Ms. Martha Anderson  & Mr. William G. LeFurgy

Two experts in digital preservation from the Library of Congress (LC) of the United States came to give lectures on cutting-edge projects. Ms. Martha Anderson and Mr. William G. LeFurgy have been working as project managers for the Office of Strategic Initiatives at LC. They have both been involved in the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). 

Ms. Anderson and Mr. LeFurgy

Mr. LeFurgy's work at LC includes overseeing advanced digital preservation projects, guiding research on improved methods for long-term management of digital materials, and working with government agencies, private corporations, professional organizations, and other stakeholders. His speech, "National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP)," briefly described the NDIIPP and outlined the current status and results of the project and the next steps to be taken. 

Ms. Anderson is working on projects for building preservation architecture. She serves as the project manager for the Archive Ingest and Handling Test (AIHT) of the NDIIPP and also chairs the Metrics and TestBed Working Group of the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC). Her lecture, "Web Archiving at the Library of Congress: Collection Strategies and Collaborations," elaborated the LC's web archiving strategy. She also put much emphasis on collaboration with international partners. That importance of international partnership was recognized widely, which resulted in the establishment of IIPC in 2003 at the Bibliothèque nationale de France with 12 participating institutions. For the second phase of IIPC activities, it is planning to expand its membership from 2006, and Ms. Anderson called on Japanese librarians to come forward to participate in this worldwide endeavor. 

Aside from giving lectures, Ms. Anderson and Mr. LeFurgy had meetings with the staff of the Digital Information Planning Office, Planning and Cooperation Division at the Tokyo Main Library on Februry 16. They also visited the Kansai-kan, and had a meeting with the staff of the Digital Library Division at the Kansai-kan on February 17. Hands-on learning experience with these two American experts through these meetings inspired the NDL staff to move forward to tackle the difficulties of digital preservation.

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February 22, 2005 

Dr. Barbara B. Tillett

Another expert from the LC, Dr. Barbara B. Tillett, visited the NDL one week later. She has been Chief of the Cataloging Policy and Support Office at  LC since 1994 and supervised the introduction of an integrated library system. The success of this system integration made her one of the most distinguished experts of the library. Her work has also extended outside LC, and she has been active in the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), serving as a chair to the Division of Bibliographic Control and also as a member of the IFLA Governing Board. Recently she has been leading a joint project of the LC, Die Deutsche Bibliothek (DDB) and the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center). The project is named VIAF (Virtual International Authority File) and aims to build a virtual authority file to match and link the authority records for personal names in the retrospective personal name authority files of DDB and LC. For all these and other numerous achievements in the cataloging field, she was awarded the Margaret Mann Citation, one of the most prestigious awards for librarians, by the American Library Association in 2004. 

Dr. Tillet 

Her lecture, "Virtual International Authority File," gave the audience an overall idea of what VIAF is about. Authority control is time-consuming and labor-intensive work. She claims that by sharing the work worldwide through constructing this virtual file, we can save time and work more effectively. She also talked about how IFLA's international cataloging principles had been developed and what the future directions would be. 

On February 23, Dr. Tillet attended a meeting with NDL staff of the Bibliography Department to give a presentation on the authority cooperative projects and discuss related matters. The meeting gave the NDL staff an opportunity to look into the actual work flow of cataloging in LC, which is hard to grasp from the published materials, and to refresh their knowledge on up-to-date trends in cataloging. 

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March 1, 2005

Dr. Niggemann, Director General of Die Deutsche Bibliothek (DDB), gave a lecture titled "Die Deutsche Bibliothek: the German National Library," in which she introduced the brief history and outlined the overall functions and current situation of DDB. She also talked about the challenges that DDB faces concerning digital resources and the two projects called "nestor" and "KOPAL," both of which aim to contribute to the preservation of digital resources. Her lecture finally extended to TEL (The European Library) project whose objective is to unite the resources of Europe's national libraries. 

Dr. Niggemann 

On March 2, a meeting with Dr. Niggemann and the NDL's directors and senior members was held at the Tokyo Main Library with teleconference attendance from the Kansai-kan. There was very active discussion on various subjects such as legislation regarding electronic resources. Though it was the first time that the DDB Director General visited the NDL, Dr. Niggemann talked to everyone in a very friendly and open manner throughout her visit. The NDL staff found many things in common between the two libraries and felt that Dr. Niggeman's visit marked the beginning of a new stage of cooperative relations between DDB and the NDL. 

Dr. Niggemann also visited the International Library of Children's Literature and the Goethe -Institut Tokyo during her stay in Japan.

More details of these lectures will appear in future issues of NDL Monthly Bulletin (in Japanese). 

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