The Korean Collection of the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library at the University of Toronto (UofT) was established in 1979 with a grant from the Korean Traders Scholarship Foundation (now the Foundation for the Support of Korean Studies at UofT). The Foundation also donated 900 Korean books to the Library in 1990. Since 1997, as the first institution in Canada, the Library has participated in the cooperative collection development program of the Korean Collections Consortium of North America funded by the Korea Foundation, Seoul, Korea. More recently, in 2005, South Korean firm, LG Electronics Canada donated $33,000 to the Library for the development of Korean electronic resources not previously available in Canada.
The Korean section houses a wide range of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources related to Korean Studies. In addition, the Korean team selects, organizes, and makes the collection available to users to promote Korea, and to function as a stepping-stone between Korea and not only Canada, but also the entire world.
The Library also acquires materials through exchanges and gifts. It promotes vigorous materials exchange programs with numerous Korean universities and government organizations, including Seoul National University Library, Kyujanggak, National Defence University, the National Institute of Korean History, the National Assembly Library the National Library of Korea and the Academy of Korean Studies.
The Collection primarily supports the teaching and research of the faculty and students in the Korean Studies programs at UofT, but the resources are also available to researchers in Canada and internationally through Interlibrary Loan Services.