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

The 1st Mutual Visit Program between the National Assembly Library (NAL), the National Assembly Research Service (NARS) of Korea and the NDL was held. Ms. Hyun-Sook Oh (Deputy Director, Law Library Division, Parliamentary Information Office) of NAL, and Dr. Woong-jo You (Legislative Researcher, Foreign Affairs and Security Team) of NARS, visited Japan. Participants gave presentations on “Acquisition of Materials and Information in Internet Environment and Development of Services” and “The Present State and Challenges of ODA in Each Country” and exchanged questions and answers. (For more information on the Mutual Visit Program, see Exchange Activities with Foreign Libraries.) The report of this program will be available in NDL Newsletter No. 171.

The Expert Meeting of the Technical Architecture Working Group of the World Digital Library was held in Alexandria, Egypt. Mr. Yoshiyuki Kanematsu (Assistant Director, Reference Service Planning Division) attended the meeting.

Ms. Sayuri Umeda (Senior Foreign Law Specialist, Law Library of Congress) was invited to the NDL to give a lecture titled “How the Library of Congress Serves the United States and the Community of Nations” for the Annual Meeting between the NDL Librarian and the Directors of the Branch Libraries of Executive and Judicial Agencies. The script was prepared by Roberta I. Shaffer, the Law Librarian of Congress.

Ms. Anita Linell (Director, Community Planning and Health, Swedish National Institute of Public Health) was invited to the NDL to give a lecture titled “Toward Establishing a Sustainable Society” for an international policy seminar.

The 28th Mutual Visit Program between the National Library of China (NLC) and the NDL was held, and Dr. Zhang Furui (Director), Ms. Li Xiaoming (Director, Stack Management and Reading Services Department), Mr. Cao Ning (Director, Culture and Education Department), Mr. Li Chunming (Deputy Director, Department for Digital Resource and Service) and Ms. Liu Yun (Foreign Language Publications Reading Section, Stack Management and Reading Services Department) of NLC visited Japan.
Participants gave presentations on such themes as “National Libraries in the Digital Era”, “Archiving of Internet Information” and “Digitization of Library Collections” 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. 170.

The 12th Mutual Visit Program between the National Library of Korea (NLK) and the NDL was held in Korea. Headed by Mr. Takehiko Sato (Director, Digital Library Division, Kansai-kan), four delegates visited the NLK and gave presentations and exchanged questions and answers relating to the main theme "Contents and Services of Digital Libraries." The report of this year's program will be available in NDL Newsletter No. 171. (For more information on the Mutual Visit Program, see Exchange Activities with Foreign Libraries.)

Ms. Fumiko Ganzenmüller (Internationale Jugendbibliothek, München) was invited to the NDL to give a lecture at the International Library of Children’s Literature: “A place to link books, children and adults - twenty years in ‘Book Castle’.”

The 2nd LIBER-EBLIDA Workshop on the digitization of library material in Europe was held in The Hague, Netherlands. Ms. Megumi Tsutsumi (Library Support Division, Kansai-kan) participated in the workshop.

International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2009 was held in Seoul, Korea under the title of Semantic Interoperability of Linked Data. Ms. Kazue Murakami (Acquisitions Administration and Bibliographic Control Division, Acquisitions and Bibliography Department) and Ms. Yoko Shibata (Digital Library Division, Kansai-kan) participated in the conference.

Dr. Henk J. Porck (Conservation Scientist of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek) was invited to the NDL to give lectures “Conservation research projects in the Netherlands: a national strategy, research results, and the balance between digitisation and preservation of originals” (Presentation file [PDF 776KB] )  and “The Special Collection ‘Paper History’ of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB): an illustrated selection of highlights” (Presentation file [PDF 1.82MB]).

The Sixth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPRES) 2009 and the International Conference on Digital Preservation (IIPC) Open Meeting were held in San Francisco, United States. The theme of iPRES was “Moving Into the Mainstream, Enabling Our Digital Future” and that of IIPC was “Active Solutions for Preserving Internet Content.” Mr. Masaki Shibata (Digital Library Division, Kansai-kan) attended both events.

Dr. Ismail Serageldin (Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina) was invited to the NDL to give a lecture "From Papyrus to PDF: The Rebirth of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina." He also had discussion session with Dr. Makoto Nagao, Librarian of the NDL. A brief report of the lecture and discussion will be available in NDL Newsletter No.171.

The 3rd International Conference on Metadata and Semantics Research was held in Milan, Italy. Ms. Tomoko Okuda (Administrative Division, Kansai-kan) attended the conference.

The 20th Conference of the European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists (EAJRS) was held in Norwich, United Kingdom. Mr. Masato Fujimaki (Assistant Director, Branch Libraries and Cooperation Division, Administrative Department) participated in the meeting and gave a presentation titled “Research Navi - New Reference Tools of The National Diet Library.” (Presentation file MS PPT[2.00MB] PDF[907KB])

The Annual Directors' Meeting of ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) Centers was held in Beijing, China. Ms. Junko Hori (Director, Serials and Non-book Materials Division, Acquisitions and Bibliography Department) participated in the meeting.

