Although it opened in 2009, the Foreign Research Information Center-Humanities (FRIC) has not received much attention from Korea University (KU) members, yet its abundant resources and extensive services deserves more. The FRIC provides a total of 2,040 humanities field foreign journals, including around 1,000,000 papers. Active utilization of the center is expected for the all KU people, including KU foreign students, researchers, and faculty members.

 
KU FRIC has been assigned as a Humanities Field Assistance Center by the government since 2009. There are a total of 10 FRIC branches concentrating on different fields in Korea. The FRIC was created under the purport “to prevent overlapping subscription of foreign research journals, and a creation of an infrastructure that strategically utilizes foreign research information in public.” KU FRIC was assigned in 2009 by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) and has been operating ever since.
 
   
 
 
KU FRIC owns a wide variety of foreign research journals in the humanities field. Including the original collection of journals that the main library held before its assignment, it provides a total of 2,040 foreign journals with a free copying service. This means that around 1,000,000 papers are available for free—even the mail delivery service. It is a rare opportunity, as not many universities provide much data for the humanities field. Governmental support on the area can be phenomenal in expanding the range of available data.
 
The research journals that KU FRIC subscribe to and service are internationally renowned. The journals are registered in the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) of the international index database ISI, and the European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH). The specific subjects of the journals are mostly in the humanities field, including philosophy, religion, literature, linguistics, and history. Those journals of the humanities field are provided for free.
 
   
 
 
KU FRIC is open and free for everyone—it is not an exclusive service for KU members. However, since the center is located within KU, it is probably KU members who have the most accessibility and make the best use out of the service. Hence, active use by KU foreign students, researchers and faculty members is expected. It is a service not to miss. If you have any inquiries, contact KU FRIC via telephone (02-3290-1489) or email (fric@korea.ac.kr) them. The official homepage (http://www.fric.kr) also provides enough information for the first-time users.
 
   
 
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