No. 107, January 1999

The construction of a new facility of the NDL

The National Diet Library (NDL) will open a new facility in the Kansai region in FY 2002. On November 30, 1998, the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the Kansai-kan (tentative name) was held at the construction site in the Kansai Science City.

The Objectives of the Kansai-kan are to provide a larger storage capacity to cope with the ever-increasing volume of publications and to upgrade the library's services to fit the information environment of the 21st century.

Basic functions of the Kansai-kan will be

1. Providing larger storage capacity 
2. Dissemination of documents and related information to international and domestic users 
3. Providing documents and information on and from Asian countries 
4. Operating as a center for library cooperation 
5. Promoting research and development and training activities in the area of library and information science.

After the opening, the Kansai-kan will work in tandem with the Tokyo main library. 

The new building will comprise four floors above ground and four floors underground with a gross floor area of 59,500 square meters. In the future, the building will be expanded in stages to a final floor space of 165,000 square meters with 20 million volumes capacity. 

The basic design plan of the Kansai-kan aims at harmony and coexistence with the surrounding natural environment. A roof garden and a courtyard covered with greenery will link the building and the grove of assorted trees in the neighboring hills. 

For further information, go to:
http://www.ndl.go.jp/about/eng/sub_menu_f03.html

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