This section summarizes news on international cooperation such as international conferences attended by NDL staff, and NDL's international exchange activities.

ICDL (International Conference on Digital Libraries) 2006 was held in New Delhi, India. From the NDL, Mr. Yoshito Fukui (Assistant Director of the Information Systems Division, Administrative Department) participated in the conference.

The 8th CO-EXIST-SEA Workshop was held in Hanoi, Vietnam. From the NDL, Ms. Azusa Higashigawa (Business, Science and Technology Division, Reference and Special Collections Department) participated in the workshop, making a presentation titled "The Role of NDL in Promoting STI."

The Training Program for Information Specialists for Japanese Studies in FY 2006 was held under the joint sponsorship of the NDL and the Japan Foundation (JF). 12 trainees from 11 countries (Azarbaijan, France, Germany, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden and the U.K) participated. The report of this program is available in NDL Newsletter No. 153.

The 9th Biennial Conference of the Association of Parliamentary Librarians of Asia and the Pacific (APLAP) was held in Wellington, New Zealand. From the NDL, Ms. Hisae Umeda (Senior Specialist, Research and Legislative Reference Bureau) and Mr. Satoshi Iwasawa (Assistant Director of the Research Planning Division, Research and Legislative Reference Bureau) attended the conference.

The 9th International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries (ICADL2006) was held in Kyoto, Japan. From the NDL, Mr. Toshiyasu Oba (Assistant Director of the Digital Library Division, Kansai-kan) participated in the conference and made a presentation titled “Digital Library Service of the National Diet Library.”

An academic conference was held in Gwacheon, Republic of Korea, sponsored by the National Institute of Korean History. Mr. Toshiyuki Yamada (Director of the Modern Japanese Political Documents Division, Reference and Special Collections Department) participated in this conference on the modern history of East Asia and the collection of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, and made a presentation.

The 26th Mutual Visit Program between the National Library of China and the NDL was held, and Mr. Zhang Yuhui (Deputy Director), Mr. Yan Xiangdong (Director, International Cooperation Division), Mr. Wang Zhigeng (Director, Department for Serials, E-resources & Audiovisual), Ms. Shen Xiaojuan (Deputy Director, Digital Library Administrative Division) and Ms. Han Hui (Cataloging Section for Oriental Languages, Acquisition & Cataloging Department, interpreter) visited Japan. Participants gave presentations on "Library services via websites" and exchanged questions and answers. (For more information on the Mutual Visit Program, see Exchange Activities with Foreign Libraries.) The report of this program is available in NDL Newsletter No. 154.

A lecture meeting related to the exhibition "Northern Gifts - Children's Books from the Nordic Countries" was held at the International Library of Children's Literature. Ms. Karin Beate Vold (Director of the Norwegian Institute for Children's Books) was invited and gave a lecture on children's books in Norway.

The 2006 Workshop for Overseas Korean Studies Librarians was held in Seoul, Korea. Mr. Fukutaro Tanaka (Asian Resources Division, Kansai-kan) and Mr. Natsuto Fujiwara (same division) participated.

The New York Public Library (New York, USA) held a symposium in conjunction with the exhibition "Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan." As a guest speaker, Ms. Yumiko Mashima (Rare Books and Old Materials Division, Reference and Special Collections Department) gave a presentation titled "Ehon: An overview."

The 17th annual conference of the European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists (EAJRS) was held in Venice, Italy. From the NDL, Ms. Ryuko Ebisu (Assistant Director of the Serials Cataloging Division, Bibliography Department) participated in the conference, making a presentation titled "Provision of Bibliographic Data in the NDL– With Development of the Electronic Library Plan –."

The 31st Annual Directors' Meeting of ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) Centers was held in Stockholm, Sweden. Ms. Noriko Kuramitsu (Senior Librarian of the Bibliography Department) participated in the meeting.

The 30th IBBY Congress was held in Macau, China. Mr. Takao Murayama (Director General, International Library of Children's Literature) participated in the conference.

An International Policy Seminar titled "The Problems of the Immigrant Policy and the Foreign Workers Policy in a Depopulation Society" was held at the Tokyo Main Library. Prof. Barbara John (Coordinator for Language Training for Migrants at the Ministry for Education Berlin) was invited as the lecturer.

The 10th Mutual Visit Program between the National Library of Korea (NLK) and the NDL was held in Korea. Headed by Mr. Toshiyuki Yamada (Director of the Modern Japanese Political Documents Division, Reference and Special Collections Department), three delegates visited the NLK and gave presentations and exchanged questions and answers relating to the main theme "Reference Services in the Digital Information Age: Focusing on Construction of a Cooperative Digital Reference Network." (For more information on the Mutual Visit Program, see Exchange Activities with Foreign Libraries.)

The World Library and Information Congress: 72nd Annual Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) was held in Seoul, Korea. The theme this year was "Libraries: Dynamic Engines for the Knowledge and Information Society." Eighteen NDL staff members participated in the conference, led by Mr. Yoshitaka Ikuhara (Deputy Librarian). Delegates made presentations and an exhibition booth was set up for introducing NDL's roles and activities with a focus on digital library services and preservation activities. Mr. Ikuhara also attended the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) on behalf of Mr. Takao Kurosawa (Librarian).Report on the participation from the NDL is available in NDL Newslettter No. 152.

A pre-conference of the WLIC 2006 with the theme of "Preservation and Conservation in Asia" was held at the Tokyo Main Library. Presented papers (in English) are available on the web page of IFLA PAC Regional Centre for Asia.

Dr. Deanna B. Marcum (Associate Librarian for Library Services, Library of Congress) was invited to the NDL and gave a lecture titled "The Roles of National Libraries in the Changing Electronic Environment."

The annual meetings of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and the Council on East Asian Libraries (CEAL), and the meeting of the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC) were held in San Francisco, USA. Mr. Kazuharu Honda (Assistant Director of the Book Service Division, Public Services Department) attended the meetings. At the NCC meeting, he gave a presentation titled "New Stage of the Digital Library of the National Diet Library of Japan: Digitization of Japanese Books and Digital Archive Portal."

The 14th meeting of the Conference of Directors in Asia and Oceania (CDNLAO) was held in Manila, Philippines. Mr. Hiroshi Sakamoto (Department Director, Collections Department, Administrative Division, Kansai-kan) participated in the meeting on behalf of Mr. Takao Kurosawa (Librarian). The report of the meeting is available in CDNLAO Newsletter No. 56.

Dr. Kai Ekholm (Director of Helsinki University Library - the National Library of Finland) was invited to the NDL and gave a lecture titled "Way to a Digital Nation: Framework for sharing our skills."

Handouts:
"Way to a Digital Nation" [PDF:2,234KB]
"Digitization of the Cultural heritage at the National Library" [PDF:1,896KB]

Dr. Desider L. Vikor (Director of Collection Management & Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries) was invited to the NDL as a lecturer for a symposium "New phase of the Gordon W. Prange Collection: Succession and development of Japanese publications issued during the period of the Occupation by the Allied Powers."

Ms. Lynne Brindley (Chief Executive of the British Library) and Mr. Abdelaziz Abid (Program Specialist of the Information Society Division, UNESCO) were invited to the NDL as lecturers for a symposium " Library reformation in digital era - challenges and prospects."