No. 127, October 2002｜Natinal Diet Library

National Diet Library Newsletter

No. 127, October 2002

Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library
opened on October 7

The Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library, a new facility of the NDL, opened on October 7, 2002, in Kansai Science City in Kyoto Prefecture.

Distant view of the kansai-kan

Opening ceremony

On October 5, 2002, the opening ceremony was held. The invited guests included the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the House of Councillors, other Diet members, people from national and local administrative agencies, the designer of the building and many from library circles. From abroad, Ms. Carolyn Brown (Assistant Librarian for Library Services, Library of Congress), Ms. Jill Finney (Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications, The British Library), Mrs. Caroline Wiegandt (Deputy Managing Director, Bibliothèque nationale de France), Mr. Zhang Yanbo (Deputy Director, National Library of China) and Mr. Shin Hyun-Taek (Director General, National Library of Korea) attended. After a ribbon cutting ceremony, the Speaker of House of Representatives and others delivered addresses. A preview of the library and a reception followed.

Outline of the Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library

Purpose
The Kansai-kan aims to provide document supply services utilizing information technology, specialized information services on Asia, library cooperation programs, a huge storage capacity for library materials and the development of digital library services. For details, please see our website.

Building
The Kansai-kan is located in Kansai Science City. Mr. Fumio Toki, the winner of the international design competition, designed the building. The construction was entrusted to the Kinki Regional Development Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Outline of the facility

Site	8-1-3 Seikadai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0287, Japan
Size	Four floors above ground, four floors below ground
Facilities above ground	Visitors' entrance Seminar Rooms Cafeterias Office
Facilities below ground	General Collections Room Asian Resources Room Auditorium Stacks
Facility plan in the first stage	Total floor area: approx. 59,500 square meters Storage capacity: approx. 6 million volumes
Final facility plan	Ground area: approx. 82,500 square meters Total floor area: approx. 165,000 square meters Storage capacity: approx. 20 million volumes
Total expense for building	42.5 billion yen

You can enjoy a tour of the Kansai-kan on the web by clicking on "Opening of the Kansai-kan" in the NDL website.

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