The NDL held a symposium titled "Library reformation in digital era - challenges and prospects" on January 26, 2006, inviting distinguished lecturers in the library field from both inside and outside Japan.

Mr. Abid at the Symposium
Three lecturers gave insightful speeches relating to the roles of libraries in the digital society: Mr. Abdelaziz Abid (Program Specialist of the Information Society Division, UNESCO) made a presentation titled "Preserving our Digital Heritage: A New Preservation Paradigm," giving an outline of UNESCO's activities focusing on its role in creating "knowledge societies" utilizing information communication technology. Prof. Tamiko Matsumura (Professor emeritus, University of Library and Information Science) spoke about the trends of the information society and the changes in library services. Ms. Lynne Brindley (CEO, The British Library) presented the challenges that the British Library faces in the new information environment focusing on how it has developed its strategy and what initiatives it is undertaking as part of the strategy.

Ms.Brindley at the Symposium
After the lectures, the progress and future tasks of NDL's digital library project were reported by Mr. Kenji Uetsuki (Director, Digital Information Planning Office, NDL) and five panelists discussed information dissemination and access, followed by questions and comments from the audience. This event attracted 280 people, an audience that is nearly the maximum capacity of the Auditorium of the NDL.
 

February 16, 2006
Symposium "New phase of the Gordon W. Prange Collection: Succession and development of Japanese publications issued during the period of the Occupation by the Allied Powers"

On February 16, 2006, a symposium "New phase of the Gordon W. Prange Collection: Succession and development of Japanese publications issued during the period of the Occupation by the Allied Powers" was held in the Tokyo Main Library of the NDL. The symposium was held in commemoration of the outset of the joint project between the University of Maryland Libraries and the NDL for Prange book microfilming. 

After a brief introduction of the joint project by Mr. Mitsuo Okada (Director General, Reference and Special Collections Department, NDL), Dr. Desider L. Vikor (Director of Collection Management & Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries) made a presentation titled "Access and Use of the Gordon W. Prange Collection," centering on 

various access tools to identify the bibliographic data of the collections and efforts undertaken to provide access to the content. Prof. Taketoshi Yamamoto (Waseda University) made a speech on the creation of the periodical index database of the Gordon W. Prange Collection followed by a demonstration of the database. Prof. Eiko Tani (Hokusei Gakuen University)  gave a lecture mainly on the compilation of a catalog of children's books in the Gordon W. Prange Collection and the censorship of children's books by the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD) and the Press, Pictorial and Broadcast Division (PPB) during the post-WWII period.

March 2, 2006
Director of the National Library of Finland invited to the NDL

Dr. Kai Ekholm (Director of Helsinki University Library - The National Library of Finland) was invited to the NDL and gave a lecture titled "Way to a Digital Nation: Framework for sharing our skills" for the NDL staff members.  The National Library of Finland has been taking a forward-looking approach to digital library services including web archiving, long-term digital preservation, providing access to e-journals for the general public. It has been building up close cooperation with other Scandinavian national libraries in that field. 

Dr. Ekholm explained the National Library of Finland's "digital value chain" strategy, in which acquisition, digitization, delivery of content and archiving are recognized as a consecutive process and not a single element can be omitted. At the National Library of Finland, he says, acquisition and digitization at the library is at a satisfactory level, but delivery of content requires improvement and building its infrastructure building will be pushed forward in the next 5-6 years. In terms of archiving, the National Library of Finland is now preparing for a law for long-term preservation. 

After explaining the systems used for digital information delivery and a project for raising public awareness of the importance of preserving original materials, he concluded that there has been a shift in the roles of national libraries from preserving library resources to delivering information, and that they must provide quality information for posterity overcoming existing obstacles. 

Handouts distributed at the lecture:
"Way to a digital nation: Framework for sharing our skills" 
"Digitization of the cultural heritage at the National Library" 

Dr. Ekholm with the staff of the Branch Libraries and Cooperation Division and interpreter