Thanks to generous support from the American Library Association (ALA), USC Chinese studies librarian Tang Li and collaborators Dongyun Ni and Edward Yagi from the University of Hawaiʻi recently completed the Sinophone Studies: An Annotated Bibliography project.
The online research platform brings together 310 curated and annotated bibliographic records spanning monographs, journal articles, theses, and primary sources in English, Chinese, and other languages. IT specialist Edward Yagi assisted Tang Li and Dongyun Ni, a Chinese studies librarian at the University of Hawaiʻi, with adding AI-assisted search and discovery tools, thematic browsing capabilities, and mapping features. The full-featured platform offers many options for educators, researchers, and students worldwide to explore scholarly resources for understanding Sinophone literature, culture, and diaspora communities.
Researchers can explore resources related to a variety of topics including Chinese diaspora communities in Malaysia, LGBTQ+ studies, Sinophone martial arts cinema, and much, much more. In the next year, the team plans to continue expanding the bibliography and broadening its coverage across regions, languages, and disciplines. Future enhancements will focus on improving metadata, search functionality, and AI-assisted discovery.
The Sinophone Studies Annotated Bibliography resource was made possible by an ALA Carnegie-Whitney grant. During 2025 and 2026, the team presented about their project at several conferences, including the Association for Asian Studies, the Sino-American Academic Library Forum, the Pacific Rim Research Alliance conference, and the Society for Chinese Studies Librarians annual meeting.
