DEVELOPING THE JAPANESE CANADIANRESEARCHERS DIRECTORY & BIBLIOGRAPHYUTILIZING AN OPEN ACCESS PLATFORM

Fabiano Takashi Rocha

Japan Studies Librarian
University of Toronto Libraries
2022 September 16
EAJRS - Lisbon

NAJC TORONTO
Greater Toronto Chapter of the National Association ofJapanese Canadians
https://torontonajc.ca/❑ Advance education
about racial
discrimination
against JapaneseCanadians❑ Promote racialequality and positive
race relations

OURS TO TELL PROJECT - 1❑ Funded by the Canadian RaceRelations Foundation❑ Conversations between academics
and community leaders about theissues of ethics of research inracialized and indigenouscommunities❑ Racialized researchers being
marginalized and tokenized insteadof being treated as scholars in theirown right (i.e., being treated as“native informants”)❑ Numerous accounts from Japanese
Canadian researchers reveal systemic
marginalization and tokenism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXi0QN3-QdA

OURS TO TELL PROJECT - 2❑ Project’s objectives included❑ Increase the awareness of systemic issues in ethics ofresearch❑ Develop guidelines for how researchers from outside
Japanese Canadian community can positively contributeand be good allies in connecting our stories to racism inCanada❑ Strategies for mentoring young Japanese Canadianresearchers❑ Create a reference tool to increase visibility of JapaneseCanadians and resources

ABOUT THE JCRDB - 1
The creation of the Japanese Canadian Researchers Directory &Bibliography to honour Ken Adachi, the author of the first history ofJapanese Canadians published in 1977 to commemorate theJapanese Centennial, is one of the key outcomes of the Ours to Tell
Project funded by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

ABOUT THE JCRDB - 2
The primary purpose of the Japanese Canadian Researchers
Directory & Bibliography is to “demonstrate the state of knowledge
developed in the expertise and voice of the Japanese Canadianperspective that can be used as a reference tool for outsiders, inpolicy, research and funding.”
It aims at ensuring adequate representation of Japanese Canadianvoices in the process of telling their own communities’ stories”

ABOUT THE JCRDB – PROJECT TEAM

Project Lead: Fabiano Rocha

Research Assistant: Bailey Irene Midori Hoy

DEFINITIONSIn the context of the Japanese Canadian Researchers Directory & Bibliography,a JAPANESE CANADIAN is an individual who has Japanese ancestry
It includes those who were born in Canada, as well those who immigrated toand were/are residents of Canada
Recognizing that the experiences of the Issei differ depending on whether they
immigrated to Canada prior to or post-war, tags have been assigned todifferentiate individuals into distinct groups

JC RESEARCHER ENTRY

Japanese Canadian Researcher entry

SCOPE
Originally, the bibliography was to include non-fiction books about Japanese
Canadian history, but it expanded in scope to include works of fiction,
recognizing the richness of research conducted by literary authors
Other relevant topics such as education, sociology, ethnicity, minorities,multiculturalism, anti-racism, social justice also hold a place of importance inthe databaseNon-fiction books

Fiction books

Academic theses

ArticlesReportsTAGGING SYSTEM - 1
A tagging system was developed to enhance searching and browsing capabilities. Tags wereadded to researcher and resource entries
By clicking on a specific tag, one can retrieve all entries that have been assigned the sametag (e.g., all researchers whose field of activity or research interest is Sociology (field))
Formatted Tag Examples

Usage

Japanese Canadian (identity)

Indicates that researchers are identified as Japanese
Canadians based on the definitions established for thisdatabase

Sansei (generation)

Indicates that the researcher is a third generation Japanese
CanadianJapanese diaspora (field)

Indicates that Japanese diaspora is the field of activity or
research interest of the researcher

University of Toronto (affiliation)

Indicates researcher’s institutional affiliation

Canada (associated place)

Indicates place of birth, residence or geographical area ofinterest

Autobiographical fiction (genre)

Indicates the genre of the resource

Academic theses (pubtype)

Indicates the publication format for non-book resources

TAGGING SYSTEM - 1
JC Researcher entries:
Identity, generation,
field/research, affiliation,
associated place

