On August 18 and 19, as part of "Children’s Day for Visiting Kasumigaseki" under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, a program "Explore the Biggest Library in Japan" was held in the Tokyo Main Library.
178 applications had been sent in and 31 letters (69 children and accompanying adults) had been chosen by lot. After visiting the stacks consisting of eight floors in the basement of the Annex to see how many materials are stored and various methods of preservation, they participated in two hands-on programs to experience the role of the library. On the 18th, in the program "Be a librarian: experience of reference service," participants answered model questions of library users’ enquiries using dictionaries in the Business, Science and Technology Room in the morning. In the afternoon, they learned how to use a house map and staff showed geographic maps of various countries and maps of the Meiji period in the Map Room. On the 19th, in the program "Let’s look at the book hospital" they learned about the structure and preservation of books and tried to bind a book with ribbon.
In the antechamber, a miniature book and books of various forms were exhibited to show how rich the NDL’s collections are.
On August 20, study tours were arranged for those who had not been chosen by lot, and 26 people participated.