Inside the Doheny Library, the University of Southern California’s Korean Heritage Library (KHL) commemorated its 40th anniversary, bringing USC students into the festivities on Friday, Sept. 25.
During the celebration, Jungeun Hong, a librarian at KHL, said the 40-year milestone was an opportunity to honor the collective commitment to share and preserve Korean heritage.
“Our campus holds so many Korean American stories, including those of trailblazing Korean American Trojans,” Hong said.
According to the library, more than 100 collection donors, library supporters, scholars, alumni, faculty and students gathered under the theme of “Looking Back, Moving Forward” to celebrate the library’s accomplishments and look toward its future.
“KHL has grown through decades of community support and generosity. The librarians, staff, collection donors and community members have all helped make the library what it is today,” Hong said.
Located on the first floor of Doheny Library, this library collection started in 1986 with a small batch of Korean-language materials. Now, it holds one of the largest collections of Korean American history materials in the United States.
The library’s extensive physical and digital collections are available to students interested in utilizing Korean language sources, as well as the general public as long as they have a valid ID.
“Our library’s significance goes beyond the region,” said Sunyoung Park, the Director of USC’s Korean Studies Institute. “Around the nation, people come to our library to look at those rare primary sources.”
Since its opening, it has grown to house thousands of historical documents and family photographs, amassing materials from the Korean-American Digital Archive, the Sea of Korea Maps Collection, the Peace Corps Korea Digital Archive and the Korean Missionary Archives.
According to Park, amongst the most special collections the library holds is the science fiction archive.
“I have worked with the library to buy science fiction, which is a marginal genre in Korea. [The genre] is published by smaller independent science fiction publishers, and through my participation in science fiction, I noticed that these books were not coming to America,” Park said.
Park shared that a science fiction fandom leader even donated his archive to the library, giving them the best Korean science fiction collection outside South Korea.
U.S. Census Bureau data from 2020 indicates that Los Angeles County has the largest Korean American population in the U.S. Many Korean Americans can stay connected to their heritage by visiting the library.
In a written statement, Hong also introduced the library’s newest installation: the USC K-Trail, an immersive walking tour that brings the library’s special collections to the places where history happened.
“Helping people discover those stories as they walk through campus is especially rewarding,” Hong said.
Hong also mentioned their plans to develop a second trail exploring Koreatown in collaboration with the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The celebration concluded with an energetic musical performance by the first and only K-Pop and Korean music band at USC, Band Kori.
Edited by Fashion Castillo and Leo Li