Debriefing Session "Supporting Reconstruction in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake: Needs for Libraries" on July 13, 2011, at the Tokyo Main Library

On July 13, 2011, a debriefing session "Supporting Reconstruction in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake: Needs for Libraries" was held by the National Diet Library (NDL). This session was relayed to the Kansai-kan of the NDL in Kyoto.

The purpose of the session was to contribute to the NDL and other organizations' support activities for the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster-afflicted area by sharing in detail information on the current situation of libraries in the stricken area and activities for supporting reconstruction by libraries and related organizations.

After the opening address by Dr. Makoto Nagao, Librarian of the NDL, the current situation of libraries in two disaster afflicted prefectures was reported.

Ms. Kumiko Sakai, Director of the Iwate Prefectural Library, outlined the damage suffered and support given to libraries in Rikuzentakata city and Noda village, the worst-hit areas. She also introduced support activities by the prefectural library, for example, restoration and salvaging of damaged materials, coordination of support by mobile libraries, providing workshops related to disasters, etc. Mr. Shuji Waga, Director of Planning and Management Department, Miyagi Prefectural Library, explained the post-disaster situation of libraries in Miyagi. He reported that besides coastal libraries afflicted by the tsunami, there are many inland libraries which cannot reopen because of damage from the earthquake. He also mentioned examples of support by local governments, and pointed out the importance of archiving records related to the earthquake disaster.

up

Following reports from two libraries in the disaster-afflicted area, reports from support organizations including the NDL were delivered.

Mr. Toshiyuki Muto, Director General of the Reference and Special Collections Department of the NDL, gave a summary of support activities by the NDL. Mr. Yasuhiro Hirakawa, Assistant Director, Social Education Division, Lifelong Learning Policy Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, described damage to libraries and other social and educational facilities in the disaster-afflicted area and the supplementary budget allocated for reconstruction. He also showed some cases of social educational facilities' challenges for reconstruction. Mr. Kaname Matsuoka, Management Director and Secretary General of the Japan Library Association, introduced the activities and challenges of the JLA including "Help-Toshokan (help-libraries)," support activities for libraries and people's reading in the disaster-afflicted area. He also made requests to the government such as research of the post-disaster situation of libraries, creating a library reconstruction plan, and securing the workforce and budget for the support activities. Mr. Makoto Okamoto, Project Leader of "saveMLAK" and CEO of the Academic Resource Guide, introduced the "saveMLAK" activities. Mr. Tetsuya Ishikawa, Executive Director of the Library Advancement Foundation, introduced examples of donation of books and library equipment for afflicted libraries. Mr. Toshiya Takada, a publicity committee member of the publication task force for the Great East Japan Earthquake, introduced a project delivering publications to the disaster-afflicted area and noted the need for paying close attention to reconstruction of bookstores in this area.

Finally, Mr. Noriaki Matsunaga of the Kobe City Central Library spoke of the characteristics of the damage caused by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake on January 17, 1995. He pointed out the difficulty of rebuilding library services when other administrative services needed increased manpower.

Panel Discussion

up

A panel discussion followed the presentation. In the panel discussion, reporters from two libraries in the disaster-stricken area, Iwate and Miyagi, expressed their appreciation for this gathering together in one place that would be the first step to having a common understanding for reconstruction. They also mentioned that restoration has a still long way to go and "don't forget" is the most important thing for us.

Materials Exhibition

In the foyer of the auditorium, materials damaged by tsunami and books related to past earthquake disasters in the NDL collection were displayed. Photos of disaster-afflicted libraries were also exhibited.

Materials Exhibition