Dr. Jean-Noël Jeanneney (former President of the Bibliothèque nationale de France) was invited to the NDL to give a lecture "Internet et la culture: une chance ou un péril?" at the Tokyo Main Library on September 15. He also had a discussion session with Dr. Makoto Nagao, Librarian of the NDL. Dr. Jeanneney also gave a lecture under the same title in the Kansai-kan on September 17. A brief report of the lecture and discussion is available in NDL Newsletter No.170.

The centenary of the National Library of China and a celebration of the opening of the National Digital Library were held in Beijing, China. Dr. Makoto Nagao, Librarian, and Ms. Tomoko Kato (Domestic Materials Acquisition Division, Acquisitions and Bibliography Department) attended the events. Dr. Nagao made a presentation titled “Establishing a Digital Library: Towards Knowledge Sharing.” (Presentation file MS PPT[2.01MB] PDF[1.75MB])

The International Symposium “International Progress of Libraries: Global Knowledge Sharing” was hosted by the National Library of China in Beijing, China. Mr. Fumihiko Kamata (Associate Senior Specialist, Research Planning and Interdisciplinary Research Service, Research and Legislative Reference Bureau) participated in the event and gave a presentation titled “Acquisition and Provision of Chinese Information in the National Diet Library.”

The 4th International Group of Ex-Libris Users Conference (IGeLU 2009) was held in Helsinki, Finland. Mr. Yasuhiro Fukubayashi (Information System Division, Administrative Department) participated in the conference.

The World Library and Information Congress 2009, the 75th International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) General Conference and Assembly was held in Milan, Italy. The theme this year was “Libraries create futures: Building on cultural heritage.“ Six NDL staff members participated in the conference, led by Dr. Makoto Nagao, Librarian. A meeting of Directors of the IFLA/PAC Regional Centres was held on August 26 in which Ms. Noriko Nakamura (Library Counsellor, Acquisitions and Bibliography Department) participated in the capacity of the Director, Regional Centre for Asia.

The International Conference “Parliamentary Law Libraries: Roles and Tasks” was held by the National Assembly Library of Korea. Mr. Hiroshi Sakamoto (Senior Specialist,　Parliamentary Documents and Official Publications Division, Research and Legislative Reference Bureau) participated in the conference.

ISO/TC 46 plenary, sub-committee and working group meetings were held in Nairobi, Kenya. Mr. Masahiko Kawai (Bibliographic Control Division, Acquisitions and Bibliography Department) participated in the meeting.

The 30th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Gordon W. Prange Collection was held in Maryland, United States. Mr. Mitsuaki Okamura (Director General, Reference and Special Collections Department) participated in the Anniversary celebration and made a presentation titled “Secondary Use of Visual Images in the NDL and collaboration among MLA.” (Presentation file PPT[413KB] PDF[174KB])

The 17th Meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries in Asia and Oceania (CDNLAO) was held under the title of “30th Anniversary of the formation of CDNLAO  - Consolidating and Strengthening” along with the 14th Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Ms. Yukiko Saito (Director General, International Library of Children’s Literature) was among the 24 delegates from 16 countries to attend the conference.

The launch event and partner meeting of the World Digital Library was held in Paris, France. Dr. Makoto Nagao, Librarian, and Mr. Hisanori Tanaka (Director, Digital Information Planning Office, Planning and Cooperation Division, Administrative Department) attended the event.

The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development and the German Round Table on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development were held in Bonn, Germany. Ms. Yukiko Uehara (Researcher, Education, Culture, Science and Technology Division, Research and Legislative Reference Bureau) participated in both conferences.

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 Chicago, USA. In the NCC Open Meeting, Mr. Kazuyuki Yamaguchi (Deputy Director General, Administrative Department) made a presentation titled "Future Initiatives in the NDL" PDF[212KB].

Ms. Maria Goeckeritz, Head of the Library, Thuringian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, and Deputy of International Relations, Association of Parliament and Government Libraries of Germany (APBB), was invited to the NDL as the guest speaker for the conference of the directors of Japanese government libraries. She gave a lecture on coordinative and cooperative activities of government libraries in Germany.

The 14th National Conference of Association of College and Research Libraries was held in Seattle, USA. Ms. Yayoi Kitamura (Chief, Reference Section, Reference Service Planning Division, Reference and Special Collections Department) participated in the Conference.

Dr. Claudia Lux, President, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) was invited to the NDL to give a speech titled "Libraries in the Knowledge Society - visions for the future." After her lecture, she and Dr. Makoto Nagao, Librarian of the NDL discussed various issues including challenges of library activities under harsh fiscal conditions, significance of staff education, and coordination with related institutions. A brief report of the lecture and discussion is available in NDL Newsletter No.167.

Dr. Gunnar Sahlin, National Librarian, National Library of Sweden, was invited to the NDL to give a lecture titled “National Library of Sweden – challenges in the digital age.” He also had discussion session with Dr. Makoto Nagao, Librarian of the NDL. A brief report of the lecture and discussion is available in NDL Newsletter No.166.