Resource entries:
genre

TAGGING SYSTEM - 2❑ Established vocabularies❑ Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)❑ Emigration and immigration--Canada (field)❑ Motion pictures--Production and direction (field)❑ Canadian Subject Headings (CSH)❑ Japanese Canadians (field)❑ Library of Congress Genre Form Terms (LCGFT)❑ Novels (genre)❑ Documentary films (genre)❑ Biographies (genre)❑ Natural Language❑ Dispossession (field)❑ Redress (field)❑ Picture brides (field) [instead of the offensive LCSH’s Mail order brides]❑ Exceptions were made to use natural language when terms
were either not intuitive or offensive❑ Picture brides (natural language) instead of “Mail orderbrides” (LCSH)❑ Redress (does not exist in LCSH)❑ Internment (does not exist in LCSH)❑ Self-supporting camp (camp)SELECTING THE PLATFORM❑ Create researcher profiles and list
relevant resources❑ Relational database❑ Limited funding and technologicalexpertise❑ Explore existing open access platformsLIBRARYTHING & TINYCATLIBRARYTHING❑Social cataloguing application(web-based) used by authors,individuals, libraries and publishers❑Launched in 2005❑“Free to all” on March 8, 2020

❑Does not use advertising on
registered users

TINYCAT❑ Online catalogue for small
libraries powered by
LibraryThing❑ Does not require extensive
programming or database
design knowledge❑ Cost-effective for small
libraries (non-profit
organization with limited
budget)TINYCATDATA COLLECTION – RESOURCES - 1❑ Resource Listings III in Fujino, David, and Aiko Suzuki(editors). Japanese Canadians in the Arts : a Directory ofProfessionals. SAC/rist, 1994.
❑ University of Toronto Libraries’s holdings❑ Library and Archives of Canada’s holdings❑ Selected resources from bibliographies compiled by project
collaborators Professor Jennifer Matsunaga (University ofOttawa) and Professor John Price (University of Victoria)

DATA COLLECTION: IMPORTING DATA - 1

1. Search directly in LibraryThing; 2. Click on hyperlinks to add title

The Book details show what users will
see in the public display

Public display in librarycat.org

DATA COLLECTION: IMPORTING DATA - 2

Universal import: TEXT, CSV, XML, HTML, RTF, tab-delimited, etc. 20MB max.

DATA COLLECTION: IMPORTING DATA - 3

MARC file import

DATA COLLECTION: MANUAL ENTRY

Manual entry

DATA COLLECTION: DATA PREPARATION❑ With the help of a research assistant (Bailey Irene Midori Hoy),created entries for individual Japanese Canadian researchers❑ Spreadsheet: CreatorName, ResearchInterest, CreatorBio…
Identification, Generation, AssociatedPlace(s)USING BOOK TEMPLATEFOR JC RESARCHER ENTRIESLIBRARYTHING WORK DETAILSThe Book details show what users willsee in the public display

ENTRY IN TINYCAT (PUBLIC DISPLAY)

RETRIEVED WORKS ASSOCIATED WITHPAMELA H. SUGIMAN (VIA HYPERLINK)

LIMITATIONS - 1❑ Manual entries:❑ The subject field is not editable❑ If you wish to have authorized subject headings displayed,
you must import them using a MARC file

❑ LibraryThing recommends using Tags field instead

LIMITATIONS - 2Japanese entries❑ No parallel fields❑ Solution: [title in romaji] = [title in Japanese]❑ LibraryThing does not handle diacritics well (macron forJapanese)❑ Solution:❑ Insert diacritics in the title for ease of reading anddisplay❑ Enter keywords in the Comments field without thediacritic marks (to enable searching)LIMITATIONS - 3

HOMEPAGE

Search box: Simple search
Links to individual collections

Animated cover display

BROWSING❑

Select any of thehyperlinks to browse
entries of individualcollections❑

The last added entry
displays on top by
default (Acquistion)❑Use the drop-downmenu on the righthand side of the page
to filter and sort
entriesSIMPLE SEARCHSIMPLE SEARCH

Search results

ADVANCED SEARCHADVANCED SEARCHFACETED NAVIGATIONSEARCH DEMONSTRATIONPlease visit the Japanese Canadian Researchers Directory & Bibliography athttps://www.librarycat.org/lib/jpncdnresdirectory❑ Japanese Canadian Researchers Directory & Bibliography : Background(5:02) https://youtu.be/QSLopGUMAWU❑ Japanese Canadian Researchers Directory & Bibliography: Demonstration(8:19) https://https://youtu.be/XGErdXm7HSU

GOOGLE ANALYTICSGOOGLE ANALYTICS

Copy and paste the script generated
by Google Search Console(connected to the Google Analytics
account)

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

FUTURE PLANS❑Enhance existing entries❑Continue adding researcherand resource entries❑Explore the inclusion ofarchival collections acrossCanada (and beyond)Thank you!
fabiano.rocha@utoronto.ca