The National Diet Library (NDL) held the seventh Japan-Russia Bilateral Seminar Digital Library and Library Cooperation from November 25 to December 3, 1997 in Tokyo at the NDL. During the Seminar we also had an open lecture meeting From USSR to Russia under the joint auspices of the Japan Library Association and the Japan Foundation.

The first (March, 1990), the third (October to November, 1993) and the fifth (November, 1995) seminars between the NDL and the Russian State Library (RSL, Moscow) were held in Japan and the second (October 1992), the fourth (November,1994) and the sixth (September to October, 1996) in Russia. The seventh seminar saw the attendance of Dr. Vladimir K. Egorov, Director, RSL, who managed to make his way to Japan on November 28 in spite of urgent duties in his own library, Dr. Konstantin V. Vigourski, Deputy Director, Scientific-Research Center, RSL and Dr. Vladimir N. Zaitsev, Director, National Library of Russia (NLR, St. Petersburg). This was the first time the NLR took part in a bilateral seminar.

The Seminar consisted of the following four sections:

Section I November 27 morning

Section I was held in the morning of November 27, chaired by Mr. Mineo Miyawaki, Deputy Librarian of the NDL. It began with opening addresses by Mr. Shin-ichiro Ogata, NDL Librarian and by Dr. Zaitsev.

First speaker was Dr. Vigourski whose report, titled The Digital Library Creation Program in the Russian State Library, outlined the ongoing project which started in 1996 as well as his viewpoints about what a digital library is or should be generally and in Russia specifically.

Following him, Mr. Kunihiko Shimada, Library Counselor, Administrative Department, NDL, made a speech under the title -Digital Library Plans in Japan focusing on the NDL Electronic Library Project-, in which he drew a comprehensive picture of domestic trial studies on the digital library, mainly of the NDL.

Section II November 27 afternoon

After a lunch break, Section II started with the presentation of Ms. Kuniko Kameda, Director, the Ueno Branch Library, titled International Library of Children's Literature and digitization projects. She introduced the International Library of Children's Literature (tentative name) project; how it has come about, its fundamental concepts, its expected functions and services, the range of collections and finally, the digitization.

A digital library demonstration by the Planning Division of the NDL followed Section II.

Section III November 28 morning

Dr. Zaitsev, the first speaker of the day, spoke under the title Computerization problems of Libraries in Russia -brief overview of" LIBNET "program-. He sketched the present state and problems of LIBNET, which aims to set up premises for library computer networks all over Russia in 1998-2001. After Dr. Zaitsev's presentation, Mr. Takao Shimamura, Director, Institute of Library and Information Science of the NDL, gave a talk titled Union Catalog Network Projects in Japan. He summarized the past (mainly book form) and present (computer-oriented) efforts at compiling Union Catalogs around Japan and drew attention to the NDL's recent National Union Catalog Network Project.

Section IV November 28 afternoon

Dr. Egorov participated from this session. Starting with a short greeting, he made a report titled The Oriental Centre of the Russian State Library -past, present and future -. He explained the history of the center, its collections, especially Japan-related ones, its present state and a possible automation project.

Each section was followed by a Q&A session, in which the audience assailed the presenters with a barrage of questions.

On November 29 and 30 three of the delegation enjoyed a short excursion to Kamakura , one of Japan's ancient capitals, and sightseeing in Tokyo.

On December 1 a special open lecture meeting was held at the NDL.

Open Lecture Meeting From USSR to Russia December 1

The special lecture meeting began at 2 p.m. on December 1 with about 70 people (including more than 30 from outside institutions) attending. Dr. Egorov spoke on various aspects of structural change in the post-soviet society, under the title of From USSR to Russia: Cultural and Social Changes. During the Gorbachev era, he assisted the then president as the person in charge of cultural and religious issues. At the end of his outspoken lecture Dr. Egorov stressed that despite all problems, they had a good basis to create a civilized social and cultural policy.

Following him, Dr. Zaitsev gave a lecture titled From USSR to Russia: Library and Publishing World as the President of the Russian Library Association. He outlined large organizational transformations, changes of library functions, new national policies, democratization movements and so forth.

A Q &A session followed. It was especially lively as participants tried to get the most out of the meeting.

On December 1, before the open lecture meeting, the delegation visited NACSIS (National Center for Science Information Systems) and the Russian Embassy. On December 2 Dr. Vigourski visited the NEC, and Dr. Egorov Waseda University the Center for Scholarly Information.

Near the close of the visit, the NDL and the delegation had a meeting and confirmed that both sides would seek an even closer cooperative relationship beneficial to both sides on the basis of the better mutual understanding already established through previous annual seminars.