No. 113, March 2000

The Fourth JF-NDL Training Program
for Japanese Studies Librarians

The Fourth Training Program for Japanese Studies Librarians was held for three weeks from January 17 through February 4, 2000, under joint sponsorship by the National Diet Library (NDL) and the Japan Foundation (JF). 

Specialist librarians who work at libraries connected to overseas universities and research organizations where they are in charge of handling collections of books related to Japan were invited to Japan for training for the purpose of improving their bases for Japanese studies and provision on information on Japan. 

Thirteen librarians came from the University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library, the University of Toronto Library, the University of London School of Oriental & African Studies Library, the British Library, the Institute of East Asian Studies (Lyon), the Duisburg University Institute for East Asian Studies, the Japanese-German Center of Berlin, the Vienna University Library for Japanese Studies, the Catholic University of Louvain, the National Library of Australia, the Embassy of Japan in the Arab Republic of Egypt Information & Culture Center, the Harbin Municipal Library and the National Library of Korea. 

The NDL carried out a training program focused on materials about Japan: outlines of the NDL collection, reference service, acquisition, database retrieval, preservation. At the request of participants, training on the subject of cataloging of rare and old materials, Japanese newspapers, and Japanese laws translated into English were added as an option. 

Some trainees gave talks at a workshop titled "Cooperation in Dissemination of Japanese Materials" held as a joint project with the International House of Japan on January 21, 2000. At the reception following the workshop, participating librarians exchanged opinions with the staff of Japanese related institutions. In February 2nd, the NDL held "Hearing on the training and exchange programs at the Kansai-kan (tentative name) of the National Diet Library". Participants' comments and suggestions and information on training programs abroad were useful for the NDL in planning library training. 

The participants visited the National Center for Science Information Systems, the National Archives of Japan, the Management and Coordination Agency Statistical Library, the National Institute of Japanese Literature, the Waseda University Library, the Kyoto University, the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai, the Osaka Prefectural Central Library and the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies. Trainees energetically completed a program including observation tours of libraries and the cultural and social institutions in Japan. 

The future of the training program will be reviewed in FY2001 after the end of the 5th program. The participants strongly requested continuation of the program at the summary meeting. The NDL considers continuation because many participants of the past program evaluated the program useful for construction of a network of Japanese Studies Librarians working in isolation. 

Contents of the Program 

1. Orientation
2. Self-introduction
3. Introduction of curriculum and lecturer
4. Guide to the NDL
5. Acquisitions of Japanese publications and overseas materials on Japan
6. Japanese reference books
7. Statistics (option)
8. Government publications
9. Bibliographic database 1
10. Bibliographic database 2
11. Digitized information and electronic library service
12. Rare and old materials (option)
13. Preservation and conservation (option)
14. Hearing on the training and exchange programs at the Kansai-kan (tentative name) of the National Diet Library
15. Summary meeting
16. Training in the National Center for Science Information Systems
17. Observation tours of libraries and the cultural and social situation (National Archives and 3 other institutions)
18. Field trips to institutions related to Japanese studies in Kansai Area (Kyoto University Library and 4 other institutions)
19. Workshop "Cooperation in Dissemination of Japanese Materials"