This is an extract translation of article
in the NDL Monthly Bulletin No. 574 (January 2009).

What do you imagine when you read “Library Support”? Cooperation activities which directly link you to user services such as interlibrary loan, copying service, reference service might come to mind. It is true that these services for libraries are one of the main services of the National Diet Library (NDL), but the library support project is more than that. The NDL, as the sole national library in Japan, conducts many projects to support libraries and librarians in Japan and overseas.

In April 2002, as a result of reorganization involved in the opening of the Kansai-kan of the NDL, library cooperation services, of which the Library Cooperation Department was in charge, were shared out among different divisions of the Tokyo Main Library, the Kansai-kan and the International Library of Children’s Literature. At the Library Support Division of the Kansai-kan, we carry out such projects as the National Union Catalog Network, Collaborative Reference Database System (in Japanese), training for librarians inside and outside Japan, and so on to provide a basis for libraries and librarians to develop their activities.

By providing these projects via the Internet, we are dramatically expanding the scale of participation of libraries and librarians. In this article, training projects will be focused upon.

To support the activities of libraries, it is also necessary to support librarians as human resources. As part of the library cooperation projects, we plan and organize training to enable librarians inside and outside Japan to acquire knowledge and skills.

After the reorganization in April 2002, training was positioned as one of the pillars of the library cooperation projects. Before then, there were only limited training programs for librarians outside the NDL such as "Open lectures on library information science," which was a program for NDL staff also open to other librarians, "Preservation and Conservation Training Program," "Interlibrary Cooperation Seminar" and "Training Program for Japanese Studies Librarians (Training program for information specialists for Japanese studies in later years)."

Before the opening of the Kansai-kan, the NDL conducted a preliminary survey on research and training projects in FY1998, and a survey on needs for training in FY1999. Results of the survey showed that demand for training based on the unique collections of the NDL, on the knowledge and skills accumulated from our various kinds of work and on major topics of the current library community were high. Based on the results of these surveys, various training programs have been provided since 2002. The contents of the programs are divided roughly into four types: group training (gathering trainees at the NDL), internship training (accepting trainees from other libraries for a certain period), remote training programs via the Internet, and training programs carried out by dispatched NDL staff lecture

Of these programs, the group training is a training program by theme which makes use of the unique collections and knowledge and skill of the NDL staff. Subjects for fiscal year 2008 were "Preservation and Conservation Training Program," "Library guidance for librarians," "Training Program for information on science and technology," "Training program on Asian information," "Practical workshop for librarians on early Japanese books," "Lecture on statutes, parliamentary documents and official publication" and "Training Program on reference." For the internship training, we accept those who study library science at universities.

In providing these courses, there are limits of time, place and budget. In addition, number of participants in each training course is also limited. For developing the "Internet version of library cooperation project," remote training programs using e-learning were started in FY2006 with the intention of overcoming various limits of the training programs and dramatically increasing opportunities of participation.

People can apply for and attend the training via "Portal site for remote training programs." Participants can study according to their own pace and anywhere with a computer connected to the Internet.

From group training programs, one or two subjects are selected and educational materials are developed for remote training programs every year which are provided via the portal site.

For the fiscal year 2008, "Basic Idea of Preservation and Conservation," "Various Old Japanese books," "Basic knowledge for digitization of materials" and "Science and technology information-introduction" were provided and the total participation capacity was 1,000 people. As compared with ordinary group trainings, which accept about 20 to 30 people respectively, the opportunity for attending the course has remarkably increased. (Chart 1)

In fiscal year 2008, NDL started to dispatch its staff around Japan as lectures to provide trainings on a trial basis.

We can accomplish tasks which cannot be managed by oneself by gathering and sharing the collections of libraries, the knowledge and skills of librarians, and the information circulating around the library community and making most of them as collection knowledge. The library cooperation projects of the NDL play a considerable role in fostering cooperation.

Services for librarians provided by the NDL are on our website "Information for Libraries." The same information is offered by the e-mail magazine "Library cooperation news."
http://www.ndl.go.jp/jp/library/library_news.html (Japanese only)

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