the 'Confirm' button), enter your email address, click the 'Confirm' button, click 'OK in the dialog box and then make a note of the transaction number displayed. Revisit the site later and enter the transaction number into the Order Options Track box on the left-hand side of the screen; then select the Full text link presented. Note that it may take up to 3 hours before the article is available online. For help with this resource: see staff at the Asian & African Studies Reference Enquiry desk.
Chinese catalogue allegro-C	British Library catalogue of Chinese printed materials in the Chinese collections of the Asia, Pacific & African Collections (excluding Chinese language items in other British Library collections), mainly from the 20th century but including some old and rare works. Current and retronconverted bibliographic records are added as they are produced. (Publications not yet included can be searched in the APAC Reading Room card catalogues, periodicals lists etc.) NB: Access to this database is limited to the workstation in Carrel 36 of the Asian & African Studies Reading Room only.
Chinese database - Thesaurus Linguae Sericae	A large and complex database of mostly pre-Buddhist Chinese; from the Univ. of Heidelberg. Provides detailed and sourced information on grammatical functions and synonyms of lexemes. Includes a large variety of texts, dictionaries and translations.   This site is freely available on the Internet.
Chinese database - Modern Chinese Scientific Terminologies	A database, from the Univ. of Heidelberg, on the development of Chinese science terminology (in a relatively wide sense; goes beyond the hard sciences) during the late 19th & early 20th centuries. It is source-based; not collated from dictionaries.  This site is freely available on the Internet.
Chinese database - The subject index to the Daoist Canon	A subject index to the Daoist Canon; f rom the Univ. of Heidelberg . It provides sourced access to a very wide range of subjects, such as names, places, temples, titles, rituals, gods or instruments. This site is freely available on the Internet.
Chinese database - The index to the titles and authors in the Daoist Canon	An index to the titles and authors in the Daoist Canon; from the Univ. of Heidelberg. This site is freely available on the Internet.
Chinese UK Union Catalogue	Includes more than 100,000 records from the catalogues of the British Library's Chinese collections, and those of the university libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds and the School of Oriental and African Studies (London). Since it is not exhaustive, it supplements rather than replaces these individual catalogues. This site is freely available on the Internet. If items are not found please contact: Dr Frances Wood or Graham Hutt, Chinese section.
Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari	Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari [Corpus of Coptic Literary manuscripts] contains the descriptions of literary Coptic manuscripts in the Casalini Library (Italy) compiled by Prof.T.Orlandi. This database compliments the published Catalogue of Coptic Literary Manuscripts in the British Library acquired since the year 1906 prepared by Bentley Layton (London,1987). These two collections together form the largest and most important resources for Coptic studies in the west. NB: This resource is password protected. Please ask staff at the Asian & African Studies Reference Enquiry Desk for the password.
The Dead Sea Scrolls	The Dead Sea Scrolls probably represent the most significant discovery in recent history. This CD-ROM is composed of a comprehensive, fully indexed, and cross-linked collection of non-biblical texts, both in Hebrew and English translation of high resolution digitized images of Dead Sea Scrolls fragments. CD-ROM available on the standalone workstation in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room.
The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project	The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project allows users to examine and explore these most ancient manuscripts from Second Temple times at a level of detail never before possible. For help with this resource: see staff at the Asian & African Studies Reference Enquiry desk.
The Encylopaedia of Islam	Generally acclaimed as one of the major scholarly enterprises of this century. This CD-ROM (2004 edition) includes: Index of Proper names, index of subjects; over 10 millions words and thousands of articles; figures, line drawings, genealogical tables and maps; extensive, fully searchable, bibliographies and a search facility for translations in both Arabic and English. CD-ROM available on the standalone workstation in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room.
European Union Catalogue of Japanese Books	Union Catalogue of Japanese printed books and serials in 25 European institutions including the British Library. In Allegro format, hosted by the Bodleian Library. This site is freely available on the Internet.
First Search	Thousands of catalogue records that include key descriptive fields in the original Arabic and Hebraic scripts in which the catalogued items were written. Includes recent addition of BL Hebrew and Yiddish records.
Gurbani-CD	Texts, in Hindi, of Siri Guru Granth Sahib and Nitnem Banies (including translated and transliterated versions), along with photographs of historic Gurdwaras and an instructive text on Sikhism. CD-ROM available from the Reference Enquiry desk for the standalone workstation in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room.
Japan Knowledge	JapanKnowledge is a portal to Japanese encyclopedias, dictionaries and databases including Encyclopedia Nipponica, Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, Progressive Japanese-English/English-Japanese Dictionaries, Gendai Yogo No Kiso Chishiki, Nihon Jinmei Daijiten and other full-text and partial full-text resources. Language is primarily Japanese. Some English. This site is freely available on the Internet.
Japanese Union Catalogue (Cambridge)	UK Union Catalogue of Japanese printed books and serials. Hosted by Cambridge University Library. 150,000 records including post 1969 British Library acquisitions. This site is freely available on the Internet.
Japanese Union Catalogue (Oxford)	UK Union Catalogue of Japanese printed books and serials. In Allegro format, hosted by the Bodleian Library. This site is freely available on the Internet.
Kotobarabia Contemporary Arabic Books 1980 to date	A library of 4000 contemporary Arabic-language e-books, primarily from Egypt, in a wide range of subjects across the humanities and social sciences, including literature, popular culture, also conference transcripts.  Search in Arabic or browse.
Kotobarabia Modern Arab Renaissance Collection 1820-1914	An electronic archive of 3000 books, mostly in Arabic, published 1820-1914 in Egypt, Syria and the Islamic World. Subject categories include philosophy and theology, literature, arts, history and politics. Search in Arabic or browse.
Millennium History of Patan	The Millennium History of Patan is the first ever book containing the history of the ancient city of Patan in Gujarat . This book is divided into sections including: the 1400 years of the history of Patan in English as well as in Gujarati; photographs of over 130 ancient temples in the city; the great saints of Patan; the different festivals celebrated in the city; and the names of the people who played an important role in the development of the city. This book also includes information about the markets, colleges, hostels, universities, hospitals and government organisations of the city. CD-ROM available from the Reference Enquiry desk for the standalone workstation in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room.
National Central Library of Taiwan 1993-	The National Central Library (NCL) is the sole national library of Taiwan. The library's mission is to acquire, catalog, and preserve national publications and to make these resources available to government agencies, private organizations, researchers, and the general public to advance national learning and cultural preservation. This site is freely available on the Internet.
Policies and Laws of China	The database contains documents on Chinese judicial cases and interpretation on legislature and business laws. Coverage is on Chinese policies, regulations and Laws of national, provincial and regional levels from 1949 onward. Interface is in English, but documents are all in Mandarin. 1949 - current. Updated quarterly.
Taiwan Electronic Periodical Services (TEPS)	Taiwan Electronic Periodical Services (TEPS) provides access to the largest online collection of Taiwanese periodicals. There are over 900 journals covering various disciplines in the humanities and sciences.
Tattva-Viveka	A scanned, interactive version of the original palm-leaf, Sanskrit manuscript of The Tattva-Viveka by Pillai Lokacarya. CD-ROM available on the standalone workstation in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room.
Tibetan and Buddhist Resource Center (New York), Core Text Collections 800 CE-	Collection of Tibetan texts covering all fields of Tibetan classical literature. Includes 4000+ volumes growing at a rate of ca 1000 vols per year. Readers can search/browse for available texts and download any number of pages from any volume as PDF files. Access to collection through menu Digital Libraries | Core Text Collections on the website.