[KS] Spaces of Korean phrases in Library catalog

[Hyokyoung Yi]

Dear Korean scholars,

I'm a Korean studies librarian at the University of Washington.  I'd like to 
hear your comments and feedbacks from you on a topic, which is about the 
upcoming change in the practice of transcribing Korean non-roman characters 
in the library catalogs.

Some US libraries have followed the rule of keeping space in Korean 
characters based on the rule of MR Romanization word division.   (e.g. 
중국<space>그리고 <space>조선족)

Other libraries used the rule of keeping all Korean characters without any 
space. (e.g.  중국그리고조선족)

With the merge of two systems in library catalogs, librarians are pressured 
to quickly come up with an ideal solution in this matter.  The solution 
could be something other than these two current practices (e.g. Follow 
Korean word division rule, or use spaces based on physical book's 
description).  There are many pros and cons in both ways and there are many 
technical issues involved to consider for the final decision making.

Nonetheless, I'd still appreciate if you could share your comments from the 
perspective of USERS on which way you would prefer to see Korean language 
materials' display in your library catalog either with space or no space or 
something else.

Hyokyoung Yi
Korean Studies Librarian
East Asia Library
Gowen 336 Box 353527
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-3527
Tel. 206-543-6603
Fax 206-221-